Bike Indianapolis calls on the City of Indianapolis to create an $8 million annual Traffic Safety Triage Fund

Bike Indianapolis hosted the World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims on Sunday, Nov 17, 2024.

The purpose of this high-profile global event is to remember the many millions who have been killed and seriously injured on the world’s roads and to acknowledge the suffering of all affected victims, families and communities – millions added each year to countless millions already suffering: a truly tremendous cumulative toll.

In the first ten months of this year alone, four cyclists and 32 pedestrians have been killed through traffic violence in Indianapolis, and many more people in vehicles due to traffic crashes on Indianapolis roads. On Sunday, we paused to remember their lives, heard from people in our community who have been impacted by traffic violence and talked about our hopes for a future without traffic fatalities. During this vigil, Bike Indianapolis made a call out to the City of Indianapolis to properly address this serious issue. Specifically:

Bike Indianapolis is calling on the City of Indianapolis to create an $8 million annual Traffic Safety Triage Fund.

The proposed Traffic Safety Triage Fund would:

• Equip the Department of Public Works (DPW) with dedicated staff, materials, and resources to provide quick-build, scalable traffic calming solutions with particular focus on Indianapolis's High Injury Network.

• Enable the DPW to act with greater autonomy and efficiency to protect vulnerable road users by installing safety improvements at intersections and corridors where crashes are recurring, including cases in which safety interventions have already been identified but have not yet been implemented—such as trail crossing zones.

This day reminds us that we and our city have work to do. We remember the enormous scale and impact of road deaths and injuries, we call for an end to the often trivial and inappropriate response to road death and injury and advocate for urgent concerted action to stop the carnage.

These are some photos of our candlelight vigil in which those affected by traffic violence spoke to highlight how dangerous our streets are and to encourage change. Would you like to make an impact? Contact your elected officials and ask them to support a Traffic Safety Triage Fund. Don’t know who your elected officials are? Find out here. You can also help us make indianapolis cyclists more visible by donating to the Bike Indianapolis Bike Safety Fund: