At All Saints Catholic Church Sunday, leaders with the Coalition for Safe Driving are coming together with Milwaukee elected officials and community members for World Remembrance Day.
After Coalition leaders read a list of names of more than 65 people who have lost their lives to traffic violence in Milwaukee this year alone, those personally impacted and city officials took to the stage calling for change.
“I want for victims of traffic violence and their families to know that you are seen,” Mayor Cavalier Johnson before presenting a proclamation to churchgoers recognizing the day.
Abby Strong was one of a few community members who was invited on stage to light a candle and share here story. She said the day's event was not about moving on but moving forward.
“We fight for justice,” Strong said. “We fight for legislation and protocols to be enforced to protect our children and family members.”
Strong's husband Aaron was killed in 2022 by a drunk driver, driving on the wrong side of the road in downtown Milwaukee, moving at over 70 mph.
Among the elected officials commemorating the day, which also recognizes first responders and medical personnel dealing with the aftermath of traffic violence, was Milwaukee Police Chief Jeffrey Norman.
At All Saints Chief Norman urged people at the event to look within at their own driving practices and the practices of those around them, encouraging them to follow the law
“When we have some of those contributing behaviors of driving too fast to work, going through that red light, understand we all have a responsibility,” he explained.
Vision Zero Policy Director for the City of Milwaukee Jessica Wineberg said for their part the city is investing in new road designs, reevaluating speed limits and enforcement to eliminate traffic deaths by 2037.
“We'll have to make big changes in all of those 15 years going up towards that date but we need to do that in conversation with people," Wineberg said.
County Executive David Crowley, MFD Assistant Chief Joshua Parish, County Sheriff Denita Ball, and a representative from Governor Evers' Office were also all in attendance Sunday.
World Day of Remembrance for Traffic Victims was first commemorated in 1993 in the United Kingdom when several church services were held to in memory of the lives lost.
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