NEW HAVEN, Conn. — In honor of World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims, the Safe Street Coalition of New Haven held a ceremony Sunday to remember the lives lost in their own community.
"We've lost 11 pedestrians and cyclists this year which is more year to date than last year altogether," said Kai Addae, of the Safe Streets Coalition of New Haven.
Those in attendance shared their own stories of losing someone to a traffic incident.
"He was hit by a drunk driver late at night and it's just really sad to lose a friend and someone you know from an entirely preventable way," said Addae.
The group has dedicated itself to preventing future deaths by working with the community to call for changes to be made to the roads.
"Adding bike lanes, adding curb bump-outs. There's a lot of really quick easy ways you can really change a street," said Addae.
Organizers said one of the easiest ways to make streets safer is to get cars to slow down. They have a couple of ideas on how to do so.
"By having trees, making it pretty. narrowing the lanes, converting one way to two way," said Addae.
Joel Lachance of New Haven is an avid cyclist. He said he thinks one way to make the community safer for pedestrians and cyclists is through education. He said it's something that is being done in other countries starting at a young age.
"They train their children to walk safely and to understand the traffic network and they train their children to ride bikes in the streets," said Lachance.
Safe Streets also uses education as part of their work. They teach the community what changes make the biggest difference, and how to call on the city to implement those changes.