Kalamazoo Touts Safe Streets Initiative as Crashes Decline

City data shows a 24% drop in crashes since pre-pandemic levels.

Published on Feb. 24, 2026

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Officials in Kalamazoo, Michigan are crediting the city's Safe Streets initiative for a sustained decline in car crashes over the past two years. Traffic crashes dropped more than 7.5% from 2024 to 2025, and are down over 24% from pre-pandemic levels. The city has implemented a series of safety measures like adding roundabouts, bike lanes, and pedestrian crossing improvements to make roads safer for all users.

Why it matters

Kalamazoo's success with its Safe Streets program demonstrates that targeted infrastructure investments can have a meaningful impact on public safety and reduce the number of crashes, injuries, and fatalities on city streets. As more municipalities look to prioritize multimodal transportation and traffic calming, Kalamazoo's experience provides a model for how data-driven, comprehensive safety initiatives can deliver tangible results.

The details

Kalamazoo saw traffic crashes decline from over 3,000 per year before the pandemic to just 2,339 in 2025, a drop of more than 24%. The city's Safe Streets for All plan, which includes adding roundabouts, bike lanes, reducing lanes on some roads, enhancing pedestrian crossing signals, and installing about 100 new stop signs, is credited with preventing around 1,700 crashes from 2023 to 2025.

  • In 2024, Kalamazoo County saw 25 people killed in car crashes, making it the 25th safest county in Michigan.
  • From 2023 to 2025, Kalamazoo's Safe Streets initiatives are estimated to have prevented around 1,700 crashes.

The players

Dennis Randolph

Public Works Manager and Traffic Engineer for the City of Kalamazoo.

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What they’re saying

“The data show that this is not a one-year fluctuation. We are seeing a sustained downward trend in crashes and injuries. The consistency of the improvement tells us our safety investments are working.”

— Dennis Randolph, Public Works Manager and Traffic Engineer (woodtv.com)

What’s next

Officials said they plan to continue adding safety and calming measures across the city in 2026, including looking at speed humps to reduce traffic speed.

The takeaway

Kalamazoo's comprehensive Safe Streets initiative, which has included infrastructure upgrades like roundabouts, bike lanes, and pedestrian crossing improvements, has demonstrably improved public safety on the city's roads. This model of data-driven, multi-faceted traffic calming efforts can serve as a blueprint for other municipalities looking to prioritize the safety of all road users.