Listen to the Mechanic of Transportation podcast to learn about FSS efforts, the new virtual StoryMap memorial, the call to action for safer vehicles, and what others can do to help make streets safer.

FSS efforts with America Walks to get anti-speeding technology on fleet vehicles, starting with the federal fleet featured in Streetsblog USA.

Listen to Professor Regina Bateson, Amy Cohen & Aly Gellar on the Keep Kids Alive Podcast. The conversation explores how personal narratives drive policy change, the role of community support, and the FSS story map that honors victims of traffic violence.

Kingston NY FSS member Rose Quinn on Radio Kingston’s O+ Radio Hour — discussing World Day of Remembrance, Families for Safe Streets, ghost bike memorials, the effort to lower speeds to 25 mph, and The Speed of Silence - a documentary in the making, highlighting the tragic impact of traffic violence in Ulster County. Through powerful personal testimonies, the film highlights the urgent need for change and the deafening silence from officials in response to community pleas for safer streets. 

Families for Safe Streets and America Walks along with the Vision Zero Network, Together for Safer Roads, Advocates for Highway & Auto Safety, and others are urging the Biden-Harris administration to implement anti-speeding technology in the federal fleet. Read the press release, fact sheet & FAQ, and sign the petition.

FSS members proudly joined NYCDOT after years of advocacy from our members and so many others to announce the first set of lower speed limits in NYC — on the street where Sammy Cohen Eckstein was killed. Coverage from NY1, PIX 11, NY Daily News, CBS News, US Sun, Staten Island Live, News 12, and AMNY.

Traffic safety expert and urbanist Peter Norton powerfully shares in this Next City OpEd why having a memorial for traffic violence like the FSS StoryMap is critical.

FSS members from California and across the country shared their stories to fight for proven, common-sense life-saving technology. Read OpEds from Amy Cohen and Colin Campbell, see Joe Martinez on ABS news, read Lori Argumedo’s petition that garnered nearly 5,000 signatures, and read our press release after Governor Newsom’s veto.

FSS Southern California member Michel Shane led a successful campaign to get permission for five speed safety cameras to Pacific Coast Highway where his 13-year-old daughter Emily was killed by a driver exceeding 70 mph. Over 17 people have been killed on PCH since 2015, and over 600 have been seriously injured. The deadly road is the subject of Shane’s acclaimed documentary 21 Miles in Malibu.

Amy Cohen honored at UN General Assembly Roadway Safety event. “It was an honor to join so many world leaders fighting to end traffic violence at this year's UN General Assembly. We won't stop fighting until everyone can get home safely.”

After ten years of study, Doctor Regina Bateson has published an article on FSS -- Finding Meaning in Politics: When Victims Become Activists. She demonstrates how through activism, FSS’ grief-advocates can re-conceptualize the losses and harms they have suffered as policy problems, rather than random, inexplicable events. She also argues that political involvement offers FSS members unique ways of finding meaning in the tragedies victims have suffered. Finally, she shares how emotional benefits often arise during collective action and meaning-making is an in-process benefit of activism.

First, NYC passes Sammy's Law, then Albany lowers their speed limit to 25mph, and now Kingston is doing the same. In 2024, cities across NYS are adopting international best practices on speed management. FSS members have been there at every step.

FSS member Michelle DuBarry of Portland shares her grief journey in TheSun Magazine after losing son Seamus. FSS did not exist when Seamus was killed but we are committed to providing the support families need after their horrific loss or injury. No one should ever have to endure this heartache alone.

FSS San Diego erected a "ghost bike" memorial along Dehesa Road in the unincorporated area of El Cajon where cyclist Kevin Wilson was hit and killed by a driver in January of 2020 and demanded that the city install traffic calming measures on the deadly roadway.

Founder of FSS San Diego chapter, Laura Keenan, testified in support of California SB 960 and shared her husband Matt’s story. In 2023, an estimated 4,000 people died on California’s roadways. More than 30% of these traffic deaths happened on state-owned roads. It doesn’t have to be this way.

Southern California FSS member Michel Shane continues to fight for change along Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) – one of the state’s deadliest stretches. Shane’s award-winning documentary, 21 Miles in Malibu, was inspired by the 2010 death of his 14-year-old daughter Emily Rose Shane at the hands of a reckless, speeding driver who struck Emily intentionally as she approached the crosswalk.

FSS members joined the family of Andy Gil to honor his life, on the second anniversary of his death, and the life of every New Yorker who has been killed by traffic violence in the congestion pricing zone. Participants held 83 sunflowers to symbolize each one of the 83 New Yorkers who have been killed in the zone since congestion pricing was passed into law in 2019.

Montgomery County member Mindy Badin testified on Capitol Hill at a Congressional Briefing about the Dangerous by Design report from Smart Growth America. Her son Brett was killed trying to walk to a dinner with some of his friends from his job program on Rockville Bike, a known dangerous street.

FSS members from across CA traveled to Sacramento to lobby for SB 961, legislation that would require vehicles manufactured or sold in California to have visual and audible alert signals when drivers exceed the speed limit by 10+ MPH. Lori Markowitz, whose advocacy work is featured in the Road to Zero Coalition’s recent newsletter, traveled from her home in Seattle to join peers in Sacramento earlier this month As many of our members have experienced, Lori’s son was killed outside the state where the family lives. Lori has become a vocal advocate in Los Angeles, as well as in Washington State and nationally. 

Kathy Sokolic shares powerfully about her nephew Ben who was seriously injured in a crash and suffered for five years before he succumbed to his injuries. Too many people die from their injuries after more than 30 days and not even counted in the numbers of people killed in crashes. The National Safety Council counts everyone who dies within one year which if they can do it, so should NHTSA. Read more in Streetsblog USA.