Speed is theft. Theft of our neighborhoods, theft of our children's independence and health, theft of our safety. That was the message of Dan Burden of Walkable Communities, Inc., speaking at the National Congress of Pedestrian Advocates last August.

This theft of quality of life is an insidious side effect of the direct impact of high car speeds on other road users: death and serious injury. This chart shows how the risk of death in car/ped collisions increases with motorist speed:

Source: US Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration
Publication No. FHWA-SA-OO--010

Reducing traffic speeds can not only reduce the severity of car/pedestrian crashes, but also reduce their occurence. At 25 mph, a driver has a better chance of reacting to the presence of a pedestrian in time to brake to a stop: