Traffic Violence Report: Fatalities Up 38% This Year

Two were killed in Colorado Blvd. crashes and one person was hit by a train to bring Denver's total traffic deaths to 40

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People are dying on Denver’s streets at an alarming rate as three new traffic fatalities this week have brought the number of deaths to 40, up from 29 at this point last year, a 38-percent increase.

Two drivers caused deadly car crashes on Colorado Boulevard since last week’s report, one at Colorado and Colfax avenues, according to the Denver Police Department. Both streets are on the city’s high-injury network, the five percent of streets where more than half of traffic deaths and serious injuries happen.

The third fatality happened when an A Line train hit and killed a pedestrian at Central Park Station. Two other train-pedestrian deaths happened at the same station in April, but the coroner ruled them suicides, which the police do not count as traffic fatalities.

Yesterday, Streetsblog reported about a stretch of Alameda Avenue between Federal Boulevard and Sheridan Boulevard, a killing zone also on the city’s high-injury network.

In 2016, Mayor Hancock pledged to end all traffic fatalities and serious injuries by 2030 through the city’s Vision Zero goal. But his administration has struggled make progress on the goal as traffic fatalities increased in both 2017 and 2018, earning the city a “C” on a report card issued by street safety advocates in January.


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