World Day of Remembrance for Victims of Traffic Violence Event Saturday, November 14th
While progress is being made, the number of people killed in crashes remains unacceptable.
Remembrance will honor victims and connect families with resources.
MILWAUKEE – The local event for the World Day of Remembrance Milwaukee Event is Saturday, November 14th in Milwaukee. The free event will honor the lives lost and forever changed by traffic violence while offering support and connection. It is organized by the Coalition for Safe Driving MKE in concert with the international organization: worlddayofremembrance.org. Families who have lost loved ones in traffic crashes are especially invited to attend this event, but it is open to all. The event will include remembrances of those we lost and remarks from impacted families and community leaders.
Resources for victims will be available along with healing activity breakouts. With this event, the partners hope to support traffic violence victims and their families and support prevention-based activities to and eventually stop further traffic deaths and injuries, in line with the goals of Vision Zero.
The media is invited to both a pre-event press conference on Tuesday, November 10th and the main event on Saturday, November 14th.
World Day of Remembrance for Traffic Victims PRESS CONFERENCE Event Details:
- Tuesday, November 10th at 11am
- Milwaukee City Hall
- New memorial art piece will be unveiled
- Speakers include: Mayor Johnson, impacted families, Coalition for Safe Driving MKE, and Jessica Wineberg of City of Milwaukee Vision Zero.
World Day of Remembrance for Traffic Victims PUBLIC EVENT Details:
- Saturday, November 14th from 11:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.
- ThriveOn King, 2153 N Doctor M.L.K. Jr Dr Milwaukee
- The community, victims, and families who have lost loved ones or have been injured are invited to attend. There will be resources, prayers, remembrances, and support.
- Free, no registration required
- Organized by the Coalition for Safe Driving MKE
Sadly, traffic violence has already claimed 41 lives this year in Milwaukee, a major improvement over the 56 that were killed by the same time last year (as of 10/20/26 from the Traffic Violence Dashboard). The City of Milwaukee, alongside the Coalition for Safe Driving, is working to change this and has hosted the World Day of Remembrance for Victims of Traffic Violence to highlight the issue, inspire change, and support impacted families. Many organizations have come together to create the Coalition for Safe Driving MKE including Northwest Side CDC, Wisconsin Community Services, Wisconsin Bike Fed, Dominican Center, MPS Drives, Froedtert Hospital, Children's Hospital SE Wisconsin, Enough is Enough, Community Insurance Information Center, and others.
Angelique Sharpe, CEO of “MsLadyInc,” explains the importance of the event this way: “Statistics can tell us how many people lost their lives, but they cannot tell us who was supposed to be at Thanksgiving dinner or whose birthday still arrives without them. It is not about living permanently in tragedy or allowing the circumstances surrounding a person’s death to become the only story we tell about their life. It is about giving families space to tell us the stories behind the headlines and who their loved one was before the rest of the world learned how their life was STOLEN. Remembrance is not simply looking backward. It is an act of dignity.”
With support from the Coalition, the Mayor and Common Council adopted Vision Zero, the goal of zero traffic deaths or life changing injuries. Although we are not there yet, we are making progress with traffic fatalities down 19% 2024-2025, we must continue to partner and focus on what we know will save lives: slower speeds. The City has made significant changes to streets to reduce speeding and save lives. These projects are working and making streets safer, but it takes time and money to deliver at scale. We urge all drivers to slow down and look out for each other, especially people crossing the street.
