Kansas City traffic deaths keep going up, while its effort to make roads safer is underfunded

Kansas City set a goal of ending all traffic fatalities by 2030, but last year proved to be one of its deadliest yet. While the Vision Zero program has been slowly fixing streets for pedestrians as well as cars, city leaders say it needs more funding to make that happen.
You’re trying to cross the street, only to jump back after a speeding car blazes through the crosswalk. You’re biking to work but nearly get hit after someone runs a red light. You’re driving back from the grocery store and have to swerve to avoid a reckless driver.

Kansas City residents know these experiences all too well, but many aren’t lucky enough to avoid being hit. In 2023, 102 people died in traffic crashes, according to the Kansas City Police Department.

That’s an increase from 2022, when 89 people died in crashes, and the opposite direction that Kansas City hoped it would see.

For the last three years, the city’s Vision Zero program has worked to change roadways with the goal of eliminating traffic fatalities entirely by the end of the decade.

But Kansas City still has one of the country’s highest rates of fatal car crashes, and local advocates and leaders say the city’s fortune won’t change without more funding.