Speed

To improve traffic safety and make streets more welcoming for walking and biking, Portland will lower speed limits on nearly all of its residential streets.

Ever wonder why so many residential streets are so wide even though they only see a trickle of car traffic?

Florida is the most dangerous state in the nation for walking and biking. To save lives, the state DOT is planning to lower speed limits and redesign streets to encourage safer driving.

More than 112,500 people lost their lives in speed-related crashes from 2005 to 2014, accounting for 31 percent of all traffic deaths in America over that period. In a draft report released earlier this week, the National Transportation Safety Board says excessive speed is a deadly problem in our nation's transportation system -- one that federal and state officials aren't doing enough to address.

Seattle is getting serious about reducing the threat of lethal motor vehicle speeds.

For cities trying to get a handle on traffic fatalities, dangerous motor vehicle speeds are an enormous problem. Once drivers exceed 20 mph, the chances that someone outside the vehicle will survive a collision plummet.

Speed kills, especially on city streets teeming with pedestrians and cyclists.

wenty is plenty in Boston, according to its elected officials. The City Council voted unanimously this week to lower the default speed limit on most residential streets to 20 mph -- and not for the first time.

"There is no war on the car,” said Toronto City Councillor Paula Fletcher. “There’s basically been this continued war on people who don’t have a car.”