A presenter at a Grand Rapids City meeting urged slower vehicle speeds to improve safety for people walking and biking, saying modern cars protect their occupants but not pedestrians. “So that’s why we wanna slow cars down so we can keep our children safe, so we can keep walkers in the community safe, people on bikes safe,” the presenter said.

The presenter framed traffic calming primarily as a safety measure and contrasted vehicle safety features with pedestrian vulnerability. “Cars have airbags. They have anti lock brakes. They have lots of cool safety equipment. I, as a pedestrian, don’t have airbags,” the presenter said, adding that higher vehicle speeds increase the likelihood that a pedestrian would be seriously injured. The presenter used 45 miles an hour as an example of a speed at which pedestrian outcomes worsen.

The speaker said discussions of traffic calming have been common in Grand Rapids City for the last “10 or 20 years” and that a range of approaches exists, but did not specify particular engineering measures or policy changes during the remarks. “When people talk about traffic calming, they’re trying to make our—we’re trying to make our neighborhood safe for everybody,” the presenter said, and added that traffic calming involves “a lot of tools.”

The remarks in the transcript represent discussion and advocacy; no motion, vote or formal direction was recorded in the excerpt. The presenter emphasized pedestrian and bicycle safety as the rationale for slower vehicle speeds but did not identify next steps, funding, or an implementation timeline in the portion of the meeting provided.

City officials or staff responsible for traffic engineering and any scheduled follow-up were not named in the transcript segment provided.