The Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and the City of Richmond are set to unveil a new public safety display, featuring a 54-foot bright yellow ladder at The Diamond. This display is part of an initiative to highlight the impact of speed in traffic accidents. The ladder is accompanied by a video showing a professional climber scaling it, illustrating that a pedestrian hit by a car traveling at 40 mph experiences the same force as falling from the top of this ladder.
This effort aims to raise awareness about speed-related fatalities, which resulted in 410 deaths in Virginia last year, including 10 in Richmond. The event aligns with a broader speed awareness campaign across jurisdictions within National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Region 3.
The press conference will take place on Friday, July 25 at 10 a.m. at The Diamond located at 3001 N. Arthur Ashe Blvd., Richmond, VA. Media parking is available on the red lot near Arthur Ashe Center.
Key speakers include W. Sheppard Miller III, Virginia Secretary of Transportation; Gerald Lackey, Commissioner for the Virginia DMV; Brandy Brubaker, Director of Highway Safety Strategy for the DMV; Colonel Matthew D. Hanley, Superintendent of the Virginia State Police; Lawson Wijesooriya, Chief of Staff for City of Richmond Mayor Danny Avula; and Andrew Beton, City Councilmember and member of the Safe and Healthy Streets Commission.
Richmond has been proactive in implementing traffic safety measures such as increased speed enforcement and school zone safety cameras. Over the past year, they have constructed 200 speed tables citywide as part of their Vision Zero mission to eliminate traffic deaths and serious injuries.
The ladder was developed through local collaboration involving Two Tango Collaborative for conceptualization, Barker Designs for design work, BrandSafway Scaffolding Systems for construction, and Advanced Visual Production for video production.
