RICHMOND, Va. – Did you know that pushing someone from the top of a 54-foot ladder has the same impact as someone being hit by a car traveling 40 mph? This powerful comparison is now at the center of a new public awareness display from the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and the City of Richmond — created to highlight the life-threatening consequences of speeding.
Today, during a press conference at The Diamond, a Richmond landmark, officials from the Commonwealth and the City unveiled a bright yellow, 54-foot ladder that now towers beside the stadium as the centerpiece of the campaign. A dramatic video features a professional climber scaling the ladder, offering a jolting perspective: the higher the fall, the harder the hit. At just 40 mph, a pedestrian struck by a car experiences the same force as falling from that towering height which is roughly five stories.
“Speeding was a factor in more than 400 traffic deaths in Virginia last year,” said Virginia Secretary of Transportation W. Sheppard Miller III. “Every driver has a responsibility to understand the real impact of their decisions behind the wheel. This campaign puts the stark reality of those consequences front and center, urging everyone to slow down, follow the speed limit, and save lives.”
As the ladder gets higher, markers show increasing speeds in miles per hour. Each one of the markers shows the relationship between falling from that height and being hit by a car moving 10, 20 or 30 miles per hour.
“This campaign makes the invisible visible,” said DMV Commissioner Gerald Lackey, the Governor’s Highway Safety Representative. “We’re taking the science of impact and turning it into something drivers can feel in their gut — because that’s how we change behavior.”
Last year alone, 410 people lost their lives in speed-related crashes across Virginia — including 10 in the City of Richmond. In response, Richmond has taken bold, proactive steps to make its streets safer by becoming a Vision Zero city, committed to eliminating traffic deaths and serious injuries by 2030. Highlights of the city’s efforts include expanding speed enforcement, launching a safety camera program with 13 school zone cameras, constructing 200 speed tables citywide in the past year, and implementing a range of traffic calming measures to slow drivers down and protect vulnerable road users such as pedestrians and bicyclists.
“In Richmond, we’re committed to making our streets safer for everyone — whether you’re behind the wheel, on a bike or on foot,” said Mayor Danny Avula. “This ladder makes the danger of speeding impossible to ignore. If this display gets even one person to slow down and save a life, it’s worth every foot, because a thriving city starts with safe streets.”
This ladder was created through a local Richmond collaboration — conceptualized by Two Tango Collaborative, designed by Barker Designs, and built by BrandSafway Scaffolding Systems, with video production provided by Advanced Visual Production.
This week's event is part of a coordinated effort across jurisdictions in the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Region 3 — including Virginia, Delaware, Maryland, West Virginia, North Carolina, the District of Columbia and Kentucky — to raise awareness about the deadly consequences of speeding.
Want to see the ladder up close? Stop by The Diamond and catch a Richmond Flying Squirrels game as they take on the Portland Sea Dogs:
- Friday, July 25 at 6:35 p.m.
- Saturday, July 26 at 6:05 p.m.
- Sunday, July 27 at 5:05 p.m.
The message is simple: Speed Has an Impact.
To view the climb on the ladder, click here.