NEW ORLEANS — Mayor Helena Moreno today announced a major step toward transforming street safety across New Orleans following this week’s signing of the Safe Streets Executive Order, a directive that formally adopts the city’s Safety Action Plan (SAP), a comprehensive, data‑driven roadmap designed to reduce severe and fatal traffic crashes.
The initiative is part of the city’s broader transportation safety agenda and a data-driven roadmap aimed at cutting deadly and serious crashes in half by 2031 and ultimately eliminating traffic deaths on New Orleans streets.
“This executive order puts transportation safety at the center of how we plan, design, and operate our streets,” Mayor Moreno said. “This work is about saving lives, protecting families, and making sure every person in New Orleans can travel safely through their neighborhood.”
The SAP makes clear that traffic deaths are not random crashes but often predictable and preventable tragedies that continue to occur at many of the same dangerous intersections across the city. By combining safer street design, targeted enforcement, and stronger public awareness efforts, the city can take meaningful steps to reduce crashes and save lives.
Each year, traffic violence claims the lives of dozens of New Orleans residents and leaves hundreds more with life‑altering injuries. A recent review of crash reports from recorded high-incident red-light intersections revealed troubling findings: 54 fatal or injury crashes over the last five years, including multiple incidents involving pedestrians, hit-and-runs, and incidents requiring EMS response and hospital transport. In several crashes reviewed by the city, pedestrians were struck in intersections while drivers fled the scene before officers arrived.
When we look at the information gathered, between 2019 and 2023, 2,161 people were killed or seriously injured on New Orleans streets — more than eight people every week. Many of these crashes happened at intersections where drivers failed to follow traffic signals.
Compared to other U.S. cities working on street safety and tracking crash data, New Orleans has a much higher number of deadly and serious crashes. Many cities are using similar safety strategies, like focusing on the most dangerous roads, slowing traffic speeds, and redesigning streets to prevent crashes. But because New Orleans has a higher rate of severe crashes per person, the city needs to move with urgency and invest more in the streets and intersections where the worst crashes happen most often.
The SAP prioritizes specific safety approaches focused on roadway and intersection design, building a culture of safety, and reinforcing safe behaviors. Examples of what the public can expect from the implementation of the SAP are outlined below:
Street design retrofits focused on
Expanding pedestrian signals with Lead Pedestrian Intervals and crosswalks;
Reinforcing safe speeds on major streets, lane narrowing, and speed cushions;
Reducing conflicts at intersections by improving visibility, geometry, lane designations, and signal timing;
Improved street lighting at intersections; and
Improved maintenance of safety infrastructure.
Multi-media communication on roadway safety topics to improve awareness.
Strategic enforcement of speeding, distracted and impaired driving, red-light and stop sign running, aggressive driving, and illegal parking.
“This plan is built on hard data and hard truths,” said Stephen Nelson, Deputy CAO of Infrastructure. “The numbers confirm what residents see every day: too many dangerous intersections, too many unsafe speeds, and too many preventable tragedies. Now, with this plan formally adopted, we can prioritize the fixes that will save the most lives.”
“Roadway injuries and deaths are preventable,” said Dr. Jennifer Avegno, Deputy Mayor of Health and Human Services. “We know where people are getting hurt, and we have the tools to take action now.”
“While we are encouraged by the progress being made, fatal and serious injury crashes remain a significant concern in our city,” said Captain Anthony Micheu. “NOPD continues to work alongside our public safety and city partners to examine the factors contributing to these crashes and support strategies that create safer streets for everyone who lives in and visits New Orleans.”
Next Steps:
The Safe Streets Executive Order also lays out how, in the coming months, the City of New Orleans will create a Transportation Safety Partnership Task Force that will include multiple City departments and agencies to prioritize projects, coordinate engineering timelines, and launch public engagement efforts. The first round of safety improvements will focus on corridors with the highest rates of fatal and severe crashes.
Read the full 2026 City of New Orleans Safety Action Plan and executive order, please click the links below.