A new public safety campaign in Virginia is turning heads with a simple but chilling visual. The Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles and the City of Richmond have installed a 54-foot bright yellow ladder in town. It’s next to The Diamond, a minor league baseball stadium just outside downtown Richmond. The ladder shows what it feels like to get hit by a car going quite a bit slower than freeway speed.
According to the DMV, the force of a vehicle traveling at 40 mph is equal to falling five stories.
Markers along the ladder indicate what different impact speeds would look like if they were measured as falls from increasing heights.
The display is part of a broader push to get drivers to slow down. DMV Commissioner Gerald Lackey said the goal is to make the science of crashes feel real. “We’re taking data and turning it into something drivers can feel in their gut,” he said at Friday’s unveiling.
A short video released with the campaign shows a professional climber ascending the full 54 feet. At each level, viewers are reminded just how dangerous even moderate speeds can be for pedestrians.
In 2024, 410 people were killed in speed-related crashes across Virginia. Ten of those deaths happened in Richmond, a city of roughly 225,000 that serves as the state capital. Richmond is one of several cities across the country adopting Vision Zero, a policy framework that aims to eliminate all traffic deaths and serious injuries by 2030…