NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — Nashville will begin lowering speed limits on neighborhood streets from 30 miles per hour to 25 beginning Tuesday.

Lowering the speed limit in neighborhoods is the first step in Mayor John Cooper’s Vision Zero plan, which will work to eliminate traffic fatalities and increase safety.

Walk Bike Nashville has been advocating for improved street and pedestrian safety for years.

Multiple studies show the risk of injury or death was significantly reduced just from changing a speed limit by five miles per hour as faster speeds take drivers longer to react and stop.

“We have such a culture of speeding and thinking that 5 mph or 10 mph over the speed limit is not a big deal, if we stop and thought about it for a second and we think about it, we know going faster is going to have a big difference in terms of if a crash will happen at all and if the crash happened, what the impact will be,” explained Lindsey Ganson with Walk Bike Nashville.

The bill to lower the speed limits was passed by the Metro Council in February 2021 after 2020 was a record-breaking year for the highest number of pedestrian deaths in Nashville.

“The number of people we have now that are being killed is really unacceptable. This is a real, common sense, low-cost measure that we hope is going to have a big impact,” added Ganson.

Metro Public Works hopes to have all of the new signs installed within four to six months and will launch a massive public education campaign to make sure motorists are aware of the reduced speeds.

Mayor Cooper will be on hand to flip the first sign at the Hadley Park Community Center at 1 p.m.