I still remember standing in line for the bus at Greenberg Elementary in Northeast Philly, messing around with Mark, a few friends, and my brother. We were excited for the weekend. Before we got on the yellow buses, we were seeing who was strong enough to hold up their backpack with just their pinky.

Moments like that, simple and carefree, are often the last ordinary memories families and friends carry before everything changes.

I learned when we returned to school on Monday that about an hour after our schoolyard game, Mark was hit and killed by a car.

On Henry Avenue, once one of the most dangerous roads in Philadelphia, we have lost several people to traffic crashes, including Kevin St. Clair, a former Masterman teacher and cross-country and track coach, and Sam Ozer, a 17-year-old who loved biking and the outdoors. They were beloved members of our community who inspired others. Their loss is felt every day by their families and friends.

The sad reality, though, is that tragedies like these are preventable.

In 2018, Pennsylvania authorized automated speed enforcement on Roosevelt Boulevard, which had once been notorious as one the most dangerous roads in the country. The results were clear. Speeding dropped by 95%. Pedestrian crashes were cut nearly in half. Fatal and serious injury crashes fell significantly.

We took one of the most dangerous roads in America and made it safer with fact-based solutions.

And yet, even after we passed into law an expansion of this program, these systems remain limited to a few corridors and school zones in Philadelphia. The rest of our city and state are legally prohibited from using these life-saving tools.

Across Pennsylvania, we see the same pattern. The same dangerous corridors. The same reckless speeding. The same preventable tragedies. In 2024, over 200 cyclists and pedestrians were killed statewide, including on the same high-injury roads that are flagged year after year.

That is why, working with state House Majority Transportation Chairman Ed Neilson and his committee, I just introduced a bipartisan bill to allow municipalities across the commonwealth to use automated speed enforcement on dangerous roads. It will enable every community to access this proven, life-saving tool where they need it.

These systems target only the most dangerous speeding drivers going well above the limit. They do not put points on your license or jack up your insurance. They get people to slow down. And when people slow down, lives are saved.

Some may be concerned that municipalities will put these cameras where they are not needed, but this bill requires proof of a real speeding or crash problem backed by data and an engineering study.

Others may worry that neighbors will not have a voice in the process, but this bill requires community input before any cameras are installed.

Our bill’s approach is focused, fair and accountable to our community.

The truth is, we need to act. Speeding remains one of the leading causes of traffic deaths in Pennsylvania. And in Philadelphia, traffic deaths are now keeping pace with homicides. The danger on our streets deserves the same urgency as violent crime. And our bill frees up law enforcement to focus on other serious public safety issues.

My constituents are tired of cars flying through their neighborhood. Like Pennsylvanians across the state, they are tired of memorials on corners where someone should still be standing. They expect their leaders to act.

Now it is time to act, so carefree moments, like playing at the bus stop, do not become the final memories that classmates, friends and families are left to carry.

Khan represents Manayunk, Roxborough, parts of Chestnut Hill and East Falls.