'Control your drive:' Bucks' Bobby Portis joins efforts to curb reckless driving in Milwaukee
MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- Milwaukee Bucks forward Bobby Portis, the Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT), and Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson are teaming up to launch a new initiative aimed at ending reckless driving.
During a news conference Thursday, the three previewed their ad campaign called "Control Your Drive" that will air at Fiserv Forum during the remainder of the NBA season.
The video, featuring Portis, showcases the athlete and his younger brother playing basketball and then driving together.
"When I drive in this lane, I make sudden moves and drive to the hoop so I can score," Portis says in the ad. "But when I drive in this lane, I don't speed or make sudden movements."
#NOW: @MayorOfMKE, @BPortistime and @WisDOTsoutheast are partnering to launch a new traffic safety campaign that focuses on ending reckless driving here in #Milwaukee. I’m live for @CBS58 at 5p with details. pic.twitter.com/cF6VqWx68Q
— Ellie Nakamoto-White (@ellienw_news) October 27, 2022
Portis said the mission to help curb reckless driving is personal.
"A lot of my friends used to love riding motorcycles and things like that and when you ride motorcycles, you’re already at risk anyways so I lost a couple friends with that, I lost a couple family members," Portis said. "It’s always been my calling in my life just to give back to others anyway so what bigger way to give back than to help save someone’s life."
According to WisDOT secretary Craig Thompson, about 2,900 people are injured by a reckless driver in Wisconsin annually.
So far this year, reckless driving has killed 87 people. 113 died in 2021.
“Reckless driving is a danger that puts everyone at risk on the roads. It can include speeding and improper lane changes, an inattentive, erratic or negligent driver," Thompson said. "In recent years, reckless driving has contributed to 40% of the fatalities here in Milwaukee compared to 18% across the state of Wisconsin.”
Mayor Johnson said while the public's safety is his top priority, it's partnerships like the "Control Your Drive" campaign that are crucial to reaching that goal.
“My administration is making a ton of investments, time, and energy, in order to tackle the issue of reckless driving. We’ve got traffic enforcement with the police department as well as the Wisconsin State Patrol. We are holding folks accountable, we’ve got Vision Zero as part of our platform as well," Mayor Johnson said. "But we can’t always reach every single person and that’s why you bring in somebody like Bobby Portis who has this incredible audience, this incredible reach, who can reach other folks we probably wouldn’t be able to reach.”
To watch the video, click here.