Superheroes were spotted late yesterday afternoon assembling across from Union Station. Could it be another X-men sequel? Nah.
Yesterday was March 4th, the only day of the year that actually forms a sentence. At least when it's said out loud. Since that two-word sentence is an exhortation to walk, Los Angeles Walks celebrated the day by taking to the streets.
The March Forth Pedestrian Day of Action was a somewhat light-hearted way to take on some very serious issues.
L.A. Walks has reviewed car-ped crash data and identified several areas around Metro stations where there are large numbers of both pedestrians and collisions that harm them. Last October, the organization staged superhero interventions in Hollywood and MacArthur Park areas; yesterday's walk signal in the sky drew the heroes downtown. In downtown L.A., Recent LAPD stings of scofflaw driver behavior... never happened. Volunteers gathered at street corners outside of Union Station and later the Red/Purple Line Civic Center Station.
L.A. Walks Steering Committee member Alexis Lantz emphasized that L.A. Walks volunteers weren't out to stop traffic, but just to keep pedestrians safe from cars making illegal right and left turns in front of pedestrians. In addition to stunts like yesterday's, Lantz mentioned that L.A. Walks is taking on bigger policy changes, including ending "right turn on red."
It shouldn't take a superhero to get across the street safely, but it looks like may take some heavy-lifting to realign local street policies and practices to value pedestrian lives over car through-put.
A few more action shots after the step, er, jump.
More similar su-ped-hero shots from last Walktober's Walking Day of Action here.
