Pedestrian Safety

On Sunday, a Cal-State Fullerton student name Yao Loo was, in the words of CBS 2 a car "plowed into the girl, launched her 40 feet in the air, and took off."  The LAPD is currently searching for the culprit who is said to drive a Black Lexus or Toyota SUV.  CBS 2 doesn't allow other sites to stream their video, so you'll have to click here to see the story.

Here is a mesmerizing time-lapse video from Spacing Toronto and photoblogger Sam Javanrouh. The clip shows traffic moving through Toronto's pedestrian scramble -- a.k.a. priority crossing, a.k.a. Barnes Dance -- installed at Yonge and Dundas Streets last August.

Last year, I complained that Los Angeles didn't write out it's own pedestrian safety tips for Halloween.  This year an LADOT press release not only lists some helpful, yet common-sense, suggestions;  but also uses the holiday to push parents to better educate their children about safe walking.  After listing all of their suggestion, the press release quotes LADOT General Manager Rita Robinson:

Thanks to commenter Stephen for prodding us to post on the new report from the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, “Active Transportation for America” (download the PDF here). What makes the report notable are the numbers it contains. It’s jam-packed with quantifiable benefits that would result from increased investment in infrastructure that encourages and supports pedestrians and cyclists. … Continued

Yesterday, the California Public Utilities Commission denied two proposed street crossings in South LA near Dorsey High School and the Foshay Learning Center.  Citing the ADA, Judge Kenneth Koss ruled that the authority needs to create pedestrian bridges, which would add another $18 million to the current $862 million price tag for Phase I of the project.  While Expo officials are already pleading that they don't have the $18 million, it seems extremely unlikely that Metro would let a nearly $1 billion project die because they couldn't come up with $18 million for pedestrian bridges.

If You Were Traveling with Motororized Power, You Were Pushed to the Outer Loop

A recent poll conducted by AARP finds that Americans over the age of 50 are cutting down on car trips due to rising gas prices, but are finding public infrastructure, or lack thereof, to be an obstacle.

In recent weeks, CityWatch has done a fantastic job explaining why speed limits are rising throughout the city and why those limits are determined by speeding drivers and not the communities that have to deal with the speeding traffic.