Pedestrian Safety
Streetsblog LA
Update for It’s Not Getting Safer Out There
On Friday, a commenter to It's Not Getting Safer Out There challenged me to do more research to see how those safety stats look when you compare them to VMT, or population growth. It was difficult to get numbers for all of the years, and get them from the same source, so let me just say this. He's right at least on this much: there is more VMT for biking and driving in LA now than in 2000 and there's more people. Taken in that light, yes. Based on the numbers, each individual person is safer on the road than they are in 2000 in LA.
January 7, 2008
It’s Not Getting Safer Out There
With the weather outside being about as bad as it gets here in LA, you can bet that somewhere tonight (or perhaps already) at least one cyclist or pedestrian will be killed by unsafe driving. A look at the stats for bike and pedestrian fatalities in LA and Orange counties show almost no improvement since the turn of the century. One could argue that because the stats don't show an improvement in safety for cyclists and pedestrians that the lack of improvement is a black mark for the city and Orange County.
January 4, 2008
SCAG’s Top Goal for Bike/Ped: Reduce Fatalities by 25%
It isn’t easy to try to analyze a Regional Transportation Plan without a close examination of the project list (which isn’t available yet) but a first read of the Southern California Association of Governments' RTP shows an agency at least somewhat committed to improving lives for those that don’t take their care everywhere. There will be much more coverage of this report here in the coming weeks, but first lets look at the bike/ped section.
December 19, 2007
From Transportation Alternatives in New York: City Pedestrian Crossings Are Discriminatory by Design
A story on Streetsblog yesterday covered a report by the reform group Transportation Alternatives showing what many have already guessed. Because of the size of many "urban boulevards" and the short cross time granted, most urban roads are discriminatory to elderly pedestrians.
December 18, 2007
AP discovers old foe for peds…
This weekend the AP reported on a not-very well known stastical reality: ending daylight savings time is a killer for pedestrians.
November 5, 2007
A safe Halloween
A pre-Halloween note at streetsblog last week had a list of safety tips prepared by NYCDOT for costumed kiddees and drivers on the holiday. Curiosity raised, I checked to see if LADOT had a similar list. If they do, I can't find it anywhere...maybe because I'm planning on going as Clark Kent for the second straight year, they decided to hide it from me as a form of protest of my unoriginality.
October 29, 2007
National Safety Stats on Light Rail
The chart doesn't only show that light rail isn't always the "most fatal" form of transit, but also that the fatality per PMT rate was plummeting before the FTA decided to count suicides the same as other accidents.
October 26, 2007
Debate Over Grade Crossings Highlights Expo Meeting
(Note: For more on potential designs and teh history of the project go to the official site here, the Wikipedia site here or Friends 4 Expo Transit's site here .)
October 25, 2007