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One Way to Take Care of Business
Face it, throughout much of the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana region, walking is not always a pleasant experience. And although we already know this, it's also not that safe either, finds a new report, released by two transportation groups with the help of other organizations like AARP. Here are a few statistics:
- 26.9% of traffic-related deaths in the region were pedestrians
- Only $0.45 per person are spent on pedestrian and bicycle improvements
- In 2007 and 2008, there were 247 and 244 deaths, respectively, giving the region the third highest share of pedestrian fatalities.
- Overall, our region ranked 27th out of the 52 largest metro areas in total pedestrian safety
Damien Newton at StreetsblogLA and Deborah Murphy of L.A. Walks say that with over a quarter of traffic-related deaths being pedestrians, something is very wrong considering that only 2.7 percent of the region's population walk to work. If you look a the New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island region, where the number of walk-commuters is double, the amount of traffic-related pedestrian fatalities is slightly higher than here at 31.1%.
So what can be done they ask? "One small step the City of Los Angeles could make immediately is setting aside a portion of its Measure R Local Return funds for bicycle and pedestrian safety. The City Council Transportation Committee is set to vote on how to spend it's portion of the county-wide transit tax on November 18."
Stay safe out there!
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I have to wonder here those numbers for the number of people that walk to work came from. Personally, I don't own a car so I walk to the train station each morning and then walk from the train station to work. So am I counted in the pedestrian number or not even though I walk nearly a mile just to and from the train stations each day?
Also, I don't think these numbers give a good idea as to how many people are being injured, sometimes severely, as well. I knew of someone that sustained serious injuries after being hit by a car as a pedestrian. Never did her story appear in the news, newspaper or any blog. There are countless others like her riding and walking throughout Los Angeles, silently being hit and dealing with life long effects from their injuries.
This is all so silly considering that the weather is frequently one of the "selling points" of Los Angeles. Why aren't we putting more effort into making it safe for people to be outside and enjoy the weather, the mountains and the other stuff that makes LA unique?
Not to deviate too far from the heart of this story but the weather is a diminishing factor for most people when it comes to walking namely because there are so few shaded commercial streets. More trees, more bike lanes, better cross walks and better zoning would greatly improve all of our safety and happiness index.
I do a lot of walking and ultimately suffer from "pedestrian rage" as a result.
One of the first things I noticed upon moving to LA, in the late 90's, was that many pedestrians appeared to not bother to look when crossing. I was not surprised to see the 27% statistic.