Results tagged “pedestrian”

A car crash into a Bank of America building around 8:20 a.m. has left at least one person injured and traffic snarled along the Wilshire and La Brea corridors. "It's a mess, avoid the intersection for the next hour or so, said a KNX1070 broadcaster. Records with the L.A. Fire Department do not indicate a car into the building yet, but show a possible auto vs. pedestrian incident. A fire hydrant has also been sheared, shooting water into the air.

As the city of Pasadena explores options to help fix the mess that is the popular three-mile loop around the Rose Bowl used by walkers, joggers and cyclists, three options have from planners with two exceptionally progressive. "What a difference two years make," said LA Streetsblog writer Damien Newton noting that an older proposal sought to eliminate bicycles from loop altogether. The three proposals include leaving the path as it is (unpopular), marking a yellow pedestrian lane with two lanes of car/bicycle traffic in opposite direction (improved) and what's seen in the image posted here: a pedestrian path, a bicycle lane and a one-way car lane (the most popular for many).

Culver City has been working on a Bicycle and Pedestrian Initiative that's currently in draft mode. The city's location between the Cheviot and Baldwin Hills as well as the Ballona Creek and eight major roads and freeways "has led to the development of an irregular (broken-grid) roadway network which presents unique challenges for non-motorized transportation."

This year, it seems like there has been more reported pedestrian and bicycle incident than usual. Back in the Spring, three pedestrians were killed in incidents involving a Metro bus or train. Two bicyclists were shot this past weekend and one was killed by a drunk driver. The list could go on. In today's LA County Bicycle Coalition e-mail blast, it announced the beginnings of a campaign to bring California a law to help protect the people who use the modes of transportation:

A bus making a right turn fatally struck, ran over and dragged man some 700 feet down a Venice street yesterday afternoon, according to KTLA. At about 4:32 p.m., the Metro bus was making a turn onto northbound Pacific Avenue from westbound Rose when a 30-year-old man was crossing Pacific and happened to be in the blind spot as the vehicle made the turn, police believe. The 51-year-old driver was not aware until other pedestrians flagged him down. The Los Angeles Fire Department responded to an address on Pacific near Navy Street. A map linked here shows the possible dragging distance.

After the death of a man crossing the Metro Blue Line tracks yesterday afternoon, a 49-year-old woman was left in critical condition when she was hit and trapped beneath the train shortly before 8 p.m. near Flower and Venice in downtown. Yesterday's incidents increase the train line's statistics to 93 deaths and 826 accidents, according to transit advocate Damien Goodmon who today is calling for Congressional investigation and hearing. "It is the deadliest light rail train in the nation," a news release from his Citizens' Campaign to Fix the Expo Rail Line group said. On Wednesday, a woman was killed by a Metro bus downtown when she was hit near City Hall

A pedestrian was struck and killed by a northbound Blue Line train at about 2:30 p.m. in South Los Angeles. The man, estimated to be approximately 50 years old, was crossing at a marked crosswalk, but it is unknown if he was doing so legally, according to the LA Fire Department, who gathered the information from witnesses. The 47-year-old train operator was shaken and asked paramedics to evaluate her condition, but she declined treatment and transportation. A Sheriff's investigation is underway. This is the second Metro related death within a day's time. Last night, a woman was killed near City Hall when a bus hit her.

For the second time this year, a bus making a turn has fatally struck a pedestrian crossing the street. It was about 7:25 p.m. at Temple and Spring when the woman, believed to be in her 30s, crossed the street correctly on a green light, but seemingly at an angle, a Metro spokesperson told the LA Times. Earlier this year, a DASH bus making a turn killed a woman at 5th and Flower near Central Library.

Another day, another pedestrian accident? A 60-year-old man was killed last night around 6 p.m. in Van Nuys when he was hit by a vehicle involved in a car crash. "A car was making a left from Sepulveda onto Lanark Street when it collided with an on-coming vehicle," explained the LA Times via the LAPD. "That car careened off the road and struck the pedestrian." Then this morning, two 12-year-old boys in North Hollywood were struck by a car and air lifted to children's hospital with moderate injuries. The conditions surrounding the incident near the 5 Freeway and Laurel Canyon were not immediately known.

Ask a motorcop why they write tickets to cars disobeying signs and pedestrians walking against the man's hand and you'll hear a lot of them say it's a sign of "arrogance." When justified like that, they have no problem writing hundreds of tickets. Last Friday, StreetsblogLA blogger Damien Newton observed a sting at Western and Wilshire: "I counted two pedestrians who didn't make it across before the red. One of whom was an elderly woman who started as soon as she got the white person and who received no help from the LAPD officers busy writing tickets," he observed.

On Monday, a new pedestrian crosswalk with a flashing overhead yellow light will be debuted on Sunset Boulevard at Portia Street. In a recent citywide study to find where higher than average pedestrian accidents occur, this one was identified and pushed for by the city's volunteer citizen Pedestrian Advisory Committee. The crosswalk is currently installed, but the flashing lights will be turned on Monday morning when Councilman Eric Garcetti and others flip the switch.

When Richard Bohannan went outside his Chino house last night to go to the front yard mailbox, he never came back. A car hit and killed him before it fled the scene. His 13-year-old son that was with him was not hurt and this morning California Highway Patrol officers impounded a car parked nearby that is likely the suspect's vehicle.

Four valley streets with proposed speed limit increases are scheduled to be voted on by the City Council tomorrow. This has livable streets activists up in arms as they ask how can vehicles legally gain more speed while pedestrians and bicyclists are put in more danger, especially in light of a slew of recent fatal pedestrian incidents. Damien Newton at StreetblogLA explains why there is an increase: "The LADOT and LAPD have conspired to raise the limits on these streets because of a state law that requires that the speed limit be set at the 85th percentile of traffic every couple of years for the police to be able to use radar. What has been left unexplained is why so many people are speeding on these roads if the police are using rader currently. Unless limits are being enforced, people will continue to speed no matter what the limit and the limit will rise every couple of years." Whether or not it is acceptable or not to raise speed limits, we'll leave to the transportation experts. What we feel the real problem here is the lack of plans to create a culture of pedestrian and cyclist awareness and respect for the law.

There have been a lot of deadly pedestrian deaths this past week making the news. USC, Fountain and La Brea, Highland Park, to name a few. Today, LAPD's Valley Traffic Division is out in force near California State University Northridge sending plain clothed cops into a marked crosswalk near Reseda and Deerborn and ticketing those who fail to yield. "Some of these motorists are not only failing to yield, they're slowing and then making a conscious decision to accelerate past the ped," exclaimed observer and activist Stephen Box on Twitter.

As over a year's work on a Studio City bridge comes to a close with a controversial ending with some home owners claiming it damaged their homes, the city will head West a few miles to the Fulton Avenue Bridge in Sherman Oaks over the Los Angeles River. Beginning March 9 through the end of January next year, contractors will work to widen it per federal standards and bring it up to state seismic safety standards. They will try to minimize traffic effects, but, as they say in a neighborhood flyer, "a totally normal situation cannot prevail."

It's obvious that Jack got hit by a bus on Hope Street in downtown Los Angeles, as seen last night during a Superbowl Commercial. If you keep up on downtown news, you might find it similar to a crash last month.

     

Yesterday morning at 5th and Flower, a memorial appeared near the crosswalk where a women was fatally struck by a city DASH bus. Around 6:30 a.m., Wednesday, January 7th, Gwendolyn Coleman, 58, was walking across the street in the crosswalk when the bus turned left, striking her. A police investigation is still ongoing.

A few people have been asking what happened yesterday morning downtown near Central Library where a large memorial with flowers sits today. A pedestrian was hit by a DASH bus at 5th and Flower around 6:35 a.m. in the morning.

                                    

Earlier this month was "Ho-Ho-Tel 2008" at the Hotel Cafe (MySpace) in Hollywood. The three night fundraiser, with proceeds benefiting the LAFD's "Spark of Love" Toy Drive, featured a "very good" all-star lineup of singer-songwriters and bands that included The Abdomen (MySpace), Sweet Talk Radio (MySpace), Alvin Stewart (MySpace), Holly Conlan (MySpace), Laura Jansen (MySpace), AM (MySpace), The Paper Raincoat (MySpace), Meiko (MySpace), Buddy (MySpace), Gary Jules (MySpace), Brian Wright (MySpace), Joe Firstman (MySpace), Greg Laswell (MySpace), Cary Brothers (MySpace), and Butch Walker (MySpace) for Friday, while Sunday included Jenni Alpert (MySpace), Rob Giles (MySpace), Shane Alexander (MySpace), Charley Turner (MySpace), Lissie (MySpace), Austin Hartley-Leonard (MySpace), Jay Nash (MySpace), Brother Sal (MySpace), Chris Pierce (MySpace), Jim Bianco (MySpace), Pedestrian (MySpace), Andy Clockwise (MySpace), Foster Timms, Tim Jones (MySpace), and Truth and Salvage Co. (MySpace).

What was a man doing walking across the 405 Freeway in West LA late Saturday night? Unfortunately, he died when he was struck by a Nissan Altima around 12:45 a.m. "The pedestrian also caused 'seven or eight cars' to crash and that four lanes of the freeway in the immediate area were blocked for about two hours. None of the motorists sustained serious injuries," the CHP relayed to the LA Times.

Even going 10 MPH can be deadly. A supposedly distracted mother who just dropped off her own child to Toll Middle School in Glendale hit an 11-year-old girl as she drove through a marked crosswalk yesterday morning. Vehicles going in the other direction had yielded for the children, according to TV news reports. The driver stayed at the scene and was cooperative with police. She was let go, but her Nissan Pathfinder was taken by investigators.

A sexagenarian woman walking across the street was killed when she was struck by a 16-year-old teen who was riding his bicycle to band practice. The 6:51 a.m. incident happened on the 500 block of Palisades Drive, just north of Sunset Blvd, according to the LA Fire Department who transferred the teen to hospital.

                                   

Last weekend, the 24th Annual Abbot Kinney Festival took place in Venice. One longtime attendee noted that in past years, the quality of musical entertainment wasn't particularly memorable, so she was pleasantly surprised at the lineup this year, which included locals WAZ (MySpace), Buddy (MySpace), Laura Jansen (MySpace), Holly Conlan (MySpace) with Pedestrian (MySpace), Steve Reynolds (MySpace) with Cary Brothers (MySpace), Brian Wright (MySpace) with Sally Jaye (MySpace), Jesca Hoop (MySpace), Greg Laswell (MySpace), and Chris Pierce (MySpace) on the Brooks Stage (booked by the Hotel Cafe), Paul Chesne (MySpace) and Matt Ellis (MySpace) on the Andaluisa Stage, and War Tapes (MySpace) and HoneyHoney (MySpace) at the Palms Stage (although it should be noted that the set times listed on the website for this stage were woefully incorrect).

A crosswalk at Hoover and 28th has seen two injuries over the past few weeks as the fall semester begins. Drivers say the students pop out of no where at the dark crosswalk and others are saying the usual crosswalks-are-not-100%-safe spiel. Several hit-and-runs with parked cars were reported over the weekend near Portland and 28th. At least one driver was caught, but several more were reported according to the Daily Trojan.

A man in his forties was hit and killed by a semi-truck this afternoon directly outside a fire station in the industrial eastside of downtown. The intersection of Santa Fe and Olympic, where the incident occurred, has heavy truck traffic due to its location near the convergence of the 5, 10, 101 and 60 freeways as well as the industrial nature of the area. No 9-1-1 calls were made since a witness ran up to Fire Station #17 to report he accident prompting a "still alarm," which happens when a fire station is notified in person.

                            

Last Friday, Denver-based Jessica Sonner (MySpace), as well as locals Holly Conlan (MySpace), Mandy Moore (MySpace), and Terra Naomi (MySpace) performed at the Hotel Cafe in Hollywood. Following the female quartet of singer-songwriters were Pedestrian (MySpace) and Andy Clockwise (MySpace).

Around 2:15 p.m., an LAPD police pursuit ended after a fleeing suspect vehicle struck a pedestrian and another vehicle. The suspect who was being pursued either for a stolen vehicle or DUI was arrested along with a passenger that was earlier let out during the chase. A man in his forties was in a crosswalk on the 2300 block of Griffin Ave near Broadway in the Lincoln Heights area when he was hit. He was last listed in critical condition according to Fire Department officials (Update 4:30 p.m.: KCAL9 News reported that he later died). A woman in her 30s who was driving a vehicle that got hit by the suspect car was also transported to the hospital in minor condition. In July, two pedestrians died when a suspect vehicle hit them during a police chase in Hollywood.

Last Friday night in Santa Monica, bicyclists-turned-temporary-pedestrians gathered and protested what they believe is harassment from the city towards monthly Critical Mass bicycles rides. At their latest ride on August 1st, 14 police officers were deployed to monitor the ride resulting in at least nine citations (unofficial counts totaled up to 14).

On Monday, just before 1:00 p.m., Lauren Charles Black, a 62-year old resident of Los Angeles, was crossing Glendale Blvd at Rockwood Street (map below, looks to be in or near Historic Filipinotown) when he was struck by motorcyclist going northbound on Glendale Boulevard. The suspect left the scene of the accident without stopping to identify himself or render aid to the fallen victim and Mr. Black was taken to a local hospital in extremely critical condition. He is now on life support.

We have no scientific proof that this is the busiest pedestrian intersection in the world, but it definitely could be a contender.