Supervisors Back Bill to Improve Pedestrian Safety for Schoolchildren

Alarmed by a study naming Los Angeles County as California’s most dangerous place for pedestrians, especially children, the Board of Supervisors urged Gov. Gray Davis to sign legislation allocating $20 million for programs to make schools safer for children on foot.

The money would come from federal allocations to states under a massive initiative backed by President Clinton to strengthen transportation safety programs.

Although that might not sound controversial, it is because states traditionally have used the money for highway and rail projects, whereas the legislation by Assemblywoman Nell Soto (D-Pomona) assumes that people on foot are engaged in another form of transportation and deserve a share of the billions parceled out by the federal government for transit programs.

In addition to lining up with a host of other supporters of the Soto legislation (AB 1475), the county lawmakers, on a motion by Supervisor Gloria Molina, voted unanimously to invite cities and school districts to attempt to formulate an attack on pedestrian safety issues.

The same motion asks county agencies to develop standards aimed at improving pedestrian safety.

The county action follows a study released last week by the Surface Transportation Policy Project showing that accidents involving pedestrians in 1998 claimed the lives of 200 pedestrians and injured 5,541 people, the state’s worst record.

That compares with 44 pedestrian deaths and 475 injuries in San Bernardino County, 41 deaths and 328 injuries in Riverside County, and 36 deaths and 909 injuries in Orange County.

Latino and African American youths tallied a disproportionate number of deaths and injuries.

Molina said the supervisors’ action Tuesday will put county agencies on notice that pedestrian safety concerns should be a top priority.

“For too long we’ve put traffic flow concerns ahead of pedestrian safety concerns,” Molina said.

Complaining that safety concerns of neighborhood and school groups often were ignored by a government bureaucracy intent on keeping motor vehicles moving, Molina said: “Too often we don’t get that signal or stop sign until someone gets killed.”

During the board meeting, Whittier City School District Supt. Carmela Franco, South El Monte neighborhood activist Penny Vasquez and Los Nietos Unified School District board member Gloria Duran complained that lack of attention to pedestrian safety was endangering schoolchildren.

“Our children are at risk every day,” said Duran, whose district is in an unincorporated area of Whittier.

Gloria Ohland, who helped organize the study on pedestrian injuries and deaths, said the county action “serves to alert people who are responsible that pedestrian safety is a priority. It has never been a priority.”

The Surface Transportation Policy Project is a sponsor of Soto’s bill. The legislation has support from cities, labor unions and dozens of groups such as the California Parent Teachers Assn., the California Teachers Assn. and the Sierra Club.

Though $20 million would buy a significant amount of pedestrian safety programs near schools, such as installation of new crosswalks and construction of bike paths, Soto said the money was not a threat to the billions earmarked for rail and highway programs.

“It’s just a drop in the bucket compared to what we spend on highways,” Soto said. “I agree we need more lanes on the freeway. I agree we need to relieve congestion. But what about that kid who is walking to school? You have to think about the children. That is also taking care of a transportation need.”