Step Up for the Pedestrian

The region known for its freeways and sprawl is not just inhospitable to pedestrians. It’s often lethal. Los Angeles County led the nation with 230 pedestrian fatalities last year and ranked seventh in per capita deaths.

Almost half--104--were on Los Angeles city streets. Stretches of Westlake, Echo Park, Hollywood and Boyle Heights are especially dangerous, according to a Times computer-assisted analysis published Monday.

Reporters Hugo Martin and Maloy Moore looked at more than 2,500 pedestrian deaths from 1993 through 2001 and found the highest concentrations in crowded urban areas bisected by busy streets and populated by low-income residents. No surprise there. What they didn’t find in those areas were the flashing and striped crosswalks and other safety upgrades credited with helping reduce fatalities in the rest of the county.

It is often said that nobody walks in Los Angeles. More accurately, almost nobody with alternatives walks. No wonder the poor, the elderly and children make up a disproportionate share of pedestrian fatalities. An additional 1,700 to 2,000 pedestrians countywide are hospitalized after accidents each year.

Pedestrian deaths and injuries are preventable. Those on foot put themselves at risk if they jaywalk or wear dark clothes at night. Nationally, one-third of adult victims are legally intoxicated. On the other side of the steering wheel are the drunk drivers, the speeders and the drivers who, yakking on their cell phones, charge through crosswalks even when pedestrians wear Day-Glo orange.

Both pedestrians and drivers need educating. The city, however, should go beyond the usual billboards and other public outreach and put into walking safety the kind of energy and resources devoted to driving safety.

Safety advocates recommend such steps as adding and improving sidewalks, siting playgrounds away from streets and restricting on-street parking.

Longer crossing times at traffic lights allow the elderly to reach the curb or traffic island. “Smart” crosswalks warn drivers by flashing lights when a pedestrian steps off the curb. Either might have saved Luis Bosch Guzman, a 77-year-old Army veteran and Echo Park resident who in 1996 was killed by a speeding pickup. Bosch had almost made it across busy Alvarado Boulevard when the traffic signal changed.

The Los Angeles Police Department, spurred by 15 child pedestrian deaths last year, has stepped up enforcement at schools, ticketing parents who double-park and kids who dart across traffic. The computer analysis by The Times gives the city valuable information about where else to concentrate its efforts.