The Los Angeles City Council unanimously voted on March 8 to begin the process of developing an interactive, web-based map as part of its continued effort to eliminate traffic fatalities by 2025.

The map, part of the city’s Vision Zero initiative, would provide Angelenos with information about pedestrian, bicycle and motorcycle deaths and injuries. The motion said the city would seek to emulate the web-based Vision Zero tool already implemented in the city of San Francisco, which adopted a Vision Zero program shortly before Los Angeles established its own.

“Through this knowledge base, San Francisco’s elected leaders and officials are better held accountable,” according to a motion by Councilmen Paul Koretz, 5th District, and Bob Blumenfield, 3rd District.

Vision Zero started in Sweden in the 1990s, and has been adopted by cities in countries all over the world, including the Netherlands, Canada and the United Kingdom. In the U.S., it’s been implemented in Portland, Seattle, New York and other cities.

Los Angeles experiences more traffic fatalities per capita than any other city in the country, according to the city’s department of transportation. Approximately 260 people died in traffic accidents in Los Angeles in 2016, and motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death of children between ages 5 and 14.

A scramble crosswalk at the intersection of Hollywood Boulevard and Highland Avenue is part of the city’s Vision Zero program.
(photo by Luke Harold)

Mayor Eric Garcetti issued an executive directive in August 2015 that initiated the city’s Vision Zero program. He declared that the goal is to eliminate traffic fatalities by 2025.

The motion, presented by Koretz and Blumenfield in January, asked the department of transportation to explore the development of a web-based “Vision Zero High Injury Network Map.”

Every year, “approximately 200 individuals are killed while attempting to travel on Los Angeles’ streets,” the motion stated. “Nearly half were either walking or bicycling, and an alarming number of them were children and older adults.”

The motion also stated that Vision Zero programs around the world have “a proven track record” of making streets safer for pedestrians and cyclists. San Francisco introduced its iteration of the program in 2014.

“While we cannot control the criminal behavior of a few, we can make our streets safer through engineering, education and enforcement,” San Francisco Mayor Edwin M. Lee said in a statement last summer.

The city continues to refine its Vision Zero efforts through measures including focus group discussions with various neighborhoods. The program’s impact on the city is evident, in part, by a pedestrian scramble installed at the intersection of Hollywood Boulevard and Highland Avenue in 2015. The intersection caused only one non-injury collision in the six months after its installation, compared to 19 collisions and 13 injuries in the 11 months prior, according to the city.

“Each and every one is preventable – not a natural outcome of our transportation system,” said Seleta Reynolds, the department of transportation’s general manager.

“This action plan is a roadmap that requires our full participation and partnership with every Angeleno to keep us all safe.”