LADOT Quietly Hosting Vision Zero Community Engagement Meetings

Streetsblog L.A. attended the city of L.A. Transportation Department (LADOT) Vision Zero meeting last night in Hollywood.

The meeting was the fourth second in a series of ten Vision Zero community engagement meetings hosted by LADOT and their consultant, MIG. The meetings resume tonight in Echo Park, and continue through August 10 in various L.A. neighborhoods in the Valley, South L.A., West L.A. and San Pedro. None appear to be scheduled for Boyle Heights or North East L.A. See full schedule after the jump. (Correction: some meetings have been rescheduled – see corrected schedule below.)

Oddly, these appear to be public meetings, but as of this morning they do not appear on the LADOT Vision Zero website, nor any mention of them on LADOT’s Vision Zero Twitter. Apparently someone did not get the memo and posted the full meeting schedule online at the Central San Pedro Neighborhood Council website.

That San Pedro post made the rounds among L.A.’s well-wired bicyclist communities yesterday afternoon, which was the first notice that Streetsblog L.A. received. Last night, LADOT Vision Zero lead Nat Gale mentioned that meeting attendees had been “nominated” to attend. It is unclear how the nominating, outreach, and engagement were supposed to work. Perhaps the best way to get a lot of bicyclists to attend a Vision Zero meeting is to not invite them, so they become suspicious and rush to attend.

Vision Zero is the international campaign to reduce traffic deaths. Vision Zero principles hold that all traffic deaths are preventable and that human life takes priority over other transportation system objectives. The city of Los Angeles Vision Zero goals include reducing traffic deaths by 20 percent by 2017 and reducing deaths to zero by 2025.

The current series of meetings are part of the community engagement process for creating the city’s Vision Zero Action Plan, which is due out in August. The plan will guide the city’s multi-departmental Vision Zero efforts, to be implemented by multiple city departments including LADOT, Public Works, LAPD, LAFD, City Planning, and others.

At last night’s meeting, Gale presented an overview of the city’s efforts on Vision Zero so, highlighting the 2015 mayoral directive, the scramble crossing at Hollywood and Highland, and a new finer-grain priority intersections corridor categorization within the city’s High Injury Network. To identify the priority areas, LADOT and MIG used data from kill and severe injury (KSI) crashes, combined with factors to prioritize equity, children, and seniors. LADOT and MIG have drilled down into 2009 through 2013 KSI data to thoroughly characterize collision profiles based on various factors, from turning behavior to hit-and-run to drunk driving.

The presentation and handouts included draft priority intersection and corridor maps that are not yet available online, hence the poor resolution images that follow.

The High Injury Network’s priority intersections are spread fairly evenly around the busier streets in all parts of the city.

The High Injury Network’s priority corridors tell a somewhat different story. There are certainly exceptions, but the bulk of the prioritized corridors are located in South Los Angeles. Most of the South L.A. corridors are north-south streets, including portions of Crenshaw Boulevard, Western Avenue, Normandie Avenue, Vermont Avenue, Hoover Street, Figueroa Street, Broadway, Main Street, Avalon Boulevard, and Central Avenue. It makes sense that LADOT would prioritize safety investments in lower income communities of color, including South L.A., because this is where people are more dependent on walking, biking, and transit and where people walking are more likely to be killed or injured.

Last night’s meeting was at the Hollywood Library, so the handouts included a more detailed map centered on Hollywood. There are plenty of priority intersections in Hollywood, but no priority corridors. The closest priority corridors are portions of Third Street (from Vermont Avenue to Normandie Avenue), Beverly Boulevard (from Virgil Avenue to the 110 Freeway) and 6th Street (from Hoover to the 110 Freeway).

City staff and consultants spent the bulk of the meeting listening to recommendations and issues from attendees. Requests included road diets, curb cuts, improved sidewalks, pedestrian head-start signals (leading pedestrian intervals), and greater openness with Vision Zero data.

Vision Zero community engagement meetings continue tonight, this week, and next week. All meetings are from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at L.A. Public Libraries. (Schedule updated 4:30 p.m.)