Street Safety and Candidate Position Laguna Campaign 2022

Here's how seven candidates for City Council value street safety policy for Laguna Beach in their 2022 election campaign. 

Complete Streets Policy and Vision Zero are policy level commitments made by cities to improve parking, traffic, mobility and traffic collision rankings. As this investigation shows, NONE of our Candidates have chosen these policies as a campaign platform in Laguna Beach. Will 2023 be business as usual?  UPDATE:  In "7-Questions for 7-Candidates" Alex Rounaghi supports Complete Streets Policy in his campaign. - LB Independent 4 November 2022.

-LS

Preventing Pedestrian Road Kill, Now There's an App

 

(John Foy and Associates photo credit)

FORD's new mobile App is designed to alert the motorist about pedestrians and cyclists nearby the traveling vehicle. The App relies on a Bluetooth Low Energy interface to send a signal from a pedestrian or cyclist's smartphone to the passing Ford vehicle equipped with the latest Ford Infotainment System. The system then calculates the potential collision risk providing the driver both screen and audio alerts. The App debuted at the Intelligent Transportation Society of America's World Congress in Los Angeles in September 2022.

“Newer Ford vehicles already with Ford Co-Pilot360 Technology can detect and help warn drivers of pedestrians, bicyclists, scooter riders and others — and even apply brakes if drivers do not respond in time,” Jim Buczkowski, Ford’s executive director of research and advanced engineering, said in a statement. “We are now exploring ways to expand vehicle sensing capability, for areas drivers cannot see, to help people drive even more confidently on roads increasingly shared by others using their two feet or two wheels.”

Ford's executive director revealed plans to shift control of the vehicle from the driver to the algorithm - the consequence of autonomous vehicle technologies. It follows then that liability of vehicle operation shifts from the motorist to the vehicle too.

With logic like this a fatality at Pearl Street and South Coast Highway would not happen because Stanley Issacs was carrying a transponder App. And what if Stanley Issacs had no App?  Would Stanley be at fault for crossing the highway in a crosswalk with no pedestrian permit on his smartphone? And what of those with no Smartphone, like surfers heading to the beach?  

And what of system faults in a technical command chain from Smartphone to vehicle sensors to Infotainment System to the vehicle Can Bus (it's complicated)? Aren't drivers distracted enough ordering pizza, reading football scores while following GoogleMaps from their Dashboards? Must a jury decide consequences of inappropriate technology in 40-million California vehicles?

Oct 28 UPDATE:   Ford announced the pursuit of its Argo self-driving car would be abandoned while retaining "driver assist" capability. Ford invested $3-billion in its self-driving Argo, the math says the business would not return on investment for another 5-years from now.    

The company disclosed a $2.7 billion accounting charge this quarter to wind down Argo, resulting in an $827 million loss.

 The driver-assist technology with on-screen warnings and alarms continues. For details see Wired magazine here.

-LS

After $1Billion 405 Widening Traffic Delay Times Increase

Ya don't say?!

"... it appears adding lanes in the Sepulveda Pass has thus far had little effect in easing traffic."

 

KTLA photo credit.

More confirmation for Laguna planners: building more auto infrastructure simply draws more motorists, raises intensification, increases injuries and fatalities due to collisions. (KTLA story).

-LS

Asphalt to Art Reduces Car/Pedestrian Collisions

The Asphalt Art Initiative aims to improve pedestrian safety by painting eye-grabbing murals on street pavement, they will award grants grants of $25,000 to 19 European cities for this work.   The project supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies and  The Aspen Institute was announced on Monday in Amsterdam at a CityLab summit. 

An art project in Kansas City MO reduced traffic crashes 49%, adding color to curbs in Baltimore Maryland reduced traffic speeds by 45% (Bloomberg CityLab Article). The street safety record in Europe is far better than the United States (Bloomberg City Lab).

More examples of Street Art are found here. 

These Art interventions could improve Laguna's atrocious traffic safety record. Would the city of Laguna Beach be so bold? Would the Laguna developers adopt philanthropic projects like Bloomberg?

-LS

First CicLAvia Held 10/10/10 in Los Angeles

 Twelve years ago Monday 10/10/10, LA DOT and CicLAvia held their open-streets event city-wide in Los Angeles.  7.5-miles long from Boyle Heights to Downtown LA to East Los Angeles, 100,000 Angelinos participated that day.  Laguna Beach is 7-miles long, just the right size to host a Cic-LB-via.

 

The next CicLAvia is on Sunday, Dec 4 from 9AM - 3PM where 7.25 miles of streets connecting Exposition Park, Historic South Central, Florence-Firestone, and Watts will be open to people not cars.

-LS

What Kind of Streets does Laguna Want?

A DW Special Report with the Cycling Professor.

"Some people say we can rethink the cities we live in for the better. But what does that actually mean? How can we reclaim and reuse our own cities to make THEM cooler and cleaner, and US happier and healthier?"

 -LS