Laguna Beach Injury Accidents 2011 and 2012

The Transportation Injury Mapping System (TIMS) catalogs transport collisions that result in serious injuries or fatalities. Each push-pin represents a collection of collisions that may be inspected individually (these are sample graphics, you must access the TIMS system to activate the push-pins and background information). A record of detailed information is stored with each collision.The 2012 records are incomplete, there are more injury accidents than those shown. Click to enlarge.

Vehicle Injury Collisions 2011

Vehicle Injury Collisions 2012 (partial)

There were 143 collisions recorded for 2011, 123 in 2012 (the records for 2012 are provisional and incomplete). The records for 2013 and 2014 are in process. The background information show vehicle collisions resulting in injury with pedestrians, cyclists, motorcycles even alcohol-related in tables.

143 Injury Accidents in 2011

123 Injury Accidents in 2012 (incomplete)

Cyclist Killed Driver Released

Crew tows Prius that killed cyclist John Greg Colvin

Photo Credit: Orange County Register

No Arrests
No Warrants
No Citation

No Problem

Photo Credit: KTLA, Southern Counties News

"Have a Nice Day"

Story credit: Orange County Register, see story here.
Story credit: KTLA, see story here. 
 

WHEN IS ENOUGH ENOUGH?

	PRESS RELEASE Laguna Beach Police Department 505 Forest Avenue, Laguna Beach, CA 92651
Paul Workman Chief of Police

June 18, 2014

Fatality Accident Involving a Bicyclist

At 6:56 pm last evening, Laguna Beach Police and Fire Dispatchers began receiving several “911” calls from motorists who witnessed an accident on North Coast Highway at Emerald Bay.  Some callers reported the incident as being between a white Toyota Prius and a bicyclist.
The callers said the Prius fled the scene and was northbound on Coast Highway.  It was followed by another witness who called “911” and said the vehicle stopped in the El Morro Elementary School parking lot at 8681 North Coast Highway.  The 19 year old Laguna Beach male driver was detained by arriving officers and brought to the Laguna Beach Police Department to be interviewed.  
Prior to the accident, the Prius was traveling northbound in the number two lane of North Coast Highway in the Emerald Bay area.  The bicyclist was also traveling northbound on the right side of the roadway.  For an unknown reason, the Prius struck the bicyclist.   The rider of the bicycle received major injuries and was transported to Hoag Hospital in Newport Beach and then transferred to Western Medical Center in Santa Ana.  Tragically, 55 year old John Greg Colvin of Laguna Beach passed away at 11:32 pm from his injuries.
The accident is under investigation and the name of the 19 year old Prius driver is not being released at this time.  He was not arrested or cited last evening.  

 
For further information, please contact:  Captain Jason C. Kravetz at (949) 497-0307 or via email at jkravetz@lagunabeachcity.net or Sergeant Louise Callus at (949) 464-6671 or via mail at lcallus@lagunabeachcity.net

Keep the Date

Some important events concerning traffic and congestion in Laguna Beach: 

• June 10 “Enhanced Mobility”, Transit and Mobility Workshop, Laguna Beach. Important
• June 14  President Obama visits Laguna Beach, roundtable discussion. (DC gridlock coming to LB, consider walking, biking, busing)
• June 19 “Stepping on the Gas”, Brandman University, Register here.

OCTA They're GREAT!

30 seconds to get these bike routes no foolin'

Take the OCTA route survey and pick your favorite 3 bike-routes to the beach. OCTA is planning the future bike network of south Orange County, take their 30-second survey about bike-routes to the beach cities here.

Learn more about OCTA bikeway planning here. OCTA is asking you to help plan the bikeways of the future for Orange County. 

OCTA National Dump-the-Pump Week is June 16-20, learn more.

Speed Kills

In the rankings for 2011 street safety the California Office of Traffic Safety has bestowed Laguna Beach the distinction of most dangerous city - receiving the lowest score for pedestrian traffic safety in the rankings for 107 cities (first by size of city, third for miles driven). The previous rankings were measured for 98 cities in 2009 posted previously here.   

The NYPD  post their Mission Statement this way:

Move Traffic, Move Traffic, Move Traffic,

Reduce Accidents, Move Traffic,

Reduce injuries related to accidents, Move Traffic.

Reduce death related to accidents, Move Traffic!

Laguna Beach is trifurcated by two Caltrans highways, the South Coast Highway and Laguna Canyon Road. Although written differently the Caltrans mission is similar:  as a convenience to the motorist, move traffic.

The Journal for Urban Technology shows these sobering results from NYC accidents between pedestrians and automobiles. For accidents with automobiles traveling 40mph the collision with pedestrians is fatal in 85 out of 100 accidents.

This chart shows the stopping distance required for automobiles at three speeds, 20,30,35 miles per hour.  The stopping distance at 35mph is 250 feet. If a  standard intersection is 36 feet across a car moving 35mph requires the space for 7 full intersections to stop.

The charts show the solution to pedestrian fatalities involves little expense, no additional staff, no major infrastructure and works instantaneously. Simply slow-down motorist traffic. 95% of pedestrians survive collisions with 20mph vehicles.

LCAD Croswalk Posted Speed: 45mph

"Executive Order -  a Mayoral Stradegy for Traffic Safety", Transportation Alternatives, NYC, NY.

Trip Mode-Share for US and Global Cities

This chart shows the transportation mode-share for major cities with over one million inhabitants. Notice the balance between transport modes, this is what balanced-mobility looks like - on paper at least.

This chart shows the transportation mode-share for US cities with over one million inhabitants. The over-reliance on the private motor vehicle is clear. Shifting to a balanced mode-share such as Boston, Portland and San Francisco have done will remove cars from the road (latent demand relaxed) and reduce auto congestion. (Data Wikipedia)

The Benefit of Balanced Mode-Share

Popular culture says when traffic conditions become too congested simply add more lanes. We look to highway authorities for solutions and they respond in kind. The trouble is building more car infrastructure simply attracts more cars and for a coastal community like Laguna there is no room to add wider roads. Adding more cars begs the question, where you gonna park 'em all?

In a town with little room to accommodate more automobiles  a multi-modal approach to moving people might serve us better. For every person walking biking or using public transit (Municipal Bus, Trolleys, OCTA) we remove one person driving a car and free a parking space. But how do we know if a multi-modal system will serve us well? Do we know how many people are already using each mode? Could more people participate in each mode?

Let's take an assessment, what-if we could measure all the travel trips people make for work, pleasure, commuting, or errands nation-wide? Fortunately the National Household Travel Survey has done just that. This post shows study results by The Victoria Transport Policy Institute for 375,000 reported trips in locations across the nation.*

POV = cars, vans, Suv's, motorcycles

Results show the mode- share for walking, biking, public transit and the Personal Owned Vehicle is dominated by POV across the nation. In Laguna the same result is evident during school commutes and the summer tourist season. This chart shows the number of trips made for short trips, long trips and those in-between, for each mode-share. To be comprehensive the researchers counted the trip from your parked car to your destination as a walking trip.*

POV= cars, vans, Suv's, motorcycles

This chart shows the portion of trips made as a percentage of the total number of trips in the study, for each distance category, for each mode-share. This chart shows 41% of all the trips nation-wide are under 3 miles long. Trips 2.1-3 miles long are not served by walking, biking or transit services. Trips greater than 2.1 miles are the exclusive domain of the POV.





How do we spend our time when traveling, how far do we go and which mode-share is used most? This chart shows how we portion our trips, time traveled, and distance traveled for each mode-share. Among the modes we highly favor taking most trips with a POV.

 
These charts show nation-wide the automobile is king while other transportation modes are totally underutilized. Balancing the mode-share with walking biking and public transit nation-wide would reduce automobile congestion. Anyone stuck in Laguna traffic would reasonably conclude a balanced mode-share would serve Laguna as well. 
 
*From 1983, 1990, 1995, 2001, 2005, and 2009 and the latest results were published 24 April 2014 by the Victoria Transport Policy Institute. Trip data considers mixed-use within a trip. Walking data includes walking from the parked automobile to the destination. See "Short and Sweet, Analysis of Shorter Trips using National Household Survey Data", 24 April 2014, Todd Litman, Victoria Transport Policy Institute.

City Transit Survey

UPDATE: 800 surveys received so far, the input period has been extended to June 6 2014.

The city of Laguna Beach is conducting a transit analysis of the transit system sponsored by Laguna Beach. The analysis will look at ways to improve service generate revenue and contain costs. The transit system consists of

• Mainline Blue and White Bus
• Laguna Beach Summer Trolley
• Sally's Fund Van
• Taxi Voucher Program

 The city Planning Department would like your help to improve the system by taking a short survey and giving your opinion. Please contribute by taking the city survey and read more details on the survey page here.

Stakeholder meetings were held in January and February, you can participate in the next one at a time and date to be determined. -LS

PREVENT ACCIDENTS or DO NOTHING?

On May 1 a Dana Point cyclist was killed when he collided with a motorist on PCH. Meanwhile in Laguna this is the view from the same highway at 7:30am. Workers park on the shoulder waiting to gain access to communities at Emerald Bay and Irvine Cove. In a letter to City Council local Laguna resident  Max Isles describes the scene:

This section of PCH is a "no stopping at any time" zone. I have called the LB police many times but nothing is done. I assume the "no stopping" is for safety reasons which would make perfect sense as sections the shoulder are not sufficiently wide to accommodate many vehicles so they protrude into the carriage way. This is a hazard and a danger to motorist but a very real and great danger to cyclists, forcing them out into the fast moving traffic. The vehicles are those of construction workers who are not granted access until 7:30am.

Dana Point accommodates bicyclists with on-road bicycle lanes and a lower vehicle speed limit - improvements made mandatory by state stature. Despite the roadway improvements another cyclist was killed. In Laguna no roadway improvements are made for cyclists and despite the obvious hazard to both motorists and cyclists nothing is done.

In Dana Point the cyclist was struck at 11:15pm on PCH at Blue Lantern. Have motor vehicle accidents become a tolerable cost of driving? The deceased 38 year old leaves behind a wife and young children, are they to grieve in private because nothing will be done? See the previous post Friday May 9 2014 at Laguna Streets.  -LS