
A
critical barrier to improved traffic safety is our car-oriented
culture. To help create culture change around traffic safety, the
Los Angeles
County Department of Arts & Culture
placed an artist in residence with the PLACE Program for a two-year
residency. The role of the artist was to help increase empathy for
people walking and biking, especially youth and the elderly, and to
help create internal culture change at County departments to think more
creatively.
Clement Hanami
was selected as the Artist-in-Residence because of his work at the
Japanese American National Museum, where he has years of experience
communicating effectively about the history of our nation’s internment
of Japanese Americans during WWII, and his success in touching
hearts and minds about those terrible events.
Clement's residency included going out in the
community and talking to people, hearing about their experiences with
traffic collisions and near misses, and doing art projects with them
about traffic safety. His approach has demonstrated how using art to
engage community can help people feel heard by their government in
new ways, help them feel safe, and even help them heal and process
traumatic events like car crashes.
In late 2019/early 2020, Clement worked with youth at
Woodcrest Library on Normandie Ave, a
Vision Zero Collision Concentration Corridor, on messages
they wanted to share with drivers.
The resulting artwork was installed on bus shelters and billboards along Normandie on Oct
26th, 2020 and ran until mid-November 2020.
In October 2021, their artwork went on display at Woodcrest Library,
along with a new bike rack designed and installed to spread the message
of traffic safety and pedestrian awareness. Images are provided above
and below.
In December 2021, Arts & Culture released an evaluation of the program,
which is available on their website.
Los Angeles County
Launches Slow Streets Program

To make
it easier for people to safely exercise and commute during the COVID-19
pandemic, Los Angeles County has launched the
Slow
Streets program
for unincorporated areas. Slow Streets is a temporary program aimed at
alerting drivers to slow down making it easier to walk, bike, or roll
while physically distancing. As part of the program, Los Angeles County
Public Works will install temporary signs with “Slow Down” messaging,
free of charge, on qualifying streets.
Individual residents, community groups, or
other organizations can sponsor a slow street network by visiting VisionZeroLACounty.com
and submitting an application.
To be eligible for signing, streets must be local residential streets,
and part of a network of neighborhood streets that can also be signed.
Slow Street Sponsor responsibilities
include,
promoting the purpose of the program to fellow residents; notifying LA
County Public Works if the signs or equipment posts are missing,
broken, or vandalized; and communicating with the County if people are
gathering/not social distancing.
Slow Streets is part of the County’s efforts to promote streets that
are safer for physical activity and active transportation. Between 2013
and 2017, traffic fatalities on unincorporated County roadways
increased by nearly 28 percent. The Board of Supervisors has adopted a
Vision Zero Action Plan to eliminate traffic-related deaths and severe
injuries on roadways in unincorporated areas of the County.
For more information on Slow Streets and
Vision Zero, please visit www.VisionZeroLACounty.com or call 833-VZ4-LACO
(833-894-5226). For more information on COVID-19 in Los Angeles County,
visit the County's
COVID-19 Response website (http://covid19.lacounty.gov).
LA County Board of
Supervisors Adopts Vision Zero Action Plan

Between
2013 and 2017, over 3,400 people lost their lives in traffic collisions
on roads throughout Los Angeles County. Of these deaths, 383 occurred
in unincorporated areas of the County. During this same time, traffic
fatalities on unincorporated County roadways increased by nearly 28
percent.
In an effort to enhance traffic safety, the Board of Supervisors
approved a motion on August 4, 2020
authored by Los Angeles County Supervisor Hilda L. Solis, and
co-authored by Supervisor Janice Hahn, to adopt Vision Zero Los Angeles
County: A Plan for Safer Roadways, which establishes a goal of
eliminating traffic fatalities in unincorporated areas of the County by
2035.
The motion directed Los Angeles County Public
Works and Public Health to co-lead implementation of the action plan by
forming a Vision Zero Steering Committee, launching pilot programs on
three or more Collision Concentration Corridors, and providing an
annual Vision Zero progress report. Learn more about the County’s
Vision Zero program
here.
Articles & Research
Health Effects of Air Pollution
Associated with Development Near Freeways and High-Volume Roads (March
2019)
Studies indicate that residing near sources of traffic pollution is
associated with adverse health effects including asthma in children,
impaired lung function, and cardiovascular disease morbidity and
mortality. Given the preponderance of highly trafficked roadways in Los
Angeles County and existing and new development near these roads, the
Los Angeles County Department of Public Health prepared "
Public Health Recommendations to Minimize the Health
Effects of Air Pollution Associated with Development Near Freeways and
High-Volume Roads.” These recommendations are intended for
developers, planners, government officials, and others working on
development within your jurisdiction.
Preventing Traffic Deaths - The
Critical Role of Clinicians
Traffic collisions are a leading cause of death for both adults and
children in Los Angeles County. Clinicians have an opportunity to
support Vision Zero, a multidisciplinary effort to end traffic
fatalities in LA County. In the
July
2019 issue of Rx for Prevention, DPH describes concrete actions
clinicians can take to advance traffic safety including: engaging
patients in conversations about practicing safe transportation
behaviors, sharing their first-hand experiences about victims of
traffic collisions to promote culture change, advocating for local
policy changes, and encouraging their patients to get involved with
local advocacy efforts.
How do pedestrians fare in motor
vehicle collisions?
DPH used data from the Los Angeles County Emergency Medical Services
Agency trauma database to evaluate outcomes for people hit by a car
while walking. Over a two-year period, 4713 people were hit and 235 of
them died – that’s two people per week (see
infographic). People hit at speeds greater than 20
mph were more likely to be injured, disabled or die than people hit
speeds under 20 mph (
see brief).
Direct costs of medical care for
bicyclist and pedestrian victims
To place in perspective the economic losses that result from motor
vehicle crashes, DPH calculated the minimum direct costs of medical
care for pedestrian and bicyclist victims of motor vehicle collisions
in Los Angeles County. In 2014, direct costs were $63.4 million (see
brief and
methods).
Building Awareness about Equity and the
Social Determinants of Health
The social determinants of health are the conditions in which people
are born, grow, live, work, and age. These circumstances, such as
access to high-quality education, housing, and financial resources, are
the most responsible for health inequities - the unfair and avoidable
differences in health status seen within and between communities.
Building broad awareness and understanding of the social determinants
of health and the policies that have created health inequities is an
important step to move towards racial equity, social justice, and
healthier communities.
In order to support this goal, the PLACE program developed two GIS
Story Maps: “
Hidden Health Hazards: How Our Environments Shape Us”
and “
Let’s Walk!” The Story Maps can be embedded and
linked from any website, and should be broadly used for education to
connect the dots around what determines health and overcoming barriers
to walking. In addition, the PLACE program is supporting the Department
of Regional Planning’s (DRP) Equitable Development Work Program through
the Healthy Design Workgroup. DRP reports regularly to the Board with
status updates.