INDICATOR

 STATUS

Accidents involving pedestrians and bicyclists rose in from 186 in 2005 to 200 in 2006.  However, as shown in the table below, they still fell below 2002 high point.  Between 2002 and 2006, the number of vehicle pedestrian accidents has dropped 14% while vehicle bike accidents fell 1%. Fatalities associated with those accidents have dropped from 1.8% to 1.0% between 2002 and 2006.

The City of Santa Monica is committed to promoting a safe and walkable community that meets the needs of its residents and visitors. Making conditions safer for walking and biking will encourage a greater number of people to utilize these healthy, sustainable modes of transportation. 

The city’s educational campaign to facilitate this goal has included the use of billboards and trailers in movie theaters to educate pedestrians and drivers about right-of-way issues in the city and encourage drivers and pedestrians to be cautious and respectful as they share the roadway. In addition to education, changes to the physical landscape have occurred. These include redesigning major streets and eliminating traffic lanes in favor of bike lanes, wider sidewalks and medians. Additional safety improvements have included traffic calming and installing street trees, pedestrian lighting, and embedding flashing yellow lights in the pavement to illuminate some crosswalks.  

It would appear that the educational campaign and modifications to the existing hardscapes in the city have helped reduce the number of traffic accidents involving pedestrians and bicyclists.   However, the severity of injury of resulting from those accidents is mixed.  Where pedestrians are involved, it is slightly worse; with bicycles, slightly better.

Disturbingly, the proportion of hit and run accidents involving vehicles and either pedestrians and bicyclists hovered around 15% in both 2005 and 2006.

Injury and Death
The proportion of vehicle pedestrian accidents resulting in injuries worsened considerably, from 72% of accidents to 84% between 2002 and 2006.  The vehicle pedestrian accidents resulting in death improved a bit, from 3% to 2% during that time span.  

Injuries occurring as a result of vehicle bicycle accidents improved from 75% to 71% between 2002 and 2006.  There were no vehicle/bicycle fatalities in either 2002 or 2006. 

Since 1995, national rates of pedestrian fatalities have dropped as a percentage of total traffic fatalities, due to implementation of various measures to proactively address the causes of pedestrian traffic fatalities.  Unfortunately, rates of pedestrian fatalities in California have risen slightly over the past three years, from 19 to 20 per million population.  Rapidly increasing congestion in the state’s urban areas may be the cause of this difference from national trends.

The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration reports that:
● 4,874 pedestrians and 725 bicyclists were killed in traffic crashes in 2006 accounting for over 14% of all US traffic fatalities.
● On average, a pedestrian is killed approximately every 2 hours and injured every 9 minutes.
● 79% of national pedestrian fatalities in 2006 occurred at non-intersection areas.
● For those injured in traffic crashes nationally, 28% were bicyclists under the age of 16.