A number of organizations dedicated to protecting the interests of pedestrians exist across the entire country. There’s New York’s Transportation Alternatives, Portland’s Willamette Pedestrian Coalition, and there’s even a group right here in San Francisco aptly called Walk San Francisco.
It may come as a surprise then that one of the biggest pedestrian-centric cities in the state of California doesn’t have a similar advocacy group: Los Angeles. Much of the problem stems from the fact that improving the lives of all types of walkers isn’t exactly the most pressing issue on many Los Angelenos’ minds. City officials and residents alike have tended to downplay the importance of pedestrian safety.
Until now. The founder of a group known as Los Angeles Walks is bringing pedestrian safety front and center in the public consciousness, and doing so with some degree of success. For the first time ever, Los Angeles is slated to bring on two dedicated pedestrian coordinators to focus solely on walkers’ issues. This is reportedly the result of an increase in sales tax designed to help with transportation issues in the city.
As a personal injury lawyer in San Francisco, I’m already incredibly proud of the efforts that pedestrian safety organizations have done in this city. I wish more cities would pick up the baton and run with it, and I’m glad to see LA doing its part to preserve walker safety, especially with that city’s large number of automobiles that could endanger a pedestrian. I hope as a San Francisco car accident lawyer that the efforts are successful.