A Slice of Laguna Beach

Yesterday an article in the Laguna Beach Patch asked, “Is It Impossible to Have a Truly Bike and Pedestrian-Friendly Laguna?” Our answer is obviously “no”, not only because it is possible, but due to the necessity of all road users getting a fair shake, and to increase safety, a lot of work on the part of all stakeholders looms ahead despite an online petition (with 265 signatures) to: Create Safe Bike Lanes In Laguna Beach, and Caltrans DD64 directing the agency to implement Complete Streets, the drive and passion of the public is needed to tell their city leaders what priorities are needed, and how funding may be secured and spent.

Earlier we posted a Slice of Irvine which showed a busy pie chart of cyclist injury and death. At tonight’s workshop hosted by Transition Laguna Beach, we will present a similar chart for Laguna Beach.  Of note is the difference between the two locales of the assigned fault to cyclists. Does this indicate a bias on the reporting agency? The graphic on the left depicts the number of cyclists injured or killed in Laguna Beach from 2001.

And now for the pie chart!

LBPie

A Slice of Laguna Beach

The chart represents the 3 fatalities and 81 injuries that occurred in this city. While the numbers are a far cry from the 6 fatalities and 445 injuries from Irvine, the assigned fault is so drastically different that  seeing both charts on the same page might be instructive. (Note: Blue is cyclist’s fault, red belongs to motorists)

Irvine01-12 Pie

A Slice of Irvine

Not surprisingly, 83.9% of Laguna Beach’s collisions occur on  4 roads listed in decreasing order: PCH, Laguna Canyon/ 133, El Toro, and Legion.  Almost 55% of collisions in Laguna Beach are shown in the following map of collisions:

LB3M

Laguna Beach Collisions

There is plenty to talk about, especially with an eye to the future, so join us this Sept. 13, from 7-9 p.m. at the Neighborhood Congregational Church’s Bridge Hall, at 340 St. Anne’s Dr.

Thanks for your support!