It is not a surprise to most people in the L.A. area to learn that they have one of the highest accident fatality rates in the United States. As a result, the Vision Zero initiative was begun in 2015. The focus is to reduce traffic deaths to zero within ten years. One of the ways in which this imitative is trying to work is by lowering some speeds limits and ensuring that other streets have better signage regarding the speed limit.
Lowering speed limits has been showed to both lower the number of car accidents and reduce the deaths when accidents do occur. If you have been involved in a car accident, whether speed was a factor or not, we urge you to contact The Law Offices of Larry H. Parker at 800-333-0000 for a free legal consultation.
The new speed limits
The mayor of Los Angeles announced that there will be new speed limits on more than 70 streets in and around Los Angeles. These new limits are also coming along with more speed enforcement to try and improve compliance. While 45 of these limits are going down, 26 actually had their speed limits increased. This is due to the fact that in some cases, drivers were speeding to stay with the flow of traffic and slower drivers were actually causing accidents.
The seriousness of fatal car accidents in Los Angeles
Last year, nearly 250 people were killed in car accidents in Los Angeles. This is actually a 6% decrease from the year before, but it is still well short of the 20% decrease the mayor was aiming for. It’s also important to note that in the same period, pedestrian deaths went up by 80%. Most experts say the increase in pedestrian deaths is the result primarily of increased cellphone usage.
Speed matters
Those who are against the changes say that they are not convinced that speed has much of an impact. However, studies prove them wrong. For example, one study published in the Accident Analysis and Prevention Journal found that if a pedestrian is hit by a car traveling 40 miles per hour, they have a 50% chance of dying. On the other hand, when the speed is reduced to 25 miles per hour, their chance of dying is just 10%.
We will keep our eye on changing traffic laws
At The Law Offices of Larry H. Parker we deal with the tragedy of car accidents and other vehicle accidents every day. We know how serious they can be and how they can affect the lives of everyone involved with the victims. This is why we hope that these and similar initiatives will be successful in reducing traffic deaths to zero. In the meantime, we will keep an eye on changing laws to ensure that we can hold at-faulty parties responsible. If you are in need of a free legal consultation, contact us at 800-333-0000 today.
