This past week, the city of Laguna Beach in Orange County announced they would take part in Vision Zero. Vision Zero is a national campaign with the goal to help communities eliminate all traffic, bicycle, and pedestrian fatalities to zero. This campaign was founded in the progressive country of Sweden, which is also a country with high pedestrian and cycling traffic.
Unfortunately, the growing trend in Orange County cities including Laguna Beach, has been an upward report in the number of bicycle and pedestrian traffic accidents. In the past year, there were 17 bicyclists that were fatally killed in the county. On average, Orange County has had 12 bicycle traffic deaths per year. The number of pedestrian traffic accidents has also seen an increase, although the population increases of cities in Orange County cannot be discounted in the increase number of accidents as well.
In order to try to prevent accidents, and as part of Vision Zero, Laguna Beach is adding more bicycle lanes, and alternative bicycle routes so that cyclists can avoid riding on the very busy Pacific Coast Highway. The city is making a conscious effort to also have proper safety instructional courses for pedestrians and bicycle riders in the city. Hopefully these conscious efforts help both vehicle drivers and cyclists to become more self aware on the roads to be able to share them safely. These types of accidents can be easily avoided, and the goals for Vision Zero can be achieved with everyone getting involved.
If you have been involved in an accident and you or a loved one has been injured, please contact the Law Firm of Rivers Morrell for a free consultation to discuss your claims at (949)305-1400. Our experienced attorneys and staff will work diligently on your claims, and take care of all communications so that you can focus on recovering from what has happened, and healing!
