Did you know:

Los Angeles has one of the highest rates of childhood asthma in the country.

Traffic costs the local LA economy $19 billion per year in lost productivity.

Traffic is stressful - so stressful, that incidents of nighttime domestic violence increase by 9% on the worst traffic days.

A pedestrian is killed by a car in the City of LA about every 3 days.

In cities that have prioritized infrastructure for buses, bikes, and walking the air has improved an average of 14%.

Roads have to be repaved every 1,000 years if only carrying pedestrians, bikes, or scooters. They have to be repaved every 15 years if carrying cars. 10 years for SUVs. And 4 years for heavy trucks.

The average bus in Los Angeles travels at 10.8 miles per hour - about the same as the average cyclist or scooter rider.

Wheelchair users have a 36 percent higher likelyhood of being killed in car-pedestrian crashes than non-wheelchair users.

Two-thirds of all trips made inside of the City of Los Angeles are less than five miles.

Los Angeles is the most congested metro area in the United States - if you commute by car, you'll spend nearly a week per year of your life stuck in traffic.

The LA basin ranks worst in the nation for year-round Ozone emissions and fifth for Particle Pollution.

Los Angeles has a pedestrian fatality rate nearly four times the national average.

Living in Los Angeles, you smoke up to 4 cigarettes per day just by breathing.

In crashes, there is an 80% chance of death when a vehicle travels over 40mph, but only a 5% chance if traveling under 20mph.

Complete Street Myths

“If you take away a vehicle traffic lane, you will kill local businesses.”

False. If you make the street feel more like a neighborhood street instead of a highway, more people will want to frequent it. 50% of trips in L.A. county are under 3 miles, or a ~15 minute bike/scooter ride. Give people a safe and less stressful option to get to/from local businesses and they’ll frequent them more.

Source(s): 1, 2, 3

“If you take away parking, you will kill local businesses.”

False. Traffic and looking for parking are stressful and deter customers. Giving people a way to get to/from a business outside of a car is good for business. One parking spot generally delivers one customer, where in the same space you can have 5 or 6 customers on bikes or scooters. We want to bring you more customers without increasing the need for parking. “Customers not cars.”

Source(s): 1

”You have to have a car if you have kids.”

False. Studies have shown kids experience more of their surroundings by moving slower. Fresh air is better for their development. And there are a variety of cargo e-bikes and carriers that make carrying children fun and easy.

Source(s): 1

“Road diets make pollution worse.”

False. The increase in drive time is often minimal - less than a minute for most road re-configurations and have no effect on CO2 emissions. Since buses, bikes, scooters, scooters have marginal or non-existent CO2 emissions, they make the air far cleaner compared to cars.

Source(s): 1, 2

“Emergency vehicles won’t be able to get through!”

False, the opposite is true. Dedicated bus lanes are perfect for moving emergency vehicles quickly through gridlock traffic. And bikes can easily move over or onto the sidewalk where cars - usually stuck in traffic - have a much harder time pulling over at rush hour.

Source(s): 1, 2, 3

“No one bikes in LA anyway.”

False. More than 30,000 people bike every day in the City of LA. The reason more don’t? Safety. If you build infrastructure, they will come. L.A. in particular has nearly year round perfect weather and a relatively flat topography. If you give people safe infrastructure, they’ll use it (and this will reduce traffic-causing car trips).

Source(s): 1, 2, 3