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L.A. Drivers Kill Pedestrians, Cyclists at High Rate

Study by University of Michigan finds pedestrians account for about one-third of all traffic fatalities in Los Angeles.

Drivers in Los Angeles kill pedestrians and bicyclists at a significantly higher rate than nationally, according to a study reported by a Southland newspaper today.

The study by the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute found that pedestrians accounted for about a third of all traffic fatalities in Los Angeles, or nearly triple the national average of 11.4 per cent, the Los Angeles Times reported in an article on its website. About 3 percent of the fatalities were bicyclists, compared with 1.7 percent nationally.

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The numbers are even worse in urban New York, where 49.6 percent of traffic fatalities were pedestrians and 6.1 percent were bicyclists, according to the study.

The study, which compared crash rates in Los Angeles, New York and nationwide, examined data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, California Highway Patrol and the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles, according to the Times. The database included 449,498 crashes
within L.A. city limits, with 2,086 involving at least one death during an eight-year period from 2002 through 2009.

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The University of Michigan researchers found that women who lived in Los Angeles were less likely to be in an accident than men, the Times reported, and men accounted for a higher proportion of fatalities than the national average—62.3 percent compared with 57.6 percent.

The study also found that there are more fatal crashes at intersections in Los Angeles (36 percent versus 22 percent in the U.S.), and more fatal crashes at speeds of 35 mph or less (66.5 percent in L.A. versus 21.8 percent in the nation as a whole).

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