An advocate for safer L.A. streets says the Los Angeles Times is wrong to blame the increase in pedestrian fatalities on the upward creep of speed limits on major boulevards and avenues.
Jay Beeber, executive director of SaferStreetsLa.org, says the L.A. Times is buying into an ideology being pushed by a city agency and its allies.
“She clearly got this information from LADOT (Los Angeles Department of Transpiration) which is on record as supporting this effort to gut our speed trap laws and change the way that we do this and be able to lower speed limits at will – as low as they want. They’re on record for this. So, all these talking points are LADOT talking points. And we know this because of their propaganda they’ve put out. All of the talking points from the bike and ped advocates.”
The argument made by the L.A. Times in their reporting cites the example of Zelzah Avenue, calling it “one of Los Angeles’ most dangerous streets in terms of the number of collisions that have resulted in severe injury or death, particularly among pedestrians and bicyclists.”
But, says Beeber, the people backing Vision Zero, have an agenda.
“Everything they do is driven by ideology. It’s not driven by facts and data and logic. It’s driven by, ‘We hate people who drive cars. They shouldn’t be driving cars. They’re destroying the planet. They’re causing congestion and everybody should be taking public transit.’ ”
Beeber was a guest n McIntyre in the Morning.
By Sandy Wells
KABC News
