February 24, 2025

Dear Editor,

The terrifying surge in fatal and serious injury (FSI) collisions in Santa Monica should shock everyone who drives, bikes, walks, or rides a scooter here, but especially the 60 percent of Santa Monicans commuting to work by car or those driving children to or from school.

A summary of the City-supplied numbers: FSI’s increased 54 percent last year, the fourth consecutive annual increase. Of 60 FSI crashes, a driver was found “at fault” in 47, while 9 were considered “No Fault/Other” ("EXTRA -- Crashes Resulting in Severe Injuries, Deaths Soar," February 14, 2025).

Digging deeper, 26 of the 60 FSI collisions involved only cars, while 21 involved pedestrians, 9 involved bicyclists, and 4 involved scooters.

I drew several conclusions from the data, some rather evident and others that required a bit more ferreting and arithmetic.

The most straightforward conclusions from the evidence are likely apparent to many readers:

a. Santa Monica’s much-ballyhooed approach to traffic safety has failed to improve traffic safety. Indeed, measured by fatal and serious injuries, traffic safety here worsens, year after year.

b. The “Vision Zero” goal of eliminating severe traffic injuries and fatalities remains both important and admirable, but the investments and tactics employed to achieve that goal have failed miserably.

c. Despite abysmal and persistent failure, the City continues to advocate the same investments and tactics. (So don’t hold your breath waiting for improvement.)

Some perhaps less apparent conclusions required a bit closer attention to the City’s numbers:

d. Drivers and their passengers incurred slightly more fatalities and serious injuries (at least 26) than pedestrians (at least 21), and far more than bicyclists (likely 9), or scooter riders (likely 4). Other drivers no doubt caused most, if not all, of those driver/passenger FSI’s.

e. Most of the time that a driver was found at fault (26/47), the FSI collision was a car-on-car crash in which only a driver could have been at fault because only drivers were involved.

f. In car vs. bicycle collisions, bicyclists continued to be at fault nearly half the time (5/9), just as in 2010-2023, indicating no improvement in 2024 and repudiating the City’s docile tactic of merely reminding bicyclists to follow traffic laws. Common sense dictates that bicyclists, not drivers, incurred the bulk of FSI’s in those collisions.

g. Though the data are not entirely transparent, pedestrians and scooter operators seem rarely, if ever, found at fault. Indeed, all nine (9) of the 2024 “no fault” collisions appear to involve pedestrians or scooters. This seems counterintuitive considering the often-erratic behavior of many homeless pedestrians here. Notable homeless pedestrian FSI’s include an individual pushing a cart down Lincoln Boulevard in 1 a.m. darkness and another lying down on Wilshire Boulevard at night. (Not at fault?)

Alongside the data, several personal observations suggest the City’s tactics, investments, and priorities actually worsen the shocking FSI trend here:

h. Reduced parking forces more driving around to find a space, and obstructs visibility and right-hand lanes when cars back up to squeeze into limited spaces or even double-park.

i. Overflow from short turnout lanes, such as on Wilshire Boulevard near the college streets, blocks visibility and left-hand lanes.

j. Added congestion on major thoroughfares encourages more cut-through traffic onto residential streets.

k. New four-way city stop signs on those residential streets create dangerous mix-ups for drivers and are routinely ignored by bicyclists.

l. Narrower residential roadways from installing bicycle lanes, such as on 17th Street, limit visibility and put pedestrians at risk, while bicyclists too-often misuse the lanes to travel against traffic, or ride in the narrower street despite the bike lane.

Overall, the city’s traffic safety approach, which prioritizes education and infrastructure for bicyclists and pedestrians, but citation enforcement and “road diets” for drivers, should be redirected.

While there surely is no need to change the goal of eliminating severe traffic injuries and fatalities, a glaring need exists to change the City’s priorities to achieve that goal.

Sincerely,

Peter DiChellis
Santa Monica