LA To Inspect Bike Path Safety In Wake Of Deadly Accidents

LOS ANGELES, CA — With the city paying out millions of dollars recently in lawsuits connected to bicycle accidents, a Los Angeles City Council committee Wednesday voted to create a plan to inspect all bike paths and lanes and devise ways to pay for any needed repairs.

"We're all interested in seeing improvements on our bikeways and this will help move us in that direction," said Councilman Bob Blumenfield, who is chair of the Public Works and Gang Reduction Committee.

The committee's move comes after a recent Los Angeles Times article reported that the city in 2017 paid out more than $19 million in lawsuits to settle cases after cyclists were injured or killed on city streets, which was four times higher than any other year over the last decade.

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The Times also reported that 19 percent of L.A.'s bike lanes and routes are on streets graded by the city to be a D or F, and that former Bureau of Street Services employees have testified during depositions that the city abandoned the practice of regularly inspecting all of its streets roughly five years ago, although the BSS did say it began inspecting all the city's major streets four times a year as of October 2016.

Large payouts in 2017 included $7.5 million for bicyclist William Yao, who was left a quadriplegic following a crash blamed on a substandard street. Yao's attorney said he obtained copies of city reports that showed the city had received complaints about the condition of the bike lane where the accident occurred, and that an inspector had been sent out to the site, but nothing was done.

One motion that was approved by the committee would instruct the Los Angeles Department of Transportation, in coordination with the bureaus of Street Services and Engineering, to inspect the present condition of every lane mile of Class I and Class II bike paths and lanes within the city and produce a timeline and cost estimate for bringing any deficient pavement up to appropriate safety standards.

The motion would also instruct the chief legislative analyst and city administrative officer to review the report and prepare budgetary instructions necessary to effect repairs on any deficient infrastructure.

The second motion would instruct LADOT, before new on-street bicycle infrastructure is installed, to obtain a certification from the BSS that the pavement is in a state of good repair with respect to the new bicycle facility, and that both departments report back with a comprehensive plan to ensure that the pavement on the bicycle network is maintained in a state of good repair.

City News Service; Photo: Shutterstock