“Calles Más Seguras para Familias y Niños”

In California and in the Central Valley, a markedly disproportionate number of Latinos are hit and either injured or killed by vehicles while they are walking to work, school, and other routine destinations. Nearly half (49%) of children and youth pedestrian victims in California are Hispanic, according to a report published in October 1997 by the California Department of Health Services’ Emergency Preparedness and Injury Control (EPIC) Branch. In addition, while comprising 30 percent of California’s population, Latinos accounted for 37 percent of all hospitalized pedestrian fatalities and injuries in 1998, according to the Surface Transportation Policy Project’s Dangerous by Design: Pedestrian Safety in California.

The Local Government Commission (LGC) produced a Spanish language fact sheet on how conventional land use and transportation decisions made at the local level adversely – and often disproportionately – affect the health, well-being, and vitality of Latinos in the Central Valley and throughout California. The fact sheet proposes smart growth solutions for Latino communities, including traffic calming and other design tools.

This 8-page Spanish language fact sheet (PDF, 1 MB) illustrates images of good and bad examples of street design patterns in the San Joaquin Valley communities and how poor design plays an important role in increasing the number of pedestrian injuries.

Calles Más Seguras para Familias y Niños (PDF, 1 MB)

This publication was developed and produced with a LEGACI grant by the Great Valley Center in Modesto, CA.