Pedestrians

Two women were killed and a man critically injured Tuesday when they were struck by a vehicle in a crosswalk, authorities said. Sgt. Chris Tatar of the West Hollywood sheriff's station said at least two cars were involved in the accident, which occurred at 6:24 p.m. near the corner of Fountain and La Brea avenues, on the border of West Hollywood and Los Angeles. After colliding with another vehicle, one car continued along Fountain and struck the pedestrians in the crosswalk, Tatar said.

Merna, 70, and Everett Taft, 71, of Edina, Minn., went everywhere together. They were "snowbirds," moving to California for six months each winter to get away from the Minnesota cold and to be near their son, Brad, and his family. On Dec. 1, they celebrated their 49th wedding anniversary, Brad Taft said. Hand-in-hand, the energetic couple would take daily walks through the neighborhood surrounding Canyon Villas Senior Apartments in Canyon Country where they rented an apartment.

Marked crosswalks, which had lost favor with transportation engineers, are making a flashy comeback. For decades, painted crosswalks have been disappearing from streets all over the country. Cities purposely paved them over or let them fade away, ever since a 1970 San Diego study found that having visible lines can lull pedestrians into a false sense of security and increase accidents. Later studies reached the same conclusion.

The fields of art and architecture are pretty close buddies, for all their obvious differences. The outward signs include the increased popularity of architecture exhibits at art museums and controversial art museum designs proposed by noted architects (most recently, Renzo Piano's scheme for a new Newport Harbor Art Museum building and Michael Graves' proposal to expand the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York.

Concerned that pedestrian safety is often sacrificed for improved traffic flow, a Los Angeles city councilman called Tuesday for improvement projects in neighborhoods where there have been many fatal pedestrian accidents. Councilman Eric Garcetti said his motion was introduced in response to a Los Angeles Times analysis last month that found that pedestrian deaths were clustered in high-density minority communities, including several neighborhoods in his district.

In the worst fatal accident in Metrolink's two years of service, a little girl, her mother and her grandfather were killed in Glendale on Monday as they apparently sought a shortcut to visit the girl's ailing grandmother, authorities said. The accident occurred shortly after 10 a.m., underneath a car and pedestrian bridge at 900 Western Ave., just east of the Golden State Freeway.

Few elements of the streetscape confuse people more than the flashing red hand of the don't-walk signal. When the red hand blinks, do you walk? Do you run? Do you turn around and race back to the curb? But Huntington Beach officials are trying to clarify the confusion with a new signal that might be coming to an intersection near you. The signal looks similar to don't-walk signs but has an important distinction.

Police may arrest and search bicyclists for riding on the wrong side of the street if the cyclist has no identification, the California Supreme Court ruled Monday. The state high court based its decision on a U.S. Supreme Court ruling last year that upheld the arrest and jailing of a Texas mother who was taken into custody because she and her two children were not wearing their seat belts.

A 67-year-old woman was killed after she was hit by a car while crossing the street Thursday morning. Hariet Shadur of Tarzana was struck at 7:45 a.m. in the 18900 block of Rosita Street, a Los Angeles Police Department spokesman said. The driver, Rennie Wrudel, 55, also of Tarzana, was not charged. There was heavy fog at the time of of the accident and Shadur was wearing gray clothing, police said.

Would "Rodeo Promenade" have the same ring? The Beverly Hills City Council could in the next month consider whether it's time to take the "drive" out of world-famous Rodeo Drive -- at least on the block between Wilshire Boulevard and Dayton Way -- and turn it into a pedestrian-only zone. Beverly Hills Vice Mayor Jimmy Delshad wants the city to study the feasibility of banning Mercedes-Benzes, Ferraris, Rolls-Royces and Porsches (and lesser vehicles) from the 200 block.