We are now one year away from 2025, when Los Angeles aimed to reach zero traffic deaths, and yet the problem continues to grow. worse, not better. After breaking records in 2022, we now have data from last year and it is not pretty. As LAPD Chief Michel Moore recently said, more people died in traffic collisions than in murders last year.
In 2023, 337 people were killed by cars on the streets of Los Angeles, an increase of 8% compared to 2022, according to the LAPD. In fact, deaths on our roads have nearly doubled since 2015, when the city committed to “Vision Zero.”
When I started doing this work through Streets for All in 2019, we used to sadly claim that a pedestrian dies once every three days in Los Angeles. Today, that number has increased: one pedestrian dies every two days. Compared to 2015, when 88 pedestrians were killed on Los Angeles streets, last year 176 pedestrians were killed. Pedestrian deaths have duplicate in just eight years, when they are supposed to be in decline.
The nation as a whole has seen an increase in recklessness on the road since the pandemic began in 2020, including drunk driving, distracted driving, excessive speed and road rage. In that time, Los Angeles has become the most dangerous city in the country to walk in. In 2022, only New York City had deadlier streets for pedestrians. By the end of 2023, Los Angeles had eclipsed New York City, and by a long shot (176 deaths vs. 114). During the first week of 2024, the city experienced nine car accident deaths, including five pedestrians. That means more than one Angeleno died every day from road violence during the first week of January.
As residents and voters in Los Angeles, we may have differences of opinion on whether we should make room for a safe, connected bike network or dedicated bus lanes. However, all of us, including drivers, are pedestrians at times. We should all agree that any pedestrian death is unacceptable, and it is even worse that we continue to break records year after year. It is also unacceptable that we spend more money settling claims from people injured on our streets than we do making our streets safer. For example, in 2017 we spent $27 million on Vision Zero and $31 million settling liability claims for people who were injured on city streets.
How do we reverse this? One way is with Measure HLA, on this March's ballot. Despite approving its 2035 Mobility Plan in 2015 to improve road safety and access to all modes of transportation, the city has long neglected it, either due to a lack of political will or poor interdepartmental communication. Measure HLA would have the city automatically implement its own plan every time a street is repaved, saving money and ultimately saving lives. For pedestrians, the plan includes 560 miles of “pedestrian-enhanced districts,” which would include safety improvements specific to people walking.
If a serial killer was on the loose killing more than 300 Angelenos every year, we would launch a citywide manhunt to end the wave. With car accidents among the leading causes of child deaths in Los Angeles and the number of pedestrian deaths being the highest in decades, shouldn't we treat traffic safety with the same sense of urgency?
Michael Schneider is the founder of streets for everyone.
