Stop The Traffic Fatalities in Windsor Hills-Baldwin Hills
The effect of traffic violence is devastating in L.A., and the events of August 4th were a reminder of how necessary the push for safer streets is and that city officials must stand up and fight to stop these horrific crashes from occurring.
For those of you who didn’t hear, on Thursday, August 4th, a 37-year-old female was driving at a high rate of speed southbound on LaBrea here in Los Angeles. She was allegedly drunk and some witnesses said she was traveling as fast at 100 MPH. She drove at this high speed into a busy intersection — Slauson & LaBrea — without even attempting to slow down. She hit several cars causing them to immediately burst into flames as they flew across the intersection towards a gas station, hitting several other cars along the way. All told 6 people were killed, including a pregnant mother and her 1-year-old child. 8 other people were seriously injured and transported to the local trauma unit.
SAFE immediately, with the permission and urging of the family members, gathered members of the community and families to remember those lost and say Enough Is Enough to traffic violence in South LA at a Prayer and Vigil for Safe Streets on August 7th. At this prayer and vigil, we remembered those killed and prayed for the health of those severely injured in this horrific crash. In addition, we called on city officials to start prioritizing life over people’s ability to drive at recklessly high rates and stop being complacent about roads and intersections that are known to be dangerous. Another purpose of the vigil was to remind the public that they need to drive responsibly, don’t drink or do drugs and drive, put down their cell phone, and, most importantly, slow down!
Check out some of the news pieces on the vigil and our Faith for SAFEr Streets efforts: KTLA ABC7.
While this absolute tragedy is the worst seen in the area, it is by far not the first. In fact, in 2022, fatalities in unincorporated Windsor Hills have more than doubled compared with all fatal collisions the 10 years prior. These fatalities are 100% preventable. Road safety measures DO EXIST. The LA County Dept. of Public Works has the tools to make roads safer and prevent reckless speeding, they are just not applied to this area of South L.A.
Community members of the predominantly African-American Windsor Hills-View Park/Baldwin Hills area have been requesting changes to the enforcement of speeding as well as pleading for improvements to be made on their roads to make them safer - preventing drivers from even being able to reach extreme speeds. Pleas which, until recently, have been ignored.
It’s time to raise our voices so they can not be ignored and demand changes to prevent further mass road fatality incidents. We are requesting that:
1) Fair and equitable traffic enforcement is evident and available to the community immediately while,
2) The longer-term traffic re-engineering takes place to PREVENT drivers from ever being able to reach fatal levels of speed.
These measures are very much available and within the county leaders’ and the Department of Public Works’ control. They just need the will to get them done.