A Day of Remembering and a Call to Action
On a beautiful sunny Sunday in downtown Los Angeles, a coalition of organizers, advocates, and neighbors convened to mark World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims. Volunteers arrived early to create a memorial garden, complete with a colorful chalk mural that read “Save Lives” and aptly named The Garden That Will Never Be. The garden comprised 746 plants — one for each person who was killed by a car in Los Angeles County last year.
In front of that memorial garden, Damian Kevitt, executive director and founder of SAFE, delivered the afternoon’s resounding message.
“What we are experiencing right now in this city, in this county, is a public health crisis — and it’s preventable,” Kevitt said. “These are not lives lost ‘by accident.’ These are preventable tragedies, which is why today we’re not saying these are ‘accidents.’ This is traffic violence.”
World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims is a global event to remember the many millions who have been killed and seriously injured on the world’s roads — but it’s also become an important opportunity to demonstrate the impact of road deaths and “advocate for urgent concerted action to stop the carnage.”
Kevitt highlighted three tools that the city of LA could use — AB 645, which would allow LA to implement speed cameras but which the city has thus far ignored; Vision Zero, which has been left to wither on the vine; and Measure HLA, which was passed by a significant margin but has yet to see widespread implementation.
One recent Measure HLA victory is the Hollywood Boulevard Safety and Mobility Project, which brought 2.1 miles of protected bike lanes to Hollywood Blvd., one of the city’s most dangerous streets.
LA City Councilor Hugo Soto-Martinez, who championed the Hollywood Blvd. project, was on hand Sunday to honor victims of road traffic violence and lend his support for safe streets in his 13th district and across LA.
“By coming here today and lifting up the lives of those we’ve lost, we’re saying that those lives were not lost in vain — we can take some of that grief and turn it into something powerful,” Soto-Martinez said. “You can always count on my support in pushing this issue, but what’s most important is that everyone here continues to fight and to organize. If we continue to do that, we’ll have a city that looks very different.”
A Day of Learning and Reflecting
Before the calls to action at the press conference podium, Sunday provided a chance to reflect, connect, and heal those whose lives have been affected by traffic violence.
Visitors learned more about local organizations, created art in memory of lives lost, and participated in a series of grounding and healing activities, including a meditative sound bath.
The sense of community was strong as folks gathered to pay honor to those we’ve lost this year to road violence — and so too was the desire for action.
“I’m here because too many people are killed on the road,” said Taylor, a long-time LA cyclist and co-host of the Bike Talk podcast. “I’m sick of seeing ghost bikes on the road. I’m sick of this idea that roads are only for speeding cars and not for anyone else — because when they’re made for speeding cars, no one else can use them.”
Omar, another Angeleno and volunteer for Los Angeles Walks who biked to the event, found himself free Sunday and wanted to be a part of what felt like a powerful day out.
“I volunteer a lot with local organizations and didn’t have plans today, so what better thing to do than volunteer for such a great event,” Omar said.
As a regular cyclist who’s been “doored” by a parked car in the past, Omar knows the dangers of biking in LA and thinks that better-informed drivers could help make streets safer.
“I bike to get groceries, and I biked here today, and I’d like to bike more,” Omar said. “I know they’re building more bike lanes around, but I don’t think that’s enough. People need to be educated on how to interact with bikers and people walking more.”
Raff, a cyclist based out of the Little Tokyo neighborhood of LA, acknowledged what all city cyclists and pedestrians know to be true: you can feel exposed on the street without a two-ton metal box protecting you.
“As a cyclist and a pedestrian, you are much more keen to the things around you, and you’re aware of your frailty because you’re in a more vulnerable position,” Raff said. “You’re trying to be more eco-friendly and abide by this different mobility model, but it does put you in danger — and you become abundantly aware of that.”
Glimmers of Hope
A moment after describing the perils of being a cyclist or pedestrian, Raff returned to the positive aspects of bicycle riding.
“Riding a bike also gives you insight into things that you wouldn’t have had insight into, like opportunities to improve things for pedestrians and cyclists — and also motorists,” Raff said, “and that perspective would’ve been lost if I didn’t take to the bicycle.”
Despite the brutal, seemingly daily reminders of our dangerous streets, Taylor, too, saw reason for optimism.
“I think there’s a little wind at our back,” said Taylor, who’s been advocating for better bicycle infrastructure for 18 years.
“Even though it often feels like two steps forward, one step back, we are starting to see some infrastructure put in, and we are starting to see some changes in city council. I think that has a lot to do with Streets Are For Everyone, Streets For All, Bike LA, Bike Talk — all these different advocates coming together with a unified message that this 20th-century road plan doesn’t work for the 21st century.”