Fatal car crashes in Los Angeles have risen 32% since 2015, despite efforts to slow vehicles down and warn drivers of pedestrians in the street.
Mayor Eric Garcetti released the initiative Vision Zero in 2015 to eliminate traffic deaths on LA streets by 2025. So why has it only gotten worse on the streets since the initiative began?
According to coroners data, more people have died in traffic collisions - 932- than were shot to death in Los Angeles.
“We are failing on Vision Zero,” Michael MacDonald, an architect who has lobbied for more protected bicycle lanes, told the LA Times. “That doesn’t mean Vision Zero is a failure. We’re failing because we’re not acting.”
Vision Zero however has worked in New York City where deaths have fallen 33% since it's beginning in 2014.
The guiding philosophy of Vision Zero is that "no death or serious injury in a traffic collision is acceptable."
To ensure safer streets, the Transportation Department made around 1,400 changes to streets in the last two years. Timing on traffic signals was changed, fresh paint was added to hundreds of crosswalks and white plastic posts were installed at dozens of street corners to force drivers to slow down.
Mayor Garcetti says a large portion of the money raised from the gas tax will pay for more makeovers of major streets in LA that officials say are the most dangerous.
Read more here.