The death of 9-year-old Nadir Gavarrete, who was struck by an alleged drunk driver while crossing the street in Koreatown, has intensified calls for urgent traffic safety measures in Los Angeles.
Nadir was riding an e-scooter alongside his 19-year-old brother, Carlos, when the accident occurred at the intersection of New Hampshire Avenue and 4th Street. Carlos was seriously injured and taken to the hospital, while Nadir was pronounced dead at the scene.
This tragic incident underscores the grim reality of traffic-related fatalities in Los Angeles, where a pedestrian is injured every five hours and killed every two days.
Statistical data from the Los Angeles Police Department reveals that L.A. has one of the highest per capita pedestrian death rates in the U.S., with 2.9 deaths per 100,000 people.
Koreatown, one of the densest areas in Los Angeles—boasting a population density of 44,000 people per square mile—sits along the city’s “high injury network.” This network is comprised of just 6% of streets that account for 70% of traffic injuries and fatalities.
Recognizing the danger, the city of Los Angeles applied for a federal grant in 2011 to improve safety at the New Hampshire and 4th intersection. The initiative included plans for a roundabout and enhanced crosswalks, aimed at reducing the risk of accidents.
Despite winning the grant and holding numerous community meetings, the much-anticipated safety improvements have yet to materialize. After eight years since the initial discussions and a presentation showing a safer intersection design, the project remains unstarted.
Now, following the tragic loss of young Nadir, the community is left grappling with anger and sadness, as they ponder how a planned improvement could stall for so long amid bureaucratic delays.
While there are multiple reasons attributed to the prolonged inaction on such projects, the central narrative is about the tangible consequences of these delays.
City leaders must understand that their failure to act rapidly has real-life ramifications, often resulting in fatalities, as seen in this heartbreaking case.
Questions loom over what it will take for Los Angeles to prioritize pedestrian safety. Data indicates that the city currently allocates more resources to legal settlements for victims of traffic incidents than it devotes to Vision Zero, a city initiative aimed at eliminating traffic fatalities.
Since declaring itself a Vision Zero City in 2015, aimed at achieving zero deaths from vehicle collisions by 2025, the situation has only worsened, with several children tragically killed while walking to school in recent years.
Despite facing a budget crisis largely of its own making, the city continues to underfund the Los Angeles Department of Transportation (LADOT) and essential street safety measures.
In contrast, one can only imagine the response if there were consistent fatalities from falling elevators—substantial action would be taken immediately, without the same bureaucratic hurdles that plague traffic safety improvements.
Yet, the deadly status quo of traffic fatalities continues to be somewhat accepted as a part of life in Los Angeles.
Cities like Hoboken, New Jersey, have successfully achieved Vision Zero, reporting eight years without a traffic-related death after implementing significant safety upgrades to curbs, crosswalks, and intersections.
New York City is also making strides in its Vision Zero initiatives, boasting pedestrian death rates that are nearly one-third of those seen in Los Angeles.
To avoid remaining an outlier in this regard, Los Angeles must raise its funding for Vision Zero programs and streamline the bureaucratic processes that hinder progress.
A single intersection improvement should not necessitate multiple community meetings or neighborhood buy-in when the aim is to make life-saving enhancements.
Unless urgent action is taken, more tragedies like the death of Nadir Gavarrete may continue to unfold, leaving families shattered and communities outraged.
image source from：latimes
