Traffic collisions in Los Angeles killed 290 people last year, and more than 150 fatal collisions involved pedestrians, according to Los Angeles Police Department data.<\/p>\n
That means L.A. is far from the goal it set more than a decade ago of reaching zero such deaths by 2025. Still, there was a 6% decrease in traffic fatalities compared to 2024. That tracks with trends that appear to suggest traffic fatalities are dropping nationwide.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was happy to see the decrease, but I believe we can do better,\u201d Lony\u00e1 C. Childs, commanding officer of the South Traffic Division of the LAPD, told LAist. <\/p>\n
Childs said prioritizing education about safe driving habits and enforcement of speeding and red light rules could further reduce traffic violence in L.A.<\/p>\n
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Traffic fatalities claimed more lives in the city last year than homicides, which, according to police data, are also on the decline.<\/a> At a January rally demanding action on traffic violence, L.A. City Councilmember Hugo Soto-Mart\u00ednez pointed to this fact and said the city\u2019s political institutions aren\u2019t doing enough to bring traffic fatalities down.<\/p>\n \u201cThey don\u2019t act with the level of urgency that they would [when] something is more sensationalist,\u201d Soto-Mart\u00ednez said. \u201cBut every single day, people are dying in our streets.\u201d<\/p>\n How does L.A. compare nationally?<\/p>\n The early 2020s saw a sharp increase in traffic deaths nationwide, which researchers hypothesize is due to drivers adopting riskier behaviors on the road. The rate of traffic fatalities grew at a faster rate during that time period in L.A. compared to the U.S. as a whole, according to data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.<\/p>\n Preliminary federal data<\/a> show signs that traffic fatalities are decreasing nationwide.<\/p>\n \u201cSo changes that we’re observing now are, in my mind, the transition out of the peak that happened [during] the COVID-19 pandemic,\u201d Matthew Raifman, a transportation researcher at UC Berkeley, told LAist.<\/p>\n Data from the LAPD indicate that 2025 is the second consecutive year that traffic fatalities on city streets have decreased, but they remain higher than pre-pandemic levels.<\/p>\n Raifman said that, generally speaking, a sustained decrease over a three- to five-year window is a strong indicator of increased safety on roads.<\/p>\n What is the city doing about traffic violence?<\/p>\n In 2015, then-Mayor Eric Garcetti adopted a policy framework known as Vision Zero to zero out traffic deaths by last year.<\/p>\n The city has so far invested nearly $350 million as part of Vision Zero, according to data from the office of the city administrative officer.<\/p>\n Most of that money has supported making high-priority corridors in L.A. safer through various infrastructure projects, public outreach and speed surveys.<\/p>\n The city has also invested $13.5 million under the Vision Zero umbrella to fund overtime for LAPD officers to conduct speed safety enforcement along city streets that see the highest number of traffic-related injuries and collisions.<\/p>\n An audit released in April 2025<\/a> found that a lack of cohesion across departments, an unbalanced approach and insufficient political will ultimately hampered the city\u2019s Vision Zero program. In response, the L.A. City Council late last year approved a suite of recommendations to revamp the program.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n How to reach me<\/p>\n If you have a tip, you can reach me on Signal. My username is kharjai.61.<\/p>\n In a statement, the office of L.A. Mayor Karen Bass said it \u201cfully supported the implementation of the City\u2019s new recommendations to strengthen traffic safety and achieve the goals outlined in Vision Zero.\u201d<\/p>\n L.A. is expected to launch speed safety cameras throughout the city<\/a> later this year. The program, which five other California cities are also piloting, will cite speeding drivers on dangerous roads.<\/p>\n