{"id":8398,"date":"2023-01-18T14:33:30","date_gmt":"2023-01-18T22:33:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/?p=8398"},"modified":"2023-01-22T17:41:12","modified_gmt":"2023-01-23T01:41:12","slug":"300-la-traffic-deaths-in-2022-activists-blame-streets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/?p=8398","title":{"rendered":"300 LA Traffic Deaths in 2022, Activists Blame Streets"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A story by Dakota Smith in the Los Angeles Times <a href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/california\/story\/2023-01-14\/traffic-deaths-rise-again-in-2022-with-marked-increase-in-pedestrian-fatalities\">reports<\/a> that traffic deaths in the city have hit a two-decade high.\u00a0 More than half of the deaths involved vehicles hitting pedestrians or people on bicycles, both which significantly increased compared to prior years.\u00a0 This comes as the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reported that traffic fatalities nationally remained flat over 2022.\u00a0 What is causing this increase?\u00a0 The Los Angeles Times did not inquire into how many traffic fatalities involved an intoxicated driver.\u00a0 With an estimated 69,000 homeless in LA, many using drugs, riding bicycles and wandering the streets, it might be that pedestrians and bike riders are part of the problem, but this was not reported.\u00a0 Last March, the Los Angeles Police Commission announced that LAPD Officers were no longer authorized to make traffic stops.\u00a0 This limits officers from pulling over cars weaving, turning without a signal, failing to stop at a stop sign or driving with an expired registration.\u00a0 Losing the ability to stop a driver who is intoxicated and\/or blatantly ignoring traffic laws might actually encourage traffic fatalities.\u00a0 This concern was not reported in the Times.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Another factor might be that District Attorney George Gascon releases traffic offenders, even drunk drivers involved in fatal accidents, without bail and often does not even charge them with a crime.\u00a0 One example:\u00a0 On Sunday, January 2, 2022 a woman and her 13-year-old daughter were driving through an intersection in the the LA County town of Norwalk when a speeding car ran a red light and T-boned their car.\u00a0 Both died from their injuries.\u00a0 CBS Los Angeles <a href=\"https:\/\/losangeles.cbslocal.com\/2022\/01\/05\/loved-ones-upset-da-refuses-to-charge-woman-in-deadly-crash\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">reports<\/a> that the driver of the speeding car, 26-year-old Brittany Lopez, was driving without a license.\u00a0 Investigators believe that Lopez was under the influence of drugs and alcohol.\u00a0 She was arrested on charges of vehicular manslaughter which can be charged as a felony.\u00a0 Running a red light through a crowded intersection at high speed resulting in death can be charged as gross vehicular manslaughter, a violent felony.\u00a0 Depending on the toxicology report, Lopez could have faced charges of \u201cgross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated,\u201d which carries a possible sentence of 15-years in prison.\u00a0 But before the toxicology report was available, Lopez was released from jail after the district attorney\u2019s office refused to file charges against her for <em>any<\/em> crime.<\/p>\n<p>Los Angeles news sources reported that last Monday, a suspected drunk driver in his 20s crashed his car into a parked vehicle, killing two passengers.\u00a0 On January 9, a hit-and-run driver crashed into a car in South Los Angeles, sending a 35-year-old mother and her 18-month-old son to the hospital in critical condition and killing another son, 13.\u00a0 On January 6, LAPD officers arrested the suspect in a hit-and-run that killed a mother on Christmas Eve.\u00a0 On January 1, a hit-and-run driver struck a person in a wheelchair in North Hollywood. According to police, a white sedan was traveling northbound on Lankershim Boulevard when it struck the wheelchair leaving the victim with severe injuries.\u00a0\u00a0 How many of these criminals were drunk?\u00a0 How many had been released for earlier offenses for which they were not prosecuted?<\/p>\n<p>The Times didn&#8217;t look into any of this, focusing instead on a city transportation bureaucrat and an activist associated with a group called &#8220;Streets Are For Everyone.&#8221;\u00a0 Both believe that re-engineering the streets and educating folks to drive more safely will solve the traffic fatality problem.\u00a0 It won&#8217;t.<\/p>\n<p>When you eliminate the consequences for breaking the law, you end up with more people breaking the law.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A story by Dakota Smith in the Los Angeles Times reports that traffic deaths in the city have hit a two-decade high.\u00a0 More than half of the deaths involved vehicles hitting pedestrians or people on bicycles, both which significantly increased compared to prior years.\u00a0 This comes as the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reported that traffic fatalities nationally remained flat over 2022.\u00a0 What is causing this increase?\u00a0 The Los Angeles Times did not inquire into how many traffic fatalities involved an intoxicated driver.\u00a0 With an estimated 69,000 homeless in LA, many using drugs, riding bicycles and wandering the streets, it might be that pedestrians and bike riders are part of the problem, but this was not reported.\u00a0 Last March, the Los Angeles Police Commission announced that LAPD Officers were no longer authorized to make traffic stops.\u00a0 This limits officers from pulling over cars weaving, turning without a signal, failing to stop at a stop sign or driving with an expired registration.\u00a0 Losing the ability to stop a driver who is intoxicated and\/or blatantly ignoring traffic laws might actually encourage traffic fatalities.\u00a0 This concern was not reported in the Times.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39,68,45],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8398","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-policing","category-prosecutors","category-public-order"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>300 LA Traffic Deaths in 2022, Activists Blame Streets - Crime &amp; 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