The fatal crash earlier this month involving four cars at the intersection of Beverly Blvd and McCadden Place in Hancock Park provided one more reason for the Hancock Park HOA Board to ask the city to install speed cameras in the neighborhood’s major intersections at Highland and Rossmore Avenues on Beverly Blvd, Third Street, and Sixth Street.
“We have schools on 6th ( John Burroughs) and 3rd ( Third Street Elementary and Yavneh) and a record of increasing serious and fatal accidents along Beverly due to an almost complete lack of traffic enforcement and subsequent accountability – the speeders on our streets know there will be no penalties,” Cindy Chvatal Keane, President of the Hancock Park HOA told the Buzz.
Jarrett Thompson, Transportation Deputy for CD5 told Chvatal-Keane and members of the Greater Wilshire Neighborhood Council’s Transportation Committee at their meeting Thursday evening that the city is currently working on an implementation plan to determine where to deploy the speed safety cameras provided by the passage of AB 645 last Fall.
The legislation, authored by Assemblywoman Laura Friedman and supported by Streets are for Everyone (SAFE), created a pilot program in six cities including Los Angeles to install speed safety cameras that would automatically issue tickets to drivers traveling 11 MPH over the speed limit. The fines start at $50 — much less than traditional tickets issued by traffic cops — and would be treated like parking tickets.
Thompson said he is expecting a report and a draft implementation plan from LADOT and other coordinating departments soon. He said he would work with the neighborhood on their request.
“We feel the neighborhood will be safer if/when the speed safety cameras are installed and fines and penalties are enforced,” said Chvatal-Keane. Until then, Chvatal-Keane said she’d be happy to see a traffic cop stationed at various intersections handing out tickets because enforcement is essential.
Recently the California Highway Patrol (CHP) carried out a targeted traffic enforcement operation in Malibu on Saturday, January 13 with four officers enforcing traffic laws throughout the day.
According to the office of the Mayor, a total of 78 citations were issued to individuals violating various traffic regulations. The citations encompassed a variety of violations, including speeding, reckless driving, and failure to obey traffic signals.
The results were as follows:
63 speeding citations
6 seatbelt citations
2 unsafe turn citations
1 stop sign violation
1 cellphone violation
5 equipment violations
=78 total citations
The effort to improve enforcement comes in the aftermath of a tragic accident where four young women were killed by a speeding driver last fall.
“There have been eleven (11) accidents since that tragic day on October 17th, with one additional fatality. This trend is deeply concerning and demands immediate attention… traffic violations will not be tolerated, and consequences will be enforced to maintain public safety,” said Mayor Uhring in a press statement.
Streets Are For Everyone (SAFE), founder Damian Kevitt told the Buzz when we spoke to him after a fatal accident at Hancock Park Elementary School, the most common denominator of traffic violence is speed. He attributes much of the speeding to a lack of enforcement.
“Reckless speeding has created a public health crisis on our roads. While city and county officials go through the very slow and expensive process of reengineering streets to make them safer in the future, we need a way to protect our communities from traffic violence RIGHT NOW. AB 645 is part of that solution,” said Kevitt.
