Good morning LA
From time to time, local authorities implement regulations or changes to make the streets safer for pedestrians and bicycles. There is the Slow Streets program, two-way bike paths, new crosswalk signs and more.
But as KPCC / LAist transport reporter Ryan Fonseca found out while investigating the death of four-year-old Alessa Fajardo, who was fatally hit by a driver while crossing a Koreatown intersection on her way to preschool, the changes they are not being done fast enough to avoid the tragedy.
Ryan spoke to me about who is really to blame in cases like this and what is being done – or not done – to make sure it doesn’t happen again.
In your article, you talk about how there were more than 100 deaths of pedestrians and cyclists in the year that Alessa was killed. How did you decide to focus the story on the Fajardo family?
I remember seeing the latest news and headlines on Twitter, in October 2019, that a girl was hit by a driver and killed while walking to school with her mother. She was literally just a few feet away from her school, crossing as she normally did in the morning, and was killed.
I wasn’t the only one in the newsroom who was suffering from the news, and it just got me thinking about how the local news was covering it. Immediately, the term used to describe it was “tragic accident”. The police said so and reporters reiterated it. And that stood out as a striking word to use.
I heard you talk about how to use the word “accident” to describe these deaths is an inappropriate term. Can you talk more about this?
I think we treat “accident” as a neutral term, because we used it for a long time. But “accident” implies that there is no reason for this to happen; as if it were an inevitable tragedy that could not have been avoided, and no one really responsible or arrested for it.
When you look more closely, however, and see that a large percentage of vehicle collisions are the result of reckless drivers exceeding the speed limit, people getting distracted, making unsafe turns, not giving in to pedestrians, not following the rules of road, the word “accident” seems much more irresponsible.
The other part of this is that Los Angeles employees have long known the most deadly places for pedestrians in the city, that is, the places where drivers are most likely to kill people who are not in cars. The city has a plan in place to supposedly deal with the high rate of people killed, called the Vision Zero program. But we’ve been on this program for more than five years and traffic deaths have actually increased.
From a city perspective, this was not just a strange accident or a random occurrence. Putting it all together, calling what happened to Alessa Fajardo an “accident” seems like an injustice.
What tools and solutions could the city implement to make the road safer, which are not being implemented or are taking too long to be implemented?
It can be anything from relatively cheap and easy-to-do actions, like cutting crosswalks and inserting arrows to turn left, to bigger changes, like redesigning roads to include protected bike lanes.
There is something called a pedestrian advance, which gives pedestrians a three to seven second lead in the crosswalk before cars can start moving. It is on the agenda for a possible improvement in the crosswalk where Alessa was killed, but has not yet been financed.
It kind of corrodes me a little bit, because I only think if it had happened, Alessa and her mother, Erica, would have theoretically spent a few more seconds at the intersection. And they could be out of danger.
How is the Fajardo family today?
I met them a few months after that happened, so it was very difficult for them. Alessa’s toys and all her belongings were still in the apartment. They showed me the lunchbox she carried when she was killed.
They are looking for a sense of change, to make their neighborhoods safer for their next child. They have a younger daughter, Clarissa, and make a point of doing with her all the things they did with Alessa, to try to keep her memory alive that way.
What else you need to know today
Before you go … See what to do this week
Watch (virtually) any number of films and discussions, including one with Sofia Loren. Listen to African-American poets, including LA opening star Amanda Gorman. Be sweet at a chocolate festival. Learn more about the Saturday Night Live audition process. Try cooking sous vide. Go to Sundance without having to fly to Park City. And more.
Help us cover your community
- Is there anything you’ve always wanted to know about Southern California and the people who call it home? Are there any problems that you want us to address? Ask us anything.
- Do you have a tip about news that we should delve into? Inform us.
The news cycle moves fast. Some stories don’t work. Others are added. Consider today’s first draft and check LAist.com for updates on these stories and more. Follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
Never miss a LAist story. Subscribe to our daily newsletters.