On Thursday, 4 August, shortly after 1:30 pm, a 37-year-old woman traveling at a high rate of speed, ran a red light through the intersection of Slauson and La Brea in Windsor Hills, South LA. She slammed into 6 cars, three of which burst into flames, causing a mass road fatality incident with 6 dead, including a pregnant mother and her son, who was just days away from his 1st birthday. 8 others were injured -  a 33-year-old woman, 6 children ranging from 13 months to 15 years old, and the driver who caused the crash. Some witnesses said she was traveling as fast as 100 MPH in a 45 MPH zone.

The section she was traveling on, a six-lane road passing near single-family homes, parks, and an elementary school, is known for its high speeds over the hill. 

While this absolute tragedy is the worst seen in the area, it is by far not the first. In fact, in 2022, fatalities in unincorporated Windsor Hills have more than doubled compared with all fatal collisions of the 10 years prior. These fatalities are 100% preventable. Road safety measures DO EXIST. LA County Dept of Public Works has the tools to make roads safer and prevent reckless speeding, they are just not applied to this area of South LA.

Community members of the predominantly African-American Windsor Hills-View Park/Baldwin Hills area have been requesting changes to the enforcement of speeding as well as pleading for improvements to be made on their roads to make them safer - preventing drivers from even being able to reach extreme speeds. Pleas which, till recently, have been ignored.

It’s time to raise our voices so they can not be ignored and demand changes to prevent further mass road fatality incidents. We are requesting that: 

1) Fair and equitable traffic enforcement is evident and available to the community immediately while,
2) The longer-term traffic re-engineering takes place to PREVENT drivers from ever being able to reach fatal levels of speed. 

These measures are very much available and within county leader’s and the Department of Public Works’ control. They just need the will to get them done.