Los Angeles logged more traffic deaths than homicides for a third straight year running into 2026, even as the raw numbers finally started to bend downward. The city recorded 290 traffic deaths in 2025, a 6% drop from 2024, and still 60 more than the year's homicide count.1 That's the current state of a problem Los Angeles set out a decade ago to solve entirely, and mostly hasn't.
The death toll, by the numbers
Go back one more year and the picture gets more specific. LAPD data for 2024 shows 170 pedestrians killed by vehicles, down from 185 in 2023 but still almost double the 88 pedestrian deaths the city recorded in 2015.2 Hit-and-run crashes killed 98 people that year. Severe-injury collisions, the ones just short of fatal, hit 1,522, the third straight year above 1,500.2
Geography does a lot of the explaining. In the LAPD's own multi-year tally, the 77th Street and Southwest patrol divisions, both covering large parts of South LA, each logged 31 traffic deaths, more than any other area of the city. Southeast division wasn't far behind at 23, while Downtown, Van Nuys, and Westlake each recorded 12.2 Back in 2021, the worst year for LA crashes in nearly two decades, 68% of the city's 294 traffic deaths happened in South LA and the San Fernando Valley combined, two parts of the city that share wide, fast arterial streets and heavy foot traffic.3
The trend hasn't reversed on the ground this year. Through the first half of 2026, LAPD logged 750 crashes citywide resulting in a serious injury or death, up 5% from the same stretch of 2025. Fifty-four of those crashes involved a car and an e-bike, part of a rise that LAPD Capt. Anthony Espinoza has tied to younger riders who, in his words, "don't understand the rules of the road."4
Where the crashes cluster
Ask LAPD which intersections it's watching right now and the list is specific: Figueroa Street and 7th Street downtown, 11 crashes so far this year; Highland Avenue and Pat Moore Way near the Hollywood Bowl, 6; Century Boulevard and Main Street in South LA, 5; and Sherman Way at the 170 Freeway on-ramp in the San Fernando Valley, also 5.4
A longer look tells a different story. An analysis of LAPD collision records from February 2021 through February 2025 found South Figueroa Street and Slauson Avenue, in the Vermont-Slauson neighborhood, logged 66 serious collisions over that stretch, including 17 felony hit-and-runs and seven pedestrians struck in the crosswalk. It sits a block from a 110 Freeway off-ramp.5 Sepulveda Boulevard and Roscoe Boulevard in Panorama City ranked second at 65 collisions, including a hit-and-run that killed a 38-year-old cyclist.5 Crosstown, which ran the analysis, found that many of the city's worst intersections cluster near freeway exits and ramps, where drivers are still carrying highway speed onto a surface street built for something slower.5
Back in 2021, the specific intersections LADOT flagged for pedestrian danger included Cesar Chavez Avenue and Soto Street, Avalon Boulevard and Imperial Highway, De Soto Avenue and Lassen Street, and Hollywood Boulevard and Highland Avenue. For cyclists, the worst spots were Humboldt Street and San Fernando Road, Anaheim Street and King Avenue, Valley Vista Boulevard and Van Nuys Boulevard, and La Brea Avenue and Sunset Boulevard.3
A safety plan that missed its own deadline
Los Angeles adopted Vision Zero in 2015 under Mayor Eric Garcetti, targeting zero traffic deaths by 2025.6 It didn't come close. Annual deaths never dropped below 280 at any point in the program's first decade, and citywide fatalities actually rose 58% between the 2015 launch and 2021 alone.3 A city-commissioned audit released in 2024 explained why: the Vision Zero steering committee stopped meeting by mid-2018, the action plan hasn't been updated since that year, and by the end of 2023 all 56 of its planned safety actions remained incomplete, half of them already past their original 2020 deadline.6 The audit also pointed to falling traffic enforcement, tied to LAPD staffing shortages, as part of the problem.6 The city has still put close to $350 million into Vision Zero infrastructure since 2015, and LADOT proposed new locations for speed safety cameras this past February.1
The data behind the program explains where that money is supposed to go. Just 6% of the city's street miles, a set of wide arterial corridors LADOT calls its High Injury Network, account for 70% of pedestrian deaths citywide.3 These are streets engineered for speed but lined with homes, bus stops, and crosswalks. Most run through South LA and the San Fernando Valley.
Outside the city limits
The numbers look different once you leave the city of LA for the rest of the county. Los Angeles County overall recorded 58,758 people killed or injured in crashes in 2023, along with 12,319 speed-related collisions, 7,118 crashes in the overnight 9 p.m. to 3 a.m. window, and 7,398 hit-and-runs, according to the California Office of Traffic Safety.7 On the county's unincorporated roads, the ones the Sheriff's Department and County Public Works handle directly rather than a city police force, an average of 100 people die and 450 more are severely injured every year.8 The county has set its own target of eliminating traffic deaths on those roads by 2035.9
Federal money has started following that data. A Safe Streets and Roads for All grant is funding $21.5 million in fixes along what engineers call "collision-concentration corridors": Firestone Boulevard between Miramonte Boulevard and Grape Street in Florence-Graham, Alameda Street between 83rd and 94th streets, and 92nd Street from Elm Street and Wilmington Avenue to Alameda Street.9 The county has also named specific local projects now underway, including safety work on City Terrace Drive, a Florence-Firestone corridor initiative, traffic calming in Lennox, and a Vision Zero implementation project on Mulholland Highway.8
The freeways
Surface streets draw most of the intersection-level scrutiny, but the freeway network carries its own risk. A fatal crash on the southbound 405 at Sepulveda Boulevard in September 2025 shows a pattern investigators see often: a truck swerved onto the shoulder and struck a pedestrian who had stepped out of a stopped car, then hit a second vehicle. CHP said alcohol was a factor in the crash, which shut down every southbound lane except the carpool lane for about five hours.10
The bigger picture
California's traffic deaths fell nearly 11% statewide, from 4,539 in 2022 to 4,061 in 2023, according to the Office of Traffic Safety.11 Nationally, NHTSA's early estimate puts 2024 traffic deaths at 39,345, down about 3.8% from 40,901 the year before.12 Los Angeles moved in the same direction over that stretch, but the city's 2025 total was still well above the roughly 240 deaths a year the city was recording when Vision Zero launched, at the point when the program was supposed to have already reached zero.
If you've been in a crash on any of these roads, sorting out the paperwork and insurance calls afterward can feel almost as disorienting as the crash itself. An attorney who handles these cases regularly can tell you quickly whether you're looking at a simple claim or something more complicated. You can find one through the legal directory.
This article is general information, not legal advice.
Sources
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LAist, "Traffic collisions and Vision Zero," https://laist.com/brief/transportation/traffic-collisions-vision-zero
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Crosstown LA, "Traffic deaths in Los Angeles exceed murder total for second consecutive year," https://xtown.la/2025/01/27/traffic-deaths-in-los-angeles-exceed-murder-total-for-second-consecutive-year/
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LAist, "2021 was the deadliest year for LA crashes in nearly 20 years. How did it get so bad?" https://laist.com/news/transportation/traffic-violence-surges-in-los-angeles-2021
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ABC7 Los Angeles, "Police target LA's most dangerous intersections as number of serious crashes spikes," https://abc7.com/post/los-angeles-police-target-las-most-dangerous-intersections-number-serious-crashes-increases/19277762/
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Crosstown LA, "The most dangerous intersections in Los Angeles," https://xtown.la/2025/10/15/most-dangerous-intersections-in-los-angeles/
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LAist, "Lack of political will and poor coordination hamper LA goal to eliminate traffic deaths, audit finds," https://laist.com/news/transportation/lack-of-political-will-and-poor-coordination-hamper-la-goal-to-eliminate-traffic-deaths-audit-finds
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California Office of Traffic Safety, Los Angeles County 2023 crash rankings, https://www.ots.ca.gov/rankings/los-angeles-county-2023
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Los Angeles County Public Works, Vision Zero LA County, https://visionzero.lacounty.gov/
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CBS News Los Angeles, "Safe Streets grant targets improved safety for drivers, pedestrians," https://www.cbsnews.com/losangeles/news/safe-streets-grant-targets-improved-safety-for-drivers-pedestrians
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NBC Los Angeles, "Alcohol was factor in crash that killed person on 405 Freeway, CHP says," https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/405-freeway-crash-sepulveda-pass/3775600/
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California Office of Traffic Safety, Traffic Safety Quick Stats, https://www.ots.ca.gov/ots-and-traffic-safety/score-card/
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NHTSA, "NHTSA Estimates 39,345 Traffic Fatalities in 2024," https://www.nhtsa.gov/press-releases/nhtsa-estimates-39345-traffic-fatalities-2024