If you drive in Los Angeles long enough, you already know which lights make your stomach tighten. Recent crash data confirms which ones actually deserve that reaction, and the pattern is not random. A small number of corners, concentrated in South Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley, produce a disproportionate share of the city's serious collisions.
Where the crashes cluster
Crosstown, a data journalism project run out of USC's Annenberg and Viterbi schools, pulled four years of Los Angeles Police Department collision records, February 2021 through February 2025, and ranked the city's intersections by serious crashes.1 The LAPD's transition to a new records system cut the usable window about 7.5 months short, so Crosstown supplemented the gap with Compstat reports.1 Even with that limitation, it's the most current intersection-level ranking available for the city.
The top of the list:
- South Figueroa Street and Slauson Avenue, a block from a 110 Freeway exit in South LA: 66 serious collisions in four years, including 17 felony hit-and-runs and seven pedestrians struck in crosswalks.12
- Sepulveda Boulevard and Roscoe Boulevard in Panorama City, near a 405 Freeway exit: 65 serious collisions, including one fatal hit-and-run that killed a 38-year-old cyclist.12
- Figueroa Street and Manchester Avenue: 61 serious collisions over the same period.2
- Roscoe Boulevard and Van Nuys Boulevard: 59 serious collisions, 14 of them felony hit-and-runs.2
Most of the intersections on Crosstown's full ranking of 25 sit in South Los Angeles.1
The corridors behind the corners
None of these intersections sit in isolation. LADOT's Vision Zero program maintains a High Injury Network, the set of streets that produce a wildly outsized share of the city's severe and fatal crashes.3 As of the department's most recent update, 7.5% of city streets account for more than 60% of the deaths and severe injuries suffered by people walking.3 Figueroa Street, Sepulveda Boulevard, Vermont Avenue, Western Avenue, Olympic Boulevard, Pico Boulevard, Wilshire Boulevard, Normandie Avenue and Venice Boulevard all sit on that network.3 Wide lanes and long signal cycles show up again and again on these corridors, especially near freeway ramps, which is part of why Figueroa and Sepulveda keep producing dangerous crossings wherever they meet another arterial.
Why the city keeps missing its own deadline
Los Angeles adopted Vision Zero in 2015, with a stated goal of eliminating traffic deaths entirely by 2025.4 That didn't happen. No year since the program launched has seen fewer than 280 traffic deaths, and 2024 closed with 303, according to preliminary LAPD data.4 The city has put nearly $350 million into the program over that span.5
An independent audit commissioned by the Office of the City Administrative Officer, released April 11, 2025, cost $500,000 and reviewed the program's first seven years.4 It found that Vision Zero's steering committee had stopped meeting by mid-2018, that the department's action plan hadn't been revised since that year, and that half of the 56 safety strategies due for completion by 2020 were still unfinished as of the end of 2023.4 Funding leaned heavily toward engineering projects, with comparatively little going to enforcement, education or evaluation.4
There's a bit of good news in the most recent numbers. Traffic deaths fell to 290 in 2025, a 6% drop from 2024, though pedestrians still made up more than half of that total, and traffic deaths outpaced homicides by 60.5
A new enforcement tool arrives on 125 corners
The next phase of LA's response runs through Sacramento. Assembly Bill 645, signed in 2023 and codified at Vehicle Code sections 22425 through 22431, authorizes six California cities, Los Angeles among them, to run automated speed cameras through a pilot program that sunsets January 1, 2032.6 Cities with more than 3 million residents, a bracket that only Los Angeles fits, can deploy up to 125 systems.6 Cameras flag vehicles going 11 mph or more over the limit. A first violation in that lowest band draws a warning, with fines after that ranging from $50 up to $500 for triple-digit speeds, plus a $25 appeal fee added to Government Code section 70615 for anyone who contests a citation.6
The Los Angeles City Council adopted final camera location maps in March 2026, choosing roughly eight sites per council district, with extra cameras routed to the districts carrying the heaviest crash concentrations.7 Site selection weighed speeding history, crash records, and proximity to schools, senior centers and unmarked crosswalks, not just raw traffic volume.78 Installation is expected to run through the summer, followed by a warning-only period before citations and fines begin later in 2026.8 Separately, LADOT reported finishing 26 new crosswalks this summer on Winnetka Avenue, Saticoy Street, Normandie Avenue, Venice Boulevard, Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, Whittier Boulevard and Pacific Avenue, with 100 more planned.9
Beyond the city line
Los Angeles County runs a parallel Vision Zero effort for unincorporated communities that sit outside LADOT's jurisdiction entirely. County officials report an average of 100 traffic deaths and 450 severe injuries each year in those areas, and have targeted City Terrace Drive, the Florence-Firestone neighborhood, the Lennox community and Mulholland Highway for specific safety projects.10
Zoom out to the county as a whole, city and unincorporated areas combined, and the numbers get worse. Los Angeles County recorded 273 pedestrian deaths in 2023, more than any other county in California, along with 959 serious pedestrian injuries, also the state's highest total.11 Statewide pedestrian deaths that year totaled 1,106, meaning LA County alone accounted for roughly a quarter of them.11
If you're hurt at one of these intersections
A crash at a known high-injury intersection can still turn into a dispute over fault, especially when a driver claims they didn't see a pedestrian or cyclist until the last second. Photos of the intersection, the police collision report, and any nearby camera footage, including from the new speed safety systems once they're live, can all matter later. If you're dealing with injuries from a crash at one of these locations, an attorney who handles these cases can help you sort out what the evidence supports. You can start at the legal directory.
This article is general information, not legal advice.
Sources
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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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ABC7 Los Angeles, "Most dangerous intersections in Los Angeles revealed, including along 405 in San Fernando Valley and near 110 in South LA," https://abc7.com/post/most-dangerous-intersections-los-angeles-revealed-including-405-san-fernando-valley-110-south-la/18014896/
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LADOT Livable Streets, Vision Zero program and High Injury Network, https://ladotlivablestreets.org/programs/vision-zero
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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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LAist, "Traffic deaths in LA," https://laist.com/brief/transportation/traffic-collisions-vision-zero
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California Legislative Information, Assembly Bill 645 (2023-2024), https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB645
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Streetsblog Los Angeles, "L.A. Seeks Input on Proposed Speed Camera Locations," https://la.streetsblog.org/2026/02/11/l-a-seeks-input-on-proposed-speed-camera-locations
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Los Angeles Department of Transportation, Speed Safety System, https://ladot.lacity.gov/speed-safety-system
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Los Angeles Department of Transportation, Weekly Update: July 30, 2026, https://ladot.lacity.gov/dotnews/weekly-update-july-30-2026
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Los Angeles County Public Works, Vision Zero, https://visionzero.lacounty.gov/
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UC Berkeley SafeTREC, 2025 Traffic Safety Facts: Pedestrian Safety, https://safetrec.berkeley.edu/2025-safetrec-traffic-safety-facts-pedestrian-safety