On Tuesday, street safety advocates and families of victims of vehicle collisions demanded that Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass declare a state of emergency on traffic violence in the city.
Sandra Sanchez Loulakis’s son [was killed] by a negligent driver [last year].
“I’ve been struggling just to survive daily,” she said at the news conference organized by traffic safety nonprofit Streets are for Everyone. “This is what happens to a parent when they lose a child.”
The city has seen 8% more fatal traffic collisions this year than during the same period last year, according to LAPD data from the end of August.
Unpopular opinion, but I believe the solution is to make licenses harder to get and keep. Make the written and practical tests more difficult, and require both more often. Suspend licenses after 1 accident or two tickets, and require in-person classroom training and passing of tests to reinstate. Permanent loss of license after 3 accidents or 6 tickets. This would have the added benefit of creating the demand necessary to improve public transportation. Make having a license be a privilege again.