Following the bloodiest year for pedestrians in Los Angeles in decades, state legislators have overturned jaywalking rules amid the city's efforts to decrease these fatalities. However, a prominent prosecutor has questioned the new regulations' efficacy in terms of life-saving.
New Jaywalking Regulation Causes Controversy
According to Fox News, the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) reports that the city is on course to witness a decrease in pedestrian deaths this year compared to 2022 when they reached a 20-year high. Still, suspected jaywalkers accounted for roughly 75% of the fatalities.
Deputy District Attorney John McKinney has described the tragic results as "predictable outcomes."
Out of the 26 pedestrian deaths in Los Angeles until August 7, McKinney stated, "The new law ... has already led to 19 fatalities due to unsafe crossings. California's pedestrian fatality rate is [already] 25% above the national average."
According to McKinney, the new jaywalking ordinance is an example of "equity run amok." He has been highly dismissive of soft-on-crime policies in general in his bid to defeat District Attorney George Gascon in the forthcoming 2024 race.
McKinney said that the reason lawmakers legalized jaywalking was to decrease police interaction with the public. The new law's proponents said that it would make it harder for police to target minorities in their stops and searches. Minimizing traffic laws has predictably led to an increase in pedestrian fatalities.
James Gallagher, head of the Republican Party in the California State Assembly, told Fox News that legalizing jaywalking is a display of California Democrats' "reckless disregard for public safety." He added that the measure endangered Californians in the name of a radical program to abolish legal repercussions.
FOX 11 reports that Democratic legislators had a role in the removal of jaywalking restrictions due to concerns that the rules disproportionately affected low-income and minority neighborhoods. "It should not be a criminal offense to safely cross the street," Phil Ting, a Democrat from San Francisco's state assembly, told the publication a year ago.
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The Bloodiest Year for LA Pedestrians
Los Angeles had just come off its worst year for pedestrians in two decades, according to LAPD figures examined by Streets Are For Everyone (SAFE), a local charity. The poll occurred when the state's new Freedom to Walk Act legalized most cases of jaywalking in the state in January.
Earlier this year, SAFE head Damian Kevitt claimed that 159 pedestrians died in the city in 2022. The sum was 20% higher than in 2021.
The study indicates that both overall traffic deaths and bike fatalities climbed from 2021 totals, marking the first time this has happened since 2003.
SAFE reports that the majority of pedestrians killed in road accidents are those living on the streets. They have a 40.2 times higher risk of dying in a fatal vehicle accident than the general population.
