Our Streets, Our Lives: Why South LA Needs Speed Cameras Now
As a pastor who has served South Los Angeles for over 15 years, I’ve seen too much preventable tragedy on our streets. I’ve comforted families who lost loved ones to reckless drivers, and I’ve advocated to city officials to get basic safety measures like pedestrian lights and bus stops for our community. When my friend Charles Ray was killed in a hit-and-run right here in South LA, I knew I had no choice but to continue demanding better for our community. That’s what brought me to support the push for speed safety systems in Los Angeles, because every day we delay, another family gets an empty chair at their dinner table.
I’ve spent decades advocating for safety in our neighborhoods. I’ve organized town hall meetings, gathered petitions, and pushed city council members until we got pedestrian lights and bus stops where our families needed them. I know what it takes to make change happen. But I also know the difference between promises and action, and right now, our elected officials are giving us plenty of promises while our people keep dying on these streets.
The numbers don’t lie. LA recorded 336 traffic fatalities last year, breaking 300 deaths for the second year running. Since our city promised to end traffic deaths through Vision Zero in 2015, fatalities have increased by 81%. Behind every number is a family forever changed, a community that lost someone who mattered.
We already have all the tools to start saving lives today. Governor Newsom signed Assembly Bill 645 in 2023, giving Los Angeles the power to install speed cameras that immediately change how drivers behave. The law was written to be fair: reduced fines for struggling families, warnings before penalties, and every dollar going back into making our streets safer. But while San Francisco launched their cameras in March and Oakland is gearing up to launch theirs in the fall, LA is still stuck in meetings and planning sessions.
I know change is possible because I’ve made it happen. When our corner needed a pedestrian light, I didn’t wait for someone to finally notice and put one up. I called meetings, knocked on doors, and didn’t stop until that light went up. When we needed bus stops, I fought until we got them. I’m still fighting for two more pedestrian lights in South LA because that’s what you do when lives are at stake.
Speed cameras work the same way pedestrian lights work: they make drivers slow down and pay attention.
Studies show they reduce crashes by 54% on city streets. Cities across America have been using them for years to protect neighborhoods just like ours.
We’re planning another town hall at Gethsemane Christian Love MBC on South Avalon Boulevard because that’s how change happens, when we make our voices impossible to ignore. But I shouldn’t have to keep organizing meetings for something this obvious. The technology is proven. The funding is there. The law is passed. What we need now is leadership with the courage to act. Speed cameras can start saving lives immediately, but only we can move forward immediately.
As someone who has walked these streets fighting for safety, who has buried too many people lost to preventable tragedies, who understands what it means to lose someone you care about—I’m asking our city leaders to stop playing with our lives.
Mayor Bass, City Council members, LADOT, you have the tools. You have the legal authority. You have the technology. What you need now is the courage to use them. Speed cameras can start changing driver behavior today, but only if we act now.
Charles Ray didn’t have to die. The next person doesn’t have to die either. We can not afford to stand by quietly while preventable tragedies continue happening in our community. Our children deserve better. Our families deserve protection.
It’s time to prove that South LA lives matter as much as anyone else’s.
Pastor Patricia Strong-Fargas is Senior Pastor of Mt. Salem-New Wave Christian Fellowship Church and Community Liaison for LAUSD’s 1st District. She has been a longtime advocate for street safety and social justice in South Los Angeles and is the Co-Chair of Faith for SAFEr Streets.
