Life-and-Death Choices

San Fernando Valley residents are safety-conscious. Bars on windows are common. So are gated homes. Communities organize Neighborhood Watch groups. Homeowners hire private security companies and post “armed response” signs in their yards. They fret over gang violence and worry about burglaries even when statistics show crime is down. Then they get into their 3-ton sport-utility vehicles and go barreling down wide Valley street like there’s no tomorrow.

For the 62 people killed so far this year on Valley streets, there won’t be.

Traffic accidents cause more deaths and injuries in the Valley than all violent crimes combined. One casualty was crossing guard William Hooper of Tujunga, killed outside a North Hollywood elementary school Tuesday morning by a motorist who apparently was momentarily distracted and lost control of his car.

Speed is often the culprit. It kills. And in the Valley, with its straight, six-lane streets and boulevards, it kills more often than anywhere else in the city. It’s not unusual for officers in the Los Angeles Police Department Traffic Division to clock drivers going 80 mph down Balboa Boulevard or 70 mph down Victory Boulevard.

LAPD officers and others who know firsthand the toll speeding takes on Valley streets met last week for a traffic summit. One of their aims was simply to get the public’s attention even if it meant scaring us--or especially if it meant scaring us. Emergency room doctors described the grisly aftermath of motoring and mayhem. LAPD Deputy Chief Michael Bostic, who heads the Valley Bureau, told of losing a brother, a teenage friend and a former LAPD partner to traffic accidents.

And LAPD Specialist Reserve Officer Michele Sapper, her speech slurred, her movements slowed, showed photos of herself, bandaged and comatose in a hospital bed after being hit 16 years ago by a drunk driver. Now the picture of perseverance and courage, she educates the department--and young traffic offenders--about driving under the influence.

Would that every driver in the Valley could see her presentation.

The LAPD intends to do more to enforce speeding laws, Bostic told the conference, making traffic enforcement a priority not just for motorcycle officers who write the bulk of traffic tickets but for officers in patrol cars as well.

Extra vigilance is welcome. Valley residents repeatedly tell department officials that they want police to issue more tickets for bad drivers. Trouble is, in the very same breath they insist that other motorists, not themselves, deserve the tickets. They do not see themselves as part of the problem.

But simplistic as it may sound, all drivers must be part of the solution. We have to do more than buy the heaviest SUV on the market and hope that this equivalent of a gated home on wheels will help us survive a crash. We have to slow down, drive defensively, watch for pedestrians and stop treating Valley streets like freeways. We need to recognize that instead of worrying about safety, here is something very concrete we can do about it.