By Emilie St. John
Contributing Writer
INGLEWOOD — Mayor James Butts is responding to resident’s concerns about traffic safety issues through a mayoral initiative.
Residents have consistently complained about traffic concerns in the 8th Avenue corridor between Crenshaw and 76th Street and the new mayoral initiative seeks to start the process of bringing relief to the residents who have asked for more assistance in this area.
Residents along 8th Avenue have complained for years about the city’s failure to provide relief from the many drivers who speed along the thoroughfare which has resulted in the death of a family’s pet, a near fatal crash where a resident was pinned between her home and a vehicle, and the destruction of a garage after a speeding driver crashed into it.
Most recently, Sikivu Hutchinson appeared at a May City Council meeting demanding the city take measures to address their concerns.
“I am here to basically insist that you take seriously the fact that there has been a dramatic escalation of accidents in the 8th Avenue corridor over the past seven years,” Hutchinson said at the time. “We have had multiple homes crashed into and just had an egregious hit-and-run accident that occurred a few days ago, and we continue to have this cycle of egregious, harmful and insidious accidents in this corridor.”
Residents have been routinely denied approval of speed bump applications to prohibit the dangerous driving activity.
“Part of our vetting process [for speed hump applications] is input from the fire department and that is a main artery for fire equipment to be able to rapidly respond to paramedic calls and fire calls,” Butts said during a council meeting in 2021.
The Los Angeles County Fire Department responded to a public records request confirming that it has no input on such applications and has not issued any denials for speed hump applications.
Last October, the city enlisted the services of Willdan Engineering to conduct a survey of 106 street segments in the city to establish updated speed limits. Although some intersections had their speed limits reduced, the 8th Avenue corridor and the stretch of 90th Street between Crenshaw Boulevard and Van Ness Avenue were not reduced.
Butts’ initiative includes purchasing and installing speed feedback signs in those corridors.
According to a city staff report, “speed feedback signs provide real-time visual reminders to motorists of their operating speed, encouraging voluntary compliance with posted speed limits, while also collecting valuable traffic data to guide future engineering, education, and enforcement decisions.
The purpose of the initiative is to collect continuous traffic data to support future engineering and enforcement decisions, improve roadway safety by reducing excessive vehicle speeds, respond to community concerns regarding speeding, reduce the likelihood and severity of speed-related collisions, and improve safety for pedestrians, bicyclists, and motorists.
Each speed feedback sign will not only alert drivers to their speed, but will also continuously collect transportation data. The feedback signs allow for the collected information to be displayed in graphical reports. In addition to displaying volume and speed information, the graphical reports will identify speeding trends to help law enforcement narrow their enforcement windows.
The city will spend $82,125 to purchase 10 signs. The initiative does not indicate when the signs will be purchased and installed.
Emilie St. John is a freelance journalist covering the areas of Carson, Compton, Inglewood and Willowbrook. Send tips to her at emiliesaintjohn@gmail.com.
