smasha

L.A.'s Bloody Hit-and-Run Epidemic

https://www.laweekly.com/2012-12-06/n...-injured/full/

i'd like to have a copy of this in A&S. if you want to make comments about "illegal aliens", do it in P&R.

eja_ bottecchia

You can't have a discussion about L.A.'s "epidemic" without discussing some of the reasons for the "epidemic." but if you want to be self-limited, then so be it.

As far as I am concerned L.A. has become a dangerous cesspool for bike riders. You can ignore some of the reasons for this, but you do it at your own peril.

I once lived, went to school, worked and rode my bike in L.A. and I have seen the changes.

But like I said, you ignore the problem at your own peril.

smasha

wasn't my idea to move the previous thread to P&R

eja_ bottecchia

Oooops....my apologies to you then.

dynodonn 

Too bad that the woman's case, in the OP article, was sloppily handled. In her case, it was basically to get the roadway cleared and traffic flow back up to speed, no evidence gathering whatsoever. The car is King in L.A.

unterhausen

I have never thought that hit and run was particularly easy to get away with. I suspect the LAPD disinterest in these crimes may be one of the reasons the percentage is so high. Although 48% seems to be an outlandishly large number.

agent pombero

Catching hit and run driver isn't sexy enough for the LAPD. Which is more impressive (and pulls in more $$$$): catching the hit and run driver or busting a growhouse?

JoeyBike

Good Greif! And I thought New Orleans was the "Wild West". Over 60% are living in poverty in NOLA. Nearly 50% drive drunk regularly. I could not find our hit and run data for 2012 but it does happen a lot. Thing is - everyone takes it very seriously. Since I have no statistics all I have is the law as written:

Whoever commits the crime of hit-and-run driving where there is no death or serious bodily injury shall be fined not more than five hundred dollars, imprisoned for not less than ten days nor more than six months, or both ...


Whoever commits the crime of hit-and-run driving, when death or serious bodily injury is a direct result of the accident and when the driver knew or should have known that death or serious bodily injury has occurred, shall be fined not more than five thousand dollars or imprisoned with or without hard labor for not more than ten years, or both....


Whoever commits the crime of hit-and-run driving where all of the following conditions are met shall be imprisoned, with or without hard labor, for not less than 5 years nor more than 20 years...(Read the rest)

Compared to L.A. our city is tiny and FULL of cops. Often a witness will follow the offender while contacting police by cell phone. There will be half a dozen police cars on the trail in a minute. Then we have a very aggressive "Crimestoppers" program that pays big money for turning in criminals. Often they turn themselves in after one or two days of this pressure, even the ones who got away in a stolen car with no chance of being traced.

==================

OK...here is where I might be flame bait for "blaming the victim".

The handlebar tape on my commuter bike is camouflage colored. Every time I throw my leg over that bike the camo reminds me that I am going to war, and I have to be willing to accept the consequences of my exposure to violence and accidents. It does not matter one mote to me if they catch the person who shoots me or runs me over crippling me for life or killing me. Therefore, I take strict precautions.

A. I do not ride my bike after dark for any reason other than to get home from work. I run ridiculously bright lights front and rear. Everything changes after dark. More drunks and tired people on the road and visibility is generally awful even for people with good eyesight. The elderly, medicated, inebriated, distracted dangers are greatly magnified. I was asked by a friend "what would I have done?" when he got mugged on his bicycle at 2am Downtown. Easy answer: "I would not have been there". Yes, in a perfect world we should be free to do as we please, when we please. This world is far from perfect. It's called Reality. I like the odds stacked in my favor.

B. When a car hits someone (hit and run or not) there are only three good reasons to feel total empathy for the victim. 1. The motor vehicle left the road in order to hit them i.e., it came up on the sidewalk, bike path, crossed the center line, or into their home. 2. You get rear-ended, and 3. The motor vehicle fell from the sky and crushed someone. Otherwise, the offending vehicle was THERE ALL THE WHILE, visible to the naked eye, and it is 100% my responsibility to not cross that green light while some drunk is running his red light. Be vigilant, be alert, pay strict attention as if your life depends on it. Glance at the camo bar tape if you forget the very real dangers out there.

We are gazelles on the Serengeti out there in our cars, on our bikes, or on foot. The least wary of us are at the greatest risk of destruction. Proceed at your own risk, and as the article in the OP states - those risks are even greater after dark. Don't tempt the word Tragic to be linked to your name. The idiots ARE out there in great numbers and it is mostly OUR responsibility to stay off their grills.

Matariki

To paraphrase the article: "It's too bad she didn't die, because then LAPD would have taken it seriously."

Man do these posts scare me. Joeybike is right, it's a war zone and you need to do what you can to anticipate and react to the very real threats.

Angio Graham

Why did you post this article and then ask that people ignore one of the biggest reasons and causes of hit and runs in LA ?

I-Like-To-Bike

Like Drama Much?

L.A. or Off Broadway might be a good grazing ground.

Booger1

OH!.....I'm sure the response would be the same if she was a cop on a bicycle......

A couple weeks ago,the local cops did a checkpoint stop.....out of 1100 cars stopped,700 people either,Didn't have a license,had a revolked license,limited license or a suspended license......65% OF THE PEOPLE STOPPED WHERE NOT SUPPOSE TO BE ON THE ROAD!!!!!!

And they caught 17 drunks.......

So where is the real problem **********?

I wonder why California has so many people like that? Maybe it's like that in North Dakota also?

sauerwald

One of the other causes of increasing hit and run is the fact that the penalties for hit and run are relatively light compared to other violations. If I have multiple DUIs, and have had a drink or two before hitting a pedestrian or cyclist, if I call it in and am found to be intoxicated, my penalties are much larger than if I go home, sleep it off, and get caught for H&R the next morning.

agent pombero

Good post Joey!

eja_ bottecchia

The sound of Spanish is also very sexy.

I am Hispanic and I don't want to see this turn into an anti-immigrant or anti Hispanic threat.

The problem in L.A. goes beyond Hispanic illegal immigrants. The illegal population in L.A. includes people from all over the world.

They flee the scene of accidents because (for whatever reason) that is exactly what they would do in their countries.

You cannot solve the problem of H&R drivers until you fix the mindset that says it is OK to flee the scene of an accident.

BTW, L.A. is also the capitol of police chases...all conveniently caught by the TV helicopters.

Like I said, L.A. is not safe for cyclists or pedestrians.

Booger1

There....I made it politically correct for ya.....Don't want to talk about the real problem,just the end results.

I'm sure it's all of the legal upstanding citizen that are leaving......

KonAaron Snake 

+1...I can't imagine a rational reason justifying that kind of percentage if there is any level of prioritization.

I think there is a general theory here...people that have more to lose from staying than from running are more likely to run. The key is finding a way to change that risk-reward analysis. There are a few ways to do that - increasing the chance of capture, increasing the punishment, decreasing the penalty for staying or possibly adding an advantage to staying (like not being deported for a traffic incident). I think all of them, depending on the specifics, likely have their place.

jyl

I wonder - speculate - if part of the problem isn't LA's geography. What we think of as "Los Angeles" is actually dozens of cities, with their own police forces, unincorporated areas patrolled by the LA County Sheriffs Dept, then the adjoining counties Orange and Ventura and Riverside. People and cars are so mobile in "Los Angeles" that the car passing you in downtown Los Angeles may have come from Santa Monica, Redondo Beach, Irwindale, Burbank, Tustin, etc - none of which are in the City of Los Angeles or policed by the LAPD. I wonder if these dozens of police forces do a good job coordinating priorities and watchlists and investigations. Sure, for a high profile case - O.J, Dorner, etc - they work together. But for the hundreds or thousands of "routine" hit and runs every year, do they?

Angio Graham

Its the official policy of LAPD and LA County Sheriffs to NOT impound cars of people driving without a license and without insurance.

They said it unfairly targets certain people.

I said fine, I am moving.

The lunatics run the asylum in LA and California. Enjoy the carnage.

Chris516

Not just in L.A., in the D.C.-Metro area too. The way the police departments(MSP, VSP, counties, cities', and MPD) put bike accident/fatalities way at the bottom of the list of priorities, it is tantamount to, a 'hit-n-run', even if the motorist does stay at the scene. Because the police won't do anything. It is almost like the police are figuratively doing motorists' a favor, by not caring.

kmv2

silly post.. won't even bother reasoning with it.

kmv2

LOL

kmv2

I know you deleted it from your post, but .. there aren't many French Canadians in Saskatchewan (1.7% French speaking population) or Manitoba (3.9% French speaking population).

gcottay

Be sure to let us know how things go for you in your new locale.

smasha

feel free to not ignore it, but talk about there. if you talk about it here, this thread will be banished to the P&R wasteland.

it's not my call.