How many must die before L.A. makes streets safer?

After 14 years of plans, the city did nothing about a dangerous Koreatown intersection. Now a 9-year-old boy is dead.

- MICHAEL SCHNEIDER GUEST CONTRIBUTOR

A CROSSWALK COLLECTIVE LA painted this memorial at the intersection where Nadir Gavarrete was killed.

TWO WEEKS AGO, fourth-grader Nadir Gavarrete was crossing the intersection at New Hampshire Avenue and 4th Street in Koreatown on an e-scooter alongside his 19-year-old brother, Carlos, when both were struck by an alleged drunk driver turning left through a stop sign.

Nadir was pronounced dead at the scene, and Carlos was taken to a hospital in serious condition.

Although we often refer to incidents like these as "accidents," the truth is they're entirely preventable. We live in a city where a pedestrian is injured every five hours and killed every two days. The status quo places L.A. among cities with the highest per capita pedestrian death rates in the U.S. (2.9 per 100,000), according to Los Angeles Police Department data.

Koreatown is one of the densest parts of Los Angeles-at 44,000 people per square mile, it's more crowded than most New York City boroughs. Nearly every major street in Koreatown is on the city's "high injury network" list the 6% of streets that cause 70% of the traffic injuries and deaths. In other words, L.A. knows how dangerous Koreatown's streets can be.