Public Safety Committee Tackles L.A.'s Hit-and-Run Epidemic

By City News Service

The Los Angeles City Council's Public Safety Committee was expected to take up a motion Friday that seeks to rein in the city's 20,000 annual hit-and-run cases -- almost half of all reported vehicular collisions.

Of the hit-and-run collisions, 4,000 a year lead to people getting hurt or dying, according to police statistics.

Hit and runs incidents are no stranger to the Westside, where incidents on the PCH and numerous surface streets from Malibu, Pacific Palisades, Brentwood, Santa Monica and other communities have affected the area for years, highlighting the issue stretches into L.A. County.

In the past year, bicycle advocates and media reports have raised alarms about those numbers and questioned the department's ability to investigate hit-and-run incidents.

Of all reported collisions, 48 percent are of the hit- and-run variety, which is well above the 11 percent rate for hit-and-runs nationwide, they say.

Councilman Joe Buscaino responded to these concerns by introducing a motion in January that calls for the Los Angeles Police Department to come up with ways to "curtail" cases in which drivers who hit pedestrians, bicycles or other cars choose to flee the scene.

"The responsibility of following up on hit-and-run incidents lies with LAPD's Traffic Divisions, who are tasked with investigation of hit-and-run crimes but are stretched thin, with an estimated 12 traffic officers per four divisions investigating 400 hit-and-run incidents per year," the motion reads.

In a report to the Police Commission and the Public Safety Committee, LAPD officials took issue with the 48 percent figure used by advocates, saying the city's rate of hit-and-run cases is comparable to that of other major metropolitan cities, with some areas, such as New York and Chicago, doing worse.

The LAPD report also said that the 20,000 hit-and-run cases was calculated against "reported collisions" and not "all collisions" to reach the 48 percent figure.

"The city experiences approximately 20,000 hit-and-run traffic collisions each year. The exact percentage of total collisions that this number represents remains unknown since many collisions go unreported," the report states. "However, when fatal and injury collisions are considered, the Department's percentage of hit and runs is comparable to other metropolitan cities."

The report recommends harsher punishments for hit-and-run violations, which often lead to softer penalties than DUI violations.

Victims and family members of victims of hit-and-run collisions are expected to give testimony at Friday morning's meeting.