Skip to Content
Streetsblog Los Angeles home
Streetsblog Los Angeles home
Log In
LADOT

LAPD Ticketing Pedestrians Near Metro Center

10:25 AM PDT on March 31, 2008

Back in February, Curbed reported that police in Koreatown were ticketing pedestrians crossing the intersection of Wilshire and Vermont if they crossed after the signal starting flashing orange. Tickets, which were given to pedestrians even if they made it safely across the street before the flashing signal became a solid one, ranged between $200 and $300.

Last week the LAPD was at it again, this time at the intersection of 7th and Flower Street. Two LA Streetsblog readers report that police are waiting for pedestrians to cross the street, and if they entered the crosswalk after the hand started flashing, they're ticketed. After LAPD in the valley focused their pedestrian safety efforts at ticketing vehicles breaking the law, we hoped that maybe LAPD had learned a lesson in progressive law enforcement.

As in the case in Koreatown, the LAPD has picked an area that has a lot of pedestrian traffic as a result of it also being a transit hub. The Red Line's Metro Center stop and a bus stop are located next to the intersection. For those that appreciate irony, the sting is probably catching a lot of transportation professionals. The Southern California Association of Governments is located less than a block from the intersection.

The police would doubtless explain that this is just an effort to make the intersection safer. As we've noted before, there are a lot of things that can be done to make an intersection more safe other than ticketing pedestrians who cross the street safely. These include re-engineering the intersection to slow down traffic, retiming the pedestrian crossing signals, and adding traffic calming to slow down traffic.

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from Streetsblog Los Angeles

Rundown of New Federal Reconnecting Communities Grants for L.A. County

There are seven L.A. County Reconnecting Communities grants totaling $162 million - about 90% of that goes to Metro's Removing Barriers project, which includes new bus lanes, first/last mile walk/bike facilities, bike-share, and more.

March 19, 2024

Where L.A. City Will Add New Bus-Only Lanes

New bus lanes are coming to Broadway, Colorado Blvd., Crenshaw Blvd, Lincoln Blvd., Los Feliz Blvd., Santa Monica Blvd., Valley Blvd., Vermont Avenue, Westwood Blvd., Whittier Blvd. and many more city streets!

March 15, 2024
See all posts