Skip to Content
Streetsblog Los Angeles home
Streetsblog Los Angeles home
Log In
"Accidents"

Family of Slain USC Student: Fix L.A. Intersections!

4_9_09_bachan.jpgCarmen Bachan speaks to the press before her daughter's funeral.  Image: Noozhawk.com

Last weekend, the lives of a family were changed forever, when a distracted driver decided that shaving a couple of seconds of off the trip home for his family was more important than making sure he protected other users of the road.  He plowed through the intersection of Jefferson and Hoover, killing USC freshman Adriana Bachan and maiming her companion.

Bachan's family has not been camera-shy in demanding that their daughter's murderer be brought to justice, the alleged driver of the vehicle has been brought in but her passenger who helped remove bodies from the car before it sped off is still at large; but now they're setting their sights on a different target: improving the deadly intersection where Adriana was killed.  The Santa Barbara news website Noozhawk has the story:

Welch also spoke for Bachan’s father.

“Jim will be back, and he will be the biggest advocate for that intersection at Jefferson and Hoover,” he said.

The intersection where Bachan was killed is notoriously treacherous forpedestrians, and her mother said she’s on a mission to see that thearea’s safety is improved. She said she’d like to see a pedestrianbridge constructed.

“You’ve all been there and you’ve seen the children crossing and thecars almost hitting them,” she said. “Somebody will do something, thatI can assure you.”

Keeping the intersection foremost in the public’s memory isparamount for Carmen Bachan, and she thanked the media for covering thememorial.

“Keep my baby’s story alive,” she said. “Don’t let it go away.”

While it's more than inspiring to see a family try and turn a tragedy into something positive, it's also a sad statement that the only time people focus on the deadly conditions pedestrians face is when someone dies and their survivors demand it.

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from Streetsblog Los Angeles

Don’t Believe the Hydrogen Train Hype

Calling hydrogen-powered trains "zero emission" is misleading at best - and even if they were, they lost the race to be "first" a long time ago

July 16, 2024

Upcoming CicLAvia Maps: August in the Hollywoods, September in Lincoln Heights, and More

Mark your calendars: August 18 in West Hollywood through East Hollywood, September 15 in Lincoln Heights, October 13 in the Heart of L.A., and December 8 in the Valley

July 15, 2024

This Week In Livable Streets

Metro board committees, Metro and Caltrans 605/5/10/60/105 freeway expansion, Arroyo Seco ride, C Line delays, 105 Freeway corridor equity, and more

July 15, 2024
See all posts