More than 250 speed humps installed on streets near Los Angeles schools

With the first day of school quickly approaching for Los Angeles Unified School District students, council members made good on their plans to try and increase street safety around campuses throughout the cty. 

On Friday, they announced that more than 450 slow zones and 250 speed bumps were installed around schools in a direct response to pedestrian deaths. 

"The city moved urgently to install hundreds of safety provisions near schools ahead of this new school year," said Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass in a statement. "In partnership with the City Council and Los Angeles Unified School District, we took action to make streets safer near schools and we will continue to do more to promote student safety."

City departments completed various installation projects, which included taking actions to make the areas surrounding schools safer as students get ready to return to class on Monday. 

Read more: LA City Council moves forward with motion to build speed humps outside all public schools

Some of that work included "quick build" street safety projects at more than 180 intersections near 40 schools, the installation of more than 250 speed humps near 92 schools where speeding is a common issue, establishing various "School Slow Zones" that implement 15 mile per hour speed limits on more than 450 streets.

Additionally, the Los Angeles Department of Transportation is set to deploy more than 500 crossing guards for the 2024-25 school year. Officials say that it is the "widest deployment" of crossing guards in the city in more than a decade. 

Heather Hutt, the Los Angeles City Councilwoman who chair's the council's Transportation Committee, added that the safety measures are of the utmost importance with the new school year looming. 

"The hundreds of safety treatments LADOT installed over the last year, and the record number of crossing guards hired, represent the most significant investment our city has ever made to prevent dangerous driving behavior near schools," said LADOT General Manager Laura Rubio-Cornejo in a statement. 

LAUSD Superintendent Alberto Carvalho also issued a statement on the topic, addressing the families that have become victims of "senseless" traffic incidents while walking to and from school in recent years. 

"As we welcome back our students, staff and families to the 2024-25 school year, our Board of Education members and I are grateful for the steps Mayor Bass and the City Council have taken to address these safety issues with urgency," Carvalho's statement said. "Los Angeles Unified looks forward to continuing the work collaboratively with all our governmental partners to safeguard the wellbeing of our students and school community."

The steps to action began taking place last year after a woman was struck and killed by a car while walking to Hancock Park Elementary School with her six-year-old daughter, who was also critically injured.