Let’s Clean LA launched with more than 50 generous community members who joined SAFE to clear nearly two tons of trash from Los Angeles streets. Check out what we accomplished at clean-ups in Wilmington, Balboa Park, Lincoln Heights, and Venice Blvd!

Together, 55 of us cleared 3,515 pounds of trash — nearly two tons of waste, leaves, and junk strewn across our streets is now gone!

Resources and support 📋 | Help us with the clean up! 🧹

I hope this finds you and your loved ones safe during this incredibly challenging time.

As wildfires continue to devastate parts of Los Angeles, I wanted to take a moment to reach out and share a message of solidarity.

First and foremost, all SAFE staff are safe and accounted for. However, some of our friends, family members, staff, and partners have lost their homes or have been displaced by these fires.

We are doing everything we can to assist them and others in our community who have been affected.

If you or someone you know needs help—whether it’s accessing resources or finding community support—please reach out.

Next month, communities across the world will honor those who’ve lost their lives or been affected by traffic violence on the World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims.

Sadly, the list of road traffic victims in LA will be longer this year than last — already the deadliest traffic year on record.

Read on to dig into the numbers and find out what we can do to force Mayor Bass to prioritize ending traffic violence.

First off, some thanks. Thank you to everyone who joined SAFE last Saturday at the Ronald Reagan Building in Downtown Los Angeles to share our pressing and vital message for Governor Newsom: it’s time to take a stand against the auto industry and make our streets safer — for everyone — by signing Senate Bills 961 and 1509. 

Thanks also to CBS 2, KTLA 5, KABC 7, KCAL 9, Spectrum 1, and La Opinión, who covered the press conference. I would have loved it if more media had joined us, but this was also the first day of the Line Fire, which understandably drew a lot of attention. I’m grateful to you all. 

The speeches were emotional and hard-hitting.

For some Southern California communities, street racing, street takeovers, and individuals doing donuts and burnouts are regular annoyances. For some communities, it’s resulted in people killed or severely injured. Over the years, Streets Are For Everyone has been working to address this on many fronts – working with victims, advocates, and electeds to change laws, improve infrastructure, educate, and enforce the law. For the last ten months, SAFE has also been working with Supervisor Holly Mitchell's office, Street Racing Kills, and other LA County departments to put together a community conference to look at strategies to help end illegal street racing and street takeovers.

Griffith Park starts the largest upgrade, 4 million dollars worth, for pedestrians, cyclists, and equestrians in decades, possibly ever. Check out what’s coming.

Here we are again, about to host our 11th Annual Finish The Ride and Finish The Run Griffith Park. It’s hard to believe we’ve been doing this now for 11 years. It’s incredible how much it’s grown in that time.

Many of you know the basic history of Finish the Ride, how I was hit cycling in Griffith Park in 2013, dragged nearly a quarter mile under a car onto and down the 5 Freeway. How it was a hit-and-run, and I lost my leg and nearly my life. How Finish The Ride started as an advocacy campaign on hit-and-run crimes to help make roads safer for everyone. For those who have been at a Finish The Ride event, you’ve heard me describe the story, and I’ve described the story every year since the first year. I’ve told the simple story so many times I can almost say it in my sleep (check with my wife, I likely do!)

Most of you don’t know that Finish The Ride, the deep roots of Finish The Ride, actually goes back to 1-2 days after I was hit. I was in intensive care at LAC+USC Hospital (now LA County General Hospital), and I was waking up from my first emergency surgery, where the doctors officially amputated what was left of my right leg.

On Saturday, January 27th, people young and old, elected officials and advocates – over 125 individuals total – gathered on the west steps of Los Angeles City Hall loudly chanting, “What do we want? Safe Streets!! When do we want it? NOW!!!” and “Safe Streets Save Lives!” among other things. Everyone then laid down on the cold, hard steps for 3 minutes and 36 seconds. This poignant act served to both honor and protest the 336 victims who tragically lost their lives due to preventable traffic incidents in Los Angeles in 2023. The unified message resounded loudly: we refuse to accept the sluggish pace of safety improvements on our streets and the normalization of traffic-related tragedies.

I have some good news related to the Pacific Coast Highway (PCH). Okay, admittedly, I’m not ecstatic, jumping up and down for joy, but it’s at least something tangible that will help, to a degree, to save lives and make roads safer on PCH through Malibu.

Why Los Angeles Gets an “F” Grade for 2023

I am starting this report with a question that anyone reading this must think about:

How many more Angelenos need to die before we, as a collective city, start treating traffic violence with the urgency it deserves?

Dooring is the #1 fear of urban cyclists, yet it can be prevented by a simple practice called the “Dutch Reach” or “Robert’s Reach,” as Robert’s wife Yasmine Nasser Diaz would like it to be known here in Los Angeles.

In addition to other challenges, our schools are facing a public health crisis because of speeding, and it is only getting worse. Children and teens are dying, and they will keep dying unless change happens. While writing this report, yet another tragedy occurred near our SAFE office. On April 25th, 2023, 33-year-old Ghadah Abduljabbar, and her 6-year-old daughter were struck by a speeding vehicle in Hancock Park, a community of Los Angeles, CA. The mother was pronounced dead at the scene, and the daughter, a six-year-old, was severely injured but survived. The pair were hit while walking across a crosswalk near Hancock Park Elementary School, where the child attends the first grade. We cannot ignore speeding. Measures must be taken to mitigate speeding and keep our children safe.

On Saturday, January 21, 2023, hundreds of community members – kids, parents, cyclists, pedestrians, elected officials, and dogs (don’t forget the dogs) – came together at LA City Hall for a massive die-in protest for safer streets in Los Angeles. 312 lives were lost in 2022 due to traffic violence, and thousands more were seriously injured – the highest on record in over 20 years.

For the last several years, the holidays in Los Angeles have served as a grim reminder that the streets of this otherwise world-class city are fast and deadly. As Streets Are For Everyone (known as SAFE) rang in the new year, we learned that 2022 was no exception.

When it comes to air pollution, we can all do our part. Whether you’re an individual, business, government agency, or nonprofit organization, there are things we all can do to improve air quality and protect public health. In a state with some of the worst air pollution in the United States, it is imperative that we do.

It might be odd for some when I say this, but cycling nearly killed me, and at the same time, it brought me life. More importantly, I’ve been able to save others’ lives as a result of what the team at Streets Are For Everyone does.

At Streets Are For Everyone, we operate with the support of several sponsors who are united in their quest for making the streets safer for all road users. Below is an article released by one of those sponsors, Motional, and details their efforts in working to reduce injuries and deaths on our streets. Article credit goes to Karl Iagnemma, President and CEO of Motional.

There will always be reckless men and women causing car crashes, but when we design our streets prioritizing safety; crashes don't need to kill people.

I genuinely don't know what to say or how even to process the numbers I'm seeing. It defies logic, yet when I talk to people in South LA, they tell me how they witnessed firsthand a surge in traffic violence and its consequences.

In addition to SAFE's sponsorship of SB 735, Speed Safety Cameras in School Zones, there are several bills on the table this legislative session that we support.