The 25 Most Dangerous Intersections in Los Angeles (Based on Crash Data)

Los Angeles streets have become increasingly deadly over the past decade, with traffic fatalities now exceeding homicides for three consecutive years.[1] Recent analysis of comprehensive crash data from the Los Angeles Police Department reveals the specific intersections where serious collisions occur most frequently, painting a stark picture of where the city’s traffic safety crisis is most acute.

Between February 2021 and February 2025, certain intersections in Los Angeles emerged as consistent danger zones, with some recording more than 60 serious crashes during this four-year period.[2] The data, compiled by Crosstown LA through analysis of over 10 years of LAPD collision records, identifies patterns that city planners and traffic safety advocates have long suspected: proximity to freeway exits, inadequate traffic signals, and high pedestrian activity create deadly conditions at specific locations across the city.

The Deadliest Intersection: South Figueroa and Slauson Avenue

At the intersection where South Figueroa Street crosses Slauson Avenue in the Vermont Slauson neighborhood of South Los Angeles, dangerous conditions have created the city’s most hazardous crossing. Over the past four years, this single intersection has been the scene of 66 serious collisions, including 17 felony hit-and-run crashes, five severe injuries, and seven pedestrian strikes.[2] The intersection sits just one block from an exit to the 110 Freeway, a pattern that repeats throughout the list of most dangerous locations.

Gabriel Kahn, a professor at the University of Southern California and editor of Crosstown LA, explains the freeway proximity factor: “First of all, it’s just a lot more traffic and lanes, and cars turning, but there’s also a lot of people coming off the freeway driving 70 miles an hour when they’re entering a city street.”[1] This transition from high-speed freeway traffic to urban intersections creates conditions where split-second misjudgments become catastrophic.

Complete Rankings: The 25 Most Dangerous Intersections

The following table presents the complete ranking of Los Angeles’s most dangerous intersections based on total serious collisions from February 2021 to February 2025:

Geographic Patterns: South LA Bears Disproportionate Burden

A striking pattern emerges from the data: 15 of the 25 most dangerous intersections are located in South Los Angeles neighborhoods. This geographic concentration reflects longstanding infrastructure inequities, with South LA communities experiencing inadequate traffic signals, poor signage, and street designs that prioritize vehicle speed over pedestrian safety.

The concentration of dangerous intersections near freeway corridors is equally pronounced. Nearly half of the top 25 intersections sit within two blocks of freeway exits, particularly along the 405 and 110 corridors. At Sepulveda and Roscoe in Panorama City, which ranked second with 65 serious crashes, the intersection’s proximity to the 405 Freeway creates constant danger. Tony Wilkinson, chair of the Panorama City Neighborhood Council, notes: “The Sepulveda intersection is just two blocks from the 405, so you’ve got lots of traffic coming from far north and far south to turn on Roscoe.”[1]

The Escalating Crisis: Year-Over-Year Trends

Traffic fatalities in Los Angeles have followed a deeply troubling trajectory over the past decade, with deaths spiking dramatically in recent years despite city initiatives aimed at improving street safety.

The data reveals several critical trends. After relatively stable fatality numbers from 2015 to 2020 (ranging from 186 to 261 deaths annually), the pandemic era brought a sharp increase. Fatalities jumped to 294 in 2021, then climbed to 314 in 2022, before reaching a decade-high peak of 345 deaths in 2023.[2] While 2024 saw a modest decline to 303 fatalities, this figure still represents a 63% increase from the 2015 baseline and remains well above pre-pandemic levels.

The year-over-year comparison tells a story of failed interventions and worsening conditions:

These numbers stand in stark contrast to the city’s stated goals. In 2015, then-Mayor Eric Garcetti launched the “Vision Zero” initiative with an executive order designed to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025 through comprehensive improvements to road design, education, and enforcement.[3] Instead of progress toward zero deaths, the city has experienced an 85% increase in fatalities since the program’s inception.

Crash Type and Injury Severity Analysis

The 2024 crash data, compiled from the Statewide Integrated Traffic Records System (SWITRS), provides detailed breakdowns of collision types and injury severity across Los Angeles.[4] The city recorded 11,243 total crashes in 2024, resulting in 302 fatalities and 5,869 injuries.

Car crashes dominated the statistics, accounting for 7,248 accidents that resulted in 79 deaths and 11,202 injuries. Rear-end collisions made up 52% of all crashes, a pattern particularly common on busy corridors like Figueroa, Manchester, and Glendale Boulevard.[4] An estimated 3,363 crashes involved unsafe speed, often involving drivers attempting to beat traffic signals or weave through congested traffic.

Pedestrian Crashes: A Crisis Within the Crisis

Pedestrian safety represents one of the most alarming aspects of Los Angeles’s traffic crisis. In 2024 alone, the city recorded 1,402 pedestrian crashes, leading to 158 deaths and 1,415 injuries.[4] These numbers reflect a fundamental failure to protect vulnerable road users in a city where walking should be safe.

The intersections with the highest pedestrian accident rates reveal specific danger zones:

1.Figueroa St & Florence Ave — This South LA intersection appears on multiple danger lists, with eight pedestrian strikes recorded between 2021 and 2025.

2.Figueroa St & Manchester Ave — Heavy foot traffic combined with high vehicle speeds creates constant danger for pedestrians.

3.Florence Ave & San Pedro St — Inadequate crossing times and wide intersection spans leave pedestrians exposed.

4.Hope St & Olympic Blvd — Downtown location with five pedestrian strikes, where business district foot traffic meets commuter vehicle traffic.

5.La Cienega Blvd & Rodeo Rd — Four pedestrian strikes in Baldwin Hills, where inadequate sidewalk infrastructure forces pedestrians into dangerous situations.

Many of these collisions occurred because drivers failed to yield, even when pedestrians had the right-of-way. Areas with heavy foot traffic, such as intersections along Figueroa, Florence, and La Cienega, see constant activity from students, commuters, and families walking to local shops and transit stops, yet infrastructure remains inadequate to protect them.

Bicycle and Motorcycle Crashes

Cyclists faced significant dangers in 2024, with 435 bicycle crashes resulting in 12 deaths and 438 injuries.[4] Improper turns caused 17% of these crashes, while 15% involved drivers misjudging or ignoring traffic signals. The most hazardous intersections for cyclists include Figueroa St & Florence Ave, Figueroa St & Martin Luther King Jr Blvd, Gage Ave & Main St, Hoover St & Venice Blvd, and Manzanita St & Sunset Blvd.

Motorcyclists experienced 890 crashes in 2024, leading to 31 deaths and 996 injuries.[4] Unsafe lane changes accounted for 19% of collisions, while 24% involved unsafe speed. The most dangerous intersections for motorcyclists include Flower St & Olympic Blvd, Gallardo St & Mission Rd, Georgia St & Olympic Blvd, Highland Ave & Hollywood Bowl Rd, and Lamar St & Mission Rd.

Contributing Factors: Why These Intersections Are So Dangerous

The crash data reveals several recurring factors that contribute to intersection dangers across Los Angeles. Understanding these patterns is essential for developing effective safety interventions.

Freeway proximity emerges as the single most significant risk factor. Intersections located within two blocks of freeway exits experience dramatically higher crash rates due to drivers transitioning from high-speed freeway travel to urban street conditions. The sudden need to navigate traffic signals, pedestrian crossings, and turning vehicles while still traveling at elevated speeds creates conditions ripe for serious collisions.

Inadequate traffic control infrastructure compounds these dangers. Many of the most dangerous intersections lack modern traffic signals with protected left-turn phases, pedestrian countdown timers, or leading pedestrian intervals that give people on foot a head start before vehicles receive green lights. Poor signage and faded road markings further reduce driver awareness of intersection configurations and right-of-way rules.

High traffic volumes combined with complex intersection geometries create situations where driver error becomes more likely and more consequential. Intersections like Sepulveda and Roscoe, where multiple lanes converge and heavy traffic flows in all directions, leave little margin for the split-second decisions that prevent crashes.

Declining traffic enforcement has removed a critical deterrent to dangerous driving behaviors. Damian Kevitt, founder of the advocacy organization Safe Streets Are for Everyone, notes: “We have a spike in fatalities that is related to the drop in traffic citations. The streets are the same, but the fatalities are greater. The biggest change was that they stopped enforcing traffic citations.”[2]

Lieutenant Jesse Garcia of the LAPD’s West Traffic Division identifies the primary crash factors his officers observe: “The top factors: speed, stop signs, cell phone, red lights, obeying posted signs. We’re not even talking about DUI. That’s a whole different animal.”[2] The prevalence of distracted driving, particularly cell phone use, represents a behavioral shift that infrastructure improvements alone cannot address.

Vehicle design changes have also contributed to increased danger. Garcia notes: “To be brutally honest, one of the big things we have seen through COVID is that a lot of these vehicles coming off the showroom floor are, for all intents and purposes, race cars. They are coming in with 400-500 horsepower. In more affluent areas, you have kids driving mom and dad’s car. They’re getting behind the wheel of a monster.”[2]

The Vision Zero Failure: What Went Wrong

The contrast between Los Angeles’s stated traffic safety goals and actual outcomes represents one of the city’s most significant policy failures of the past decade. When Mayor Eric Garcetti launched Vision Zero in 2015 with the ambitious goal of eliminating all traffic deaths by 2025, the initiative promised comprehensive changes to street design, enforcement, and education.[3]

A lengthy audit released in spring 2025 identified multiple causes for the program’s failure.[2] Only half of the listed “actions” were ever completed, leaving critical safety improvements unimplemented. The plan lacked a program for accountability among city departments, allowing agencies to deprioritize traffic safety work without consequences. Poor coordination and diminishing participation from the LAPD’s traffic division further undermined the initiative.

The Los Angeles Department of Transportation responded to the audit findings by noting that “since 2017, LADOT has implemented over 7,000 safety treatments from its Safety Toolkit at priority corridors and intersections, and redesigned more than 20 miles of High Injury Network streets.”[1] However, the data clearly shows these interventions have been insufficient to reverse the upward trend in fatalities.

Some safety measures have faced community pushback despite their effectiveness. Garcia noted that in the Valley, rumble strips installed on several major thoroughfares “have some success with slowing down prevailing speeds. The downside was the noise, and the community complained.”[2] Speed bumps, another proven traffic calming measure, cannot be installed on major thoroughfares due to concerns about emergency vehicle access and traffic flow.

Emerging Solutions: Red Light Cameras and Legislative Action

Despite the overall failure of Vision Zero, some promising interventions have emerged. Red-light cameras, which have been shown to reduce collisions by as much as 30%, represent one evidence-based solution.[2] However, until recently, California law governing their usage contained significant flaws that limited deployment. There are currently no red-light cameras installed by the city of Los Angeles, though LA Metro has installed several near rail lines.

In a potentially significant development, Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 720, the Safer Streets Act, in October 2025.[2] This legislation should pave the way for more red-light cameras across the state by addressing the legal barriers that previously limited their use. Whether this will translate into meaningful deployment in Los Angeles remains to be seen.

Methodology and Data Limitations

This analysis is based on comprehensive traffic collision data from the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), covering the period from February 2021 to February 2025. The primary data source is Crosstown LA’s investigative reporting, which compiled over 10 years of collision records to identify the most dangerous intersections in the city.[2]

Additional crash statistics for 2024 were obtained from the Statewide Integrated Traffic Records System (SWITRS) via SafeTREC and UC Berkeley.[4] The dataset includes detailed information on crash types, injury severity, and contributing factors.

Important limitation: Due to LAPD’s transition to a new Records Management System in early 2025, collision data from approximately the past seven months is unavailable.[5] The rankings reflect crashes through February 28, 2025. The LAPD has indicated that once the new Traffic Collision dataset is complete, it will be published on the Los Angeles Open Data Portal and refreshed on a regular schedule.

The data presented here reflects “serious collisions” as defined by LAPD reporting standards, which include crashes resulting in fatalities, severe injuries, or significant property damage. Minor fender-benders and collisions that did not require police response are not included in these totals.

Conclusion: The Human Cost of Inaction

Behind every statistic in this analysis lies human tragedy—lives lost, families shattered, and communities traumatized by preventable violence on city streets. The 345 people who died in traffic crashes in 2023 were parents, children, workers, students, and neighbors. The thousands more who suffered serious injuries face long recoveries, mounting medical bills, and permanent disabilities.

The concentration of dangerous intersections in South Los Angeles neighborhoods reflects broader patterns of inequity in how the city invests in infrastructure and safety. Communities that have historically received less investment in street improvements, traffic calming measures, and pedestrian infrastructure continue to bear a disproportionate burden of traffic violence.

The failure of Vision Zero demonstrates that aspirational goals without accountability, adequate funding, and political will produce no meaningful change. As Los Angeles approaches the program’s 2025 deadline with traffic deaths 85% higher than when the initiative launched, city leaders must confront the reality that current approaches are not working.

Effective interventions exist—protected bike lanes, leading pedestrian intervals, road diets that reduce vehicle speeds, red-light cameras, and increased enforcement of traffic laws all have proven track records of reducing crashes and saving lives. The question is whether Los Angeles has the political will to implement these solutions at the scale necessary to address a crisis that claims more than 300 lives each year.

For residents navigating these dangerous intersections daily, the data provides crucial information about where to exercise extra caution. For city planners and elected officials, it offers a clear roadmap of where interventions are most urgently needed. The question now is whether this information will finally catalyze the comprehensive action that Vision Zero promised but failed to deliver.

References

[1]: New data shows 50 most dangerous intersections in LA – ABC7 (October 16, 2025)

[2]: The most dangerous intersections in Los Angeles – Crosstown LA (October 15, 2025)

[3]: Vision Zero Safety Study – LADOT (March 25, 2025)

[4]: Dangerous Intersections in Los Angeles: 2024 Crash Data – ER Lawyers (December 16, 2025)

[5]: Traffic Collision Data from 2010 to Present – Los Angeles Open Data Portal (Last updated January 2, 2026)

This analysis was compiled using public crash data from the Los Angeles Police Department, Crosstown LA investigative reporting, and the California Statewide Integrated Traffic Records System (SWITRS).