Do What's Right, Let's get a Light!
Donation protected
Update: While the initial purpose of this gofundme was to raise money for the light specifically, but soon afterward it became a campaign to raise money for volunteer efforts and throwing awareness events. I want to clarify that this is to put pressure on the city not pay for what they should! Sorry for unclear text below, it is something I am very passionate about and I did not read over thoroughly.
On May 21st, 2016, at 6:45 PM I was walking across Sunset Blvd at Portia St, in the Echo Park Neighborhood, I pushed the button to make the flashing lights turn on to notify drivers I was attempting to cross. I waited for 3 cars to stop at the intersection and I began making my way across the street. The car closest to me was stopped, the next lane was empty and there were two cars stopped on the opposite side of the street. I could not see around the first car, so I stepped out with my right leg in order to be able to see and a car hit my leg at 40 MPH. The top of my fibula shattered, my Tibial Plateau cracked down the middle, my ACL, PCL, and LCL detached and MCL tore in half. My mom had to come out and take care of me for 6 weeks before it was safe enough for me to fly back to Wisconsin to recover where I could be under constant supervision. It took 5 months of recovery for me to walk without assistance and it changed my life direction immensely. Everything I had lined up for my life had gone away and I had to return to a part time job just because it was the only job I could do.
Since 2010 there have been 13 collisions at this intersection and 7 of those have occurred after my accidents. One of them was a fatal motorcycle accident that I witnessed. That means over half of the accidents in an 8 year period of time have happened in the last 2 and a half years. One of the main reasons these accidents occur is because there is over a quarter mile stretch of a busy pedestrian filled street without a light. While the flashing yellow light was meant to be effective, drivers a lot of the times do not stop for pedestrians. Nearby, Mohawk Street has had 7 collisions since 2010 and the city decided to put up a light there. Coincidentally the light went in right as a new development of chain food restaurants opened up on the other side of the street.
The city has officially approved for the light to go in at the intersection but are trying to allocated funds to do so, which for the Mohawk light (which also has less than a quarter mile between the other two stop lights) it took 4 years. We cannot wait 4 years for a light, we have already been fighting for this approval for 2 years and now we could potentially have to wait four more? How many more people does that mean are going to get hit by cars and have their lives altered or potentially ended?
The purpose of this GoFundMe is to raise funds to go towards covering the cost of putting a light in and to put pressure on the city to do the same. All of the funds raised will go directly to the costs of throwing awareness events, including but not limited too: printing flyers, food to feed volunteers, money for supplies (I.e. crossing guard vests and stop signs, flashing lights and whistles) and other supplies. The Echo Park neighborhood council has told us that if we can put pressure on the city the light would go in much faster. I don't want anyone else to get hurt or lose their lives, when there is a solution we could all work towards.
I am asking that you reach into your hearts (and pockets) and choose to make the neighborhood of Echo Park a safer place!
All of the collision information was found at https://data.lacity.org/A-Safe-City/Traffic-Collision-Data-from-2010-to-Present/d5tf-ez2w
On May 21st, 2016, at 6:45 PM I was walking across Sunset Blvd at Portia St, in the Echo Park Neighborhood, I pushed the button to make the flashing lights turn on to notify drivers I was attempting to cross. I waited for 3 cars to stop at the intersection and I began making my way across the street. The car closest to me was stopped, the next lane was empty and there were two cars stopped on the opposite side of the street. I could not see around the first car, so I stepped out with my right leg in order to be able to see and a car hit my leg at 40 MPH. The top of my fibula shattered, my Tibial Plateau cracked down the middle, my ACL, PCL, and LCL detached and MCL tore in half. My mom had to come out and take care of me for 6 weeks before it was safe enough for me to fly back to Wisconsin to recover where I could be under constant supervision. It took 5 months of recovery for me to walk without assistance and it changed my life direction immensely. Everything I had lined up for my life had gone away and I had to return to a part time job just because it was the only job I could do.
Since 2010 there have been 13 collisions at this intersection and 7 of those have occurred after my accidents. One of them was a fatal motorcycle accident that I witnessed. That means over half of the accidents in an 8 year period of time have happened in the last 2 and a half years. One of the main reasons these accidents occur is because there is over a quarter mile stretch of a busy pedestrian filled street without a light. While the flashing yellow light was meant to be effective, drivers a lot of the times do not stop for pedestrians. Nearby, Mohawk Street has had 7 collisions since 2010 and the city decided to put up a light there. Coincidentally the light went in right as a new development of chain food restaurants opened up on the other side of the street.
The city has officially approved for the light to go in at the intersection but are trying to allocated funds to do so, which for the Mohawk light (which also has less than a quarter mile between the other two stop lights) it took 4 years. We cannot wait 4 years for a light, we have already been fighting for this approval for 2 years and now we could potentially have to wait four more? How many more people does that mean are going to get hit by cars and have their lives altered or potentially ended?
The purpose of this GoFundMe is to raise funds to go towards covering the cost of putting a light in and to put pressure on the city to do the same. All of the funds raised will go directly to the costs of throwing awareness events, including but not limited too: printing flyers, food to feed volunteers, money for supplies (I.e. crossing guard vests and stop signs, flashing lights and whistles) and other supplies. The Echo Park neighborhood council has told us that if we can put pressure on the city the light would go in much faster. I don't want anyone else to get hurt or lose their lives, when there is a solution we could all work towards.
I am asking that you reach into your hearts (and pockets) and choose to make the neighborhood of Echo Park a safer place!
All of the collision information was found at https://data.lacity.org/A-Safe-City/Traffic-Collision-Data-from-2010-to-Present/d5tf-ez2w
Organizer
Marion Floss
Organizer
Los Angeles, CA
