Overview:
The pedestrian was struck and killed while crossing the street in Koreatown on July 23. He was identified as Adrian Lyons.
On Vermont Avenue, there is nothing out of the ordinary. As traffic makes its way down the busy corridor in Koreatown, there are no flowers, memorials or hint of anything that went wrong.
But on July 23, a driver struck and killed 60-year-old Adrian Lyons as he tried to cross the street near 7th Street. A witness said he was struck by two vehicles. The Los Angeles Police Department said the case is under investigation.
Lyons was known by local businesses for walking around the neighborhood with the help of a walker.
He was an uncle, a brother, and beloved family member, according to an Instagram post from his family.
Lyons was unhoused and died on Vermont Avenue just before 1 a.m. according to authorities.
It’s unclear if Lyons was pushing his walker as he crossed the street, but authorities said the driver who hit Lyons with their SUV stopped to speak with police. There were no arrests made, but a witness told news stringer company OnSceneTV that another vehicle hit Lyons and drove away. Lyons was sitting in the street when he was struck by a driver in an SUV, police said.
The driver who did stop after hitting Lyons told the news agency there was a lack of visibility on the street.
The LAPD said that Lyon’s death is part of an ongoing investigation and would not confirm any additional information.
Details around Lyon’s death are unclear, but accidents involving pedestrians in the city are an ongoing problem in Los Angeles.
In 2015, the city adopted Vision Zero, a program intended to install safety improvements including protected bike lanes, curb extensions, and pedestrian intervals which give pedestrians a three to seven second headstart before parallel traffic is given a green light.
The goal of Vision Zero was to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025, but pedestrian deaths are nowhere near zero. In the last five years, over 800 pedestrians have been killed in traffic incidents while walking the streets of Los Angeles according to a 2025 UC Berkeley study.
Roughly 72% of all vehicle collisions involving pedestrians who were seriously injured or killed occurred on a select few corridors and streets, or 7.5% of the city’s network of streets, according to the latest available data.
That includes Vermont Avenue where Lyons was killed.
Western Avenue, Olympic Boulevard, Pico Boulevard, and Wilshire are all high-risk streets in Koreatown, according to the Los Angeles Department of Transportation. The population density of over 40,000 people per square mile, and heavy pedestrian activity in Koreatown make it a high-risk place for people simply walking.
Michael Schneider, founder of Streets For All, a nonprofit organization advocating for safe measures for pedestrians and cyclists in Los Angeles, believes drivers need to slow down. Some of the most critical measures to improve street safety go beyond infrastructure changes in the neighborhood.
“Almost every major street in LA is designed not with pedestrians in mind, but instead to maximize car throughput and that’s a problem,” said Schneider.
A pedestrian has very high odds of survival if they are struck by a vehicle traveling at 20 – 25 mph, but at speeds of 30 – 40 mph those odds quickly diminish according to a study from AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety.
“The main danger most of the time is just the speed of vehicles coming through these streets,” Schneider said. “That’s absolutely the biggest factor on if there’s a crash and someone lives or dies.”
With an average speed of 35-40 mph in Koreatown and Los Angeles, many residents believe drivers often drive faster than the limit, meaning any incidents involving pedestrians will likely lead to major injuries or fatalities.
For residents living on the street like Lyons, the chances of being killed in a traffic accident are 20 times more likely than anyone else according to the county.
Three days after Lyons was hit, a driver struck a pedestrian and a Waymo vehicle on Venice Boulevard, roughly 2 miles away from where Lyons died, according to reporting from ABC 7. It’s unclear if the pedestrian was injured in the crash, but authorities said one person was taken to the hospital.
In 2024, Los Angeles began to implement measure HLA (Healthy Streets LA) in an effort to mandate the installation of the City’s Mobility Plan 2035 Enhanced Mobility Networks during street improvements. It also requires publicly accessible information regarding street improvements on an online portal.
But even with the newly implemented measure, some residents haven’t seen a difference in their streets.
Davis Read, a member of the Wilshire Center Koreatown Neighborhood Council is frustrated with the city’s lack of progress towards fulfilling their plan to reduce pedestrian deaths. He’s waited for the effects of HLA to improve the neighborhood, but hasn’t seen any results.
“I’ve seen nothing and my understanding is that the city can’t really afford to implement it. Part of it comes with ADA compliance and other regulations that make it expensive to do proper repairs on the streets,” said Read.
LADOT did not respond to requests for comment for this story.
But Read doesn’t believe expenses prevent the city from low-cost alternatives that can make a difference. He says limiting places where someone can turn right on red lights could easily prevent one of the major contributors to pedestrian collisions. He’s also concerned about the lack of visibility on major city streets, like Vermont Avenue.
The city of Los Angeles has acknowledged a significant backlog in street light repair requests for the last couple of years.
Read wants more urgency from city leaders. He has seen other neighborhoods adopt changes around the city including protected bike lanes and other safety measures for pedestrians. He thinks Koreatown is lagging behind.
“In terms of safety, I don’t think it’s getting any better, unfortunately,” said Read.