Severe injuries from collisions in Boyle Heights have more than doubled in 10 years

Boyle Heights, along with the rest of the city, has seen an increase in severe injuries from collisions.

Last year, a total of 30 were reported in the neighborhood, ranking Boyle Heights 11th out of the city’s 114 neighborhoods for most severe injuries caused by collisions, according to LAPD Traffic Division data. 

Those figures are more than double the 13 severe injuries recorded in Boyle Heights in 2014. Numbers peaked at 37 in 2023 and remained relatively high last year. Downtown L.A., another neighborhood in the city’s Council District 14, ranked 1st with 84 in 2024. 

The city has followed a similar trend. In 2014, Los Angeles saw a total of 969 collisions resulting in severe injuries, rising to 1,538 in 2024, an increase of about 59%.

How many of those collisions led to deaths?

In Boyle Heights, nine collisions last year resulted in deaths.

Seven of those fatalities involved a car and a pedestrian, one involved a car and a cyclist, one with a car and a motorcycle and one between two vehicles. 

Six of the victims involved in these fatalities were over the age of 70. When it comes to hit-and-runs, six caused severe injuries and four were fatal.

Among the deaths were 77-year-old Jose Dorado who was found unconscious after a hit-and-run at the intersection of Mission Road and Plaza del Sol in Boyle Heights on April 16. 

Four days later, a 32-year-old man was killed in a collision at the intersection of the Whittier Boulevard and Boyle Avenue intersection. Earlier that same month, a 78-year-old man was fatally injured at the intersection of Cesar E Chavez Avenue and Fresno Street.

What’s being done to curb collisions?

In 2015, former L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti launched a citywide initiative to “eliminate” traffic deaths by 2025 known as Vision Zero. 

In March of last year, voters approved Measure HLA, to carry out street improvements that prioritize cyclists, pedestrians and transit, but the city still needs to decide how it wants to implement the plans.

The neighborhood itself has also been stepping up.

A new crosswalk at the intersection of Mission Road and Plaza Sol spearheaded by former CD 14 Councilmember Kevin de León was approved by the L.A. City Council in December at the location of Dorado’s death near Felicitas and Gonzalo Mendez High School. 

De León also pushed for a traffic light that was installed last year where Joshua Mora, a 13-year-old Hollenbeck Middle School student at the time, was crossing the street at a marked crosswalk on Whittier Boulevard and Orme Avenue when a motorcyclist struck him in March of 2023. 

The incident sparked protests from community members and organizations including Safe Streets for Everyone (SAFE) calling for the city to make the intersection safer for pedestrians.

So far in 2025, Boyle Heights has seen seven severe injuries connected to collisions through the end of March. Two fatalities, both in January, were reported during this period. 

Boyle Heights by the Numbers is a series exploring prominent issues residents care about from a data perspective. The data gathered here is compiled by the nonprofit newsroom Crosstown.