Los Angeles officials look to increase safety around schools

After a mother was killed and her daughter was seriously injured near an elementary school in the Mid-Wilshire neighborhood of Los Angeles, city officials are moving forward with a plan to enact more safety measures around schools.

Ghadah Abduljabbar, 33, and her 6-year-old daughter were hit last month near Hancock Park Elementary School in an incident Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent Alberto Carvalho called “heartbreaking, it’s unacceptable and it’s preventable.”

After that incident and another where a 14-year-old student was hit by a car near Berendo Middle School, the L.A. City Council on Wednesday voted 11-0 to study a plan to install speed humps at every public school in the city.

The Los Angeles Department of Transportation will report back to the council on anticipated costs, staffing and a timeline, according to the L.A. Daily News.

Speed humps, which are more forgiving than speed bumps, allow traffic to continue to move, but at a pace slow enough that the vehicles won’t endanger pedestrians.

City and school district officials have also discussed adding more crossing guards near schools.