Los Angeles City Councilman David Ryu and a foundation that honors families who have lost loved ones to hit-and-run collisions will place a memorial at 1 p.m. Friday at the intersection of Woodman Avenue and Addison Street.
Friday’s memorial is the start of the Rainbow Halos program to pay tribute to lives lost on the streets of Los Angeles as a way to raise traffic safety awareness.
The first Rainbow Halo, created by artist John Morse, will memorialize Conor Lynch, a 16-year-old struck by a hit-and-run driver while crossing the intersection en route to cross country training in 2010 near Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks. He was struck at an intersection by an 18-year-old driver who at first wasn’t aware she had hit him, according to the Los Angeles Daily News in 2014.
Out of his death, his mother, Jeri Dye Lynch, created the Conor Lynch Foundation to support new and existing programs that raise awareness about the dangers of distracted driving and promote the safety of runners, pedestrians, cyclists and young drivers.
Families who want a Rainbow Halo to memorialize their loved one can contact SoCal Families for Safe Streets at socalsafestreets@losangeleswalks.org.
Ryu will be joined by the Los Angeles Department of Transportation’s Vision Zero leadership, which promotes traffic safety, as well as SoCal Families for Safe Streets and Jeri Dye Lynch.
Parking is available along Woodman Avenue.