Did Mayor Garcetti drive into jaywalking controversy?

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti has inadvertently stepped into — or should we say, driven into — L.A.’s jaywalking ticket controversy.

On Tuesday, the mayor was being driven to City Hall when his official car, a black SUV, struck a pedestrian on Second Street near Spring Street. The woman in her 60s was taken to the hospital as a precaution. The mayor was on the phone at the time and apparently didn’t see the accident.

The collision comes a few weeks after the Downtown News first reported on a jaywalking crackdown in the city’s Historic Core and the Financial District, in which Los Angeles police officers are ticketing walkers who step into the street during the “countdown.”

What many walkers (including me) didn’t know is that it’s illegal to step into the street once the hand on the crosswalk signal switches from white to a blinking red and the timer starts ticking down to zero. Penalties range from $190 to $250.

The crackdown seemed to run counter to L.A.’s attempts to become more pedestrian-friendly and promote a walkable downtown. Many news stories and opinions were shared, and the consensus seemed to be: Lighten up, LAPD; give pedestrians a break!

We don’t know the details of the mayor’s collision yet. Who was at fault? Was the walker in the crosswalk? Was the mayor’s driver obeying all traffic laws?

But it will be interesting to see whether the mayor versus pedestrian collision helps buttress the Los Angeles Police Department’s argument that jaywalkers are creating a public safety problem, or whether it bolsters the opponents who say the city should go after drivers, not walkers.

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