Glendale Crackdown for Crosswalk Safety

Eight traffic fatalities out of 12 in Glendale last year involved pedestrians in crosswalks (July 10). It is policing overkill of pedestrian crossings, and not lack of enforcement, that makes walking unsafe and unpleasant in Southern California.

Think of any pedestrian-oriented city, New York or Paris for example--people cross when it is truly safe, whenever no cars are coming. People there know that paint stripes on asphalt can never protect them 100% of the time.

Emphasis on regulations gives pedestrians a false sense of security. A study in San Francisco found that 27% of people crossing at a signalized intersection did not bother to look for cars before stepping off the curb.

Many cities, including Santa Monica, are removing crosswalk markings and signals. People can still cross, but must realize that they are responsible for their own safety, not the abstraction of traffic regulations. Mid-block safety islands are being installed so pedestrians can “jaywalk” safely across one direction of traffic at a time.

PAUL CASEY

Santa Monica

* To the person who thought it was unfair to get ticketed while a pedestrian is in the crosswalk, and any other “crosswalk chargers”:

Any driver is subject to a citation for entering a marked or unmarked occupied crosswalk regardless of where that pedestrian is. The information is in any California Driver Handbook.

The traffic officers I’ve spoken to say it is usually up to the discretion of the officer. I asked a traffic cop what I should do about the impatient hotheads that blow their horns behind me while I wait for pedestrians to clear the intersection. He told me that if he witnessed such an incident he would cite the driver “for excessive use of a horn.”

GREGG SHIVES

Alhambra

* I read with alarm that the Glendale Police Department is conducting a crosswalk crackdown. In a similar situation, I was ticketed while legally (and safely) walking across a Glendale street; the officer informed me that he was conducting a crackdown on jaywalkers. It took two court appearances to get this groundless ticket dismissed.

There’s a name for what Glendale police are doing in their “crackdowns” on motorists and pedestrians. It’s called fund-raising.

DONALD PORTER

Northridge