High-Tech Crosswalk to Be Installed

An experimental “smart crosswalk” will be installed at the intersection where a woman and her 10-month-old daughter were seriously injured by a hit-and-run driver last week, city officials said.

The crosswalk, which will utilize sensor technology to alert motorists by a flashing yellow light when a pedestrian is crossing the intersection, will be the first of its kind in the city, officials said.

“What we will have in effect is a crosswalk that knows when someone is in the crosswalk or on the curb waiting to cross,” said Tom Conner, general manager of the city’s Department of Transportation.

On Oct. 14, Juanita Mercado, 23, of North Hollywood and her baby daughter, Leslie De La Cruz, were injured when they were struck by a vehicle while crossing Lankershim Boulevard at Arminta Street.

Mercado suffered a broken collarbone, leg and other injuries, and her child received second-degree road burns over 30% of her body.

Bryce Wicks, 54, a veteran Los Angeles Police Department officer, killed himself in his Acton home shortly after learning that he was a suspect in the incident.

Conner said his department made the decision to install the crosswalk-alert system after accelerating a study on the intersection that had already been underway because of several previous accidents.

The experimental system will be installed within three months, Conner said, roughly one-fourth the time it would take to put in a traffic signal.

It is expected to cost about $20,000, far less than the $80,000 needed for a traffic signal.

Councilman Richard Alarcon, who represents Sun Valley, said he was hopeful the caution lights at the new crosswalk would offer better protection for pedestrians.

“It’s a good pilot project,” he said. “If it works here we will expand it to other parts of the city as well.”