Where Pedestrians See Refuge in Medians, Officials See Danger

Santa Ana police are proposing a new law that would prohibit pedestrians from using traffic medians to cross busy streets, a move they say would help in the city’s struggle with the highest pedestrian fatality rate in Southern California.

Noting that most pedestrian accidents occur in the middle of blocks, police want to discourage residents from using medians as an alternative to crossing at crosswalks or controlled intersections.

But critics contend the idea is further evidence of the city’s reluctance to take seriously the issue of pedestrian safety. And some pedestrians say they would simply ignore the law.

The proposed ordinance is the latest in a series of moves meant to reduce pedestrian accidents in Santa Ana. Earlier this year, the city launched a public education campaign and a major enforcement effort targeting jaywalkers and motorists.

It is too early to tell, however, if the effort is working to reduce injury rates. This year, six pedestrians have lost their lives, the same total recorded for all of 1998.

As in most cities, medians are used in Santa Ana to improve traffic flow, reduce accident rates and beautify streets. But pedestrians often view the medians as places of refuge while trying to cross wide, traffic-clogged roadways, authorities say.

Pedestrians commonly walk across three lanes of traffic, wait in the median for traffic to clear and then proceed to the other side of the thoroughfare. Raised medians, in particular, pose special hazards, police say. About 15 miles of raised medians have been installed in recent years on several busy streets, including portions of West 1st Street and 17th Street.

And because most are landscaped with grass, trees and shrubbery, motorists often cannot see if pedestrians are about to cross the road. Earlier this year, a man was killed by a car on 17th Street after stepping onto the street from a raised median, police said.

Police Chief Paul Walters said medians give pedestrians a false sense of security.

“Our concern is that people get on medians and think they are safe,” he said. “We don’t want them to have that perception.”

The proposed new law would prohibit people from standing, walking or sitting in any painted or raised median. It would strengthen the existing jaywalking law, which police believe is unclear because it does not make reference to medians. The City Council, which was scheduled to consider the proposed ordinance Tuesday night, instead delayed action indefinitely by a 7-0 vote.

The threat of fines, police say, will help change unsafe behavior that contributes to the high injury rate. “If we can control that aspect of crossings, and get people to use intersections or crosswalks, I think we will improve safety,” Santa Ana Police Cpl. Eric Mattke said.

But pedestrian safety groups say the proposed law makes Santa Ana’s city’s streets even less pedestrian-friendly than before. People cross at midblock because the city’s streets are designed for cars, not pedestrians, and people are often reluctant to walk long distances to get to a crosswalk.

Until the city redesigns its streets to slow traffic and encourage walking, the city will always be unsafe for pedestrians, they contend.

“It comes down to whether the city wants to encourage or discourage people to walk,” said Gloria Ohland of the Surface Transportation Policy Project, a Washington-based consortium of environmental and community groups. “It seems to me Santa Ana is choosing to make it more difficult to walk.”

Some Santa Ana residents were even more skeptical about the proposed law.

One was Robert Maravilla Garcia, 37. Like other residents of his neighborhood, he often crosses busy 1st Street between Bristol Street and Pacific Avenue to shop at a nearby market.

“People will get a ticket today and . . . in two to three weeks they’ll do it again,” Garcia said. “This time they’ll just make sure there aren’t any cops around.”

Maria Mendez, 17, who also lives in the neighborhood and regularly jaywalks to visit the market, agreed that no law will make people use the crosswalk. “Too many people are lazy,” she said.

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Times correspondent Jason Kandel contributed to this report.