Pedestrian Accidents Rise From Last Year

The number of pedestrian accidents in Santa Ana rose during the first six months of the year compared to the same period in 1998, despite a police crackdown aimed at reducing injuries and fatalities.

The Santa Ana Police Department reported Monday that five pedestrians died between January and June this year compared to two during the first six months of 1998. A sixth pedestrian was fatally injured by a car last week.

Seventy-eight pedestrians were injured through June 30. Seventy-two were hurt in the first half of 1998, according to Police Department figures.

Officers expressed concern about the rise but said they will not alter their program of aggressively ticketing jaywalkers and motorists as well as providing public education.

“It’s frustrating to see that we’ve identified a problem and have a plan of attack . . . and yet we still have people hurt,” Santa Ana Police Sgt. Raul Luna said. “What we’re doing now is the best that we can hope for given the circumstances and the resources.”

Since the crackdown began in March, police have issued more than 2,200 jaywalking citations and a similar number of tickets to motorists who failed to yield to pedestrians, Luna said.

Police also have begun staking out intersections to nab drivers who don’t yield to school crossing guards.

Concern about the issue was heightened with the release of a study by UC Irvine this year ranking Santa Ana as having the highest pedestrian-fatality rate in Southern California.

Some residents believe the crackdown is showing success.

Ana Gallardo, for one, said she has noticed a significant difference in the way pedestrians behave since the beginning of the year. When she herself started to cross a street in mid-block recently, she said, friends warned her that jaywalking is no longer permitted.

“Now people are more conscious and careful,” she said. “They don’t jaywalk like they used to.”

But others think the city should do much more to combat the problem.

Roberto Gonzalez, 21, said the city needs to reach out to recent immigrants because many still are not familiar with the ways of their new country.

Carol Belt agreed: “I don’t think [police] are getting the message to these people. They should go to churches, broadcast on media . . . go where they go.”

Luna noted that each pedestrian killed this year had been crossing in the middle of a block.

Among the victims were a man with a learning disability, a 76-year-old grandmother on her way to church and a 41-year-old Orange man.

The latter died when he tried to cross West 1st Street in an area that has seen numerous pedestrian injuries and deaths over the last three years. Since October 1995, six people have been killed in a three-mile stretch of that street.