Santa Ana Police to Give School Guards Some Backup

Responding to safety concerns, Santa Ana police said Tuesday they will begin special patrols at busy intersections near schools, ticketing motorists who fail to yield to crossing guards.

The move is the latest of several attempts by the Police Department to reduce accidents in a city with the highest pedestrian fatality rate in Southern California.

School crossing guards, both in Santa Ana and elsewhere, have complained that their job has become increasingly dangerous as traffic volume increases and fewer motorists yield to them as they attempt to walk children across streets. Two Santa Ana crossing guards were hit by cars in the last six months, and similar accidents occurred last year in Newport Beach and Orange.

“This has been a major problem for quite a while,” Santa Ana Police Cpl. Eric Mattke said. “People need to ask themselves--how would they want someone to drive by their child?”

More than half of the city’s 72 pedestrian accidents during the first six months of 1998 involved children walking near schools, according to a recently released study by the Santa Ana Unified School District.

Later this week, police officers will begin patrolling six intersections where school officials or crossing guards have reported problems. The officers will ticket drivers who fail to stop--with fines ranging from $77 to $136. Officials plan to eventually expand the program to other locations across the city.

One of the targeted areas is at Walnut and Main streets, where elementary school children must negotiate four lanes of traffic.

“The cars don’t stop,” resident Maria Savala said. “There’s always accidents around here.”

Savala, whose 7-year-old daughter attends nearby Heninger Elementary School, said bolstered enforcement will help. Her daughter, she said, is under the false impression that crossing guards are invincible.

“My daughter thinks it’s enough, but even the crossing guards are hit by cars,” Savala said.

A story in The Times on Monday quoted crossing guards in Santa Ana and elsewhere who said that their job has become more difficult over the last two decades as traffic has increased and motorists have become more aggressive.

Crossing guard Vera Coronel, who said she regularly deals with drivers who fail to yield, expressed support Tuesday for the police action.

“Most of the time, drivers only pay attention when an officer’s around,” she said. “It’s sad that we have to resort to having police at intersections to get people to slow down.”

The city in March began a major enforcement effort that includes more jaywalking patrols. Since the crackdown began, police have issued more than 1,500 jaywalking citations and more than 250 tickets to motorists who failed to yield to pedestrians.

Six pedestrians were killed in the city last year; five have died so far this year.