Jaywalking, Bad Driving Create Hazard

About two weeks ago, 16-year-old Maria Cervatas was crossing a street in front of Willard Intermediate School with her 2-year-old sister when a car came speeding toward them. She pushed her sister out of the way and ran--with the car coming to a screeching halt just a foot from them.

You don’t have to tell her that the area around the Santa Ana school is a hazard zone for pedestrians. She and others in the densely populated, traffic-choked neighborhood said they live with the dangers every day.

“I was scared,” Maria said, recalling the incident. “There’s too many cars.”

A new study by the Santa Ana Unified School District found that five pedestrian accidents involving children occurred within a quarter-mile of the school in the first six months of last year--the most of any campus. Overall, the review determined that 52 of the 72 pedestrian accidents between January and June 1998 occurred within a quarter-mile of district schools, and 39 of the victims were children.

The report has generated concern among some school board members, who want the city to consider additional traffic safety measures near campuses such as crosswalks and traffic lights. The school district’s research comes on the heels of the UC Irvine study earlier this year that found Santa Ana to have the highest pedestrian fatality rate in Southern California.

Situated at the corner of Ross Street and West Washington Avenue just north of the Civic Center, Willard is among the district’s most overcrowded,

officials said. It’s likely that the five students who were hit last year attended nearby elementary schools, because they were all between the ages of 5 and 12.

Willard Intermediate School Principal Jean Williams said the city has rejected her request to place crossing guards at key intersections, saying that current policy permits guards only at elementary schools.

“It is a serious problem, and we’ve been very, very lucky,” Williams added.

School officials and residents blame a variety of factors including students who jaywalk, speeding motorists and a lack of traffic signals and crossing guards.

During one 15-minute period on Thursday afternoon, about half of the roughly 200 cars failed to fully obey stop signs posted at intersections in front of the campus. At one intersection, 41 vehicles only slowed down when crossing the intersection while seven just drove through. At another intersection, 48 motorists slowed and seven drove through.

While drivers might cause part of the problem, school officials said many children continue to jaywalk despite repeated warnings.

“We’re dealing with kids here, and kids will be kids,” said Bill Quemada, the school’s head of security. “They’re playing sometimes and they just don’t know. They think they’re invincible, that the automobiles will just stop for them.”

Four school officials, including teachers and security guards, typically supervise the area after school. But they say their efforts are not sufficient because they must also be alert for gang and other criminal activity.

“Next time, use the crosswalk,” Quemada yelled to a trio of students who jaywalked across Washington Avenue directly in front of him.

“It’s tough,” he added.

The school district as well as the Santa Ana Police Department have embarked on an aggressive education program aimed at teaching parents and children about pedestrian safety.

The school district’s report is expected to spark additional safety programs. When the district released the report Wednesday, officials said the findings were based on 1999 accident numbers. On Thursday, they corrected the report, saying it was actually based on 1998 data.

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.

Sometimes, it takes more than a ticket to teach teens the importance of obeying the law.

When 13-year-old Carlos Garibay walks home after school, he said he now carefully looks both ways before crossing streets. But it wasn’t always that way.

A year ago, he survived a brush with an automobile near Willard with only minor injuries.

The car “hit the wheel of my bike and it twisted,” said the seventh-grader, who fell off the bike and scraped his elbow and knee.

Richard Alcaraz, 14, and Tiffany Valencia, 11, walk home from school together each day. Awhile ago, Richard saw a child struck in the leg by a car. The boy wasn’t injured, he said, “but he was scared.”

Though he has witnessed several close calls, Richard said he still cuts a few corners on his way home, “as long as I get home faster.”

Tiffany nods in agreement. “The cars still stop,” she said.

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In Harm’s Way

Five children were struck by cars within a quarter-mile of Williard Intermediate School during the first six months of 1998, according to a report by the Santa Ana Unified School District. Another seven pedestrians were injured in accidents within a half mile of the school.

Source: Santa Ana Unified School District