State Plans Safer Walk to Schools

In an unprecedented recognition of the dangers faced by children walking to school, Gov. Gray Davis signed a bill setting aside $20 million to improve pedestrian safety around California campuses.

Assemblyman Lou Correa (D-Anaheim), a coauthor of the bill, said Santa Ana’s struggles to deal with its high pedestrian death rate played an important role in winning legislative passage.

The law marks the first time any state has specifically earmarked federal transportation safety funds to make the streets around schools safer for children, who according to several recent studies are involved in a disproportionate share of pedestrian accidents.

Santa Ana has the highest pedestrian fatality rate in Southern California, and a school district study found that about half of all pedestrian accidents in the city involved children walking within a few blocks of a campus.

Under the new law, cities can apply for state grants to fund a variety of pedestrian-oriented construction projects--from building new walkways and bridges to installing traffic medians and bumps to slow vehicle traffic.

Correa said he expects the city to receive a sizable chunk because the problems are so severe, but it’s unclear exactly how much communities will receive. Santa Ana police and school officials said extra money is desperately needed.

“The vast majority of our students walk to school,” said Judith Magsaysay, principal at Pio Pico Elementary School. “We have to be very concerned. . . . There is pedestrian education and motorist education, but there is much more that can be done.”

One class was so frustrated with the dangers that it embarked on a project that involved using a radar gun to check the speed of cars whizzing by Pio Pico’s front entrance.

Magsaysay said the state money could be used to straighten a hazardous intersection in front of the school. Students have already successfully lobbied for a four-way stop sign at the location, but Magsaysay said the intersection still poses dangers for the students.

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Santa Ana police said they will urge the City Council to seek funding from the new law to augment their efforts to reduce the number of pedestrian accidents. Funds could be used to install traffic medians and signals along some heavily traveled streets, steps that have proven successful in reducing pedestrians accidents.

“We will try and get as much money as we can,” Santa Ana Police Chief Paul Walters said. “There are many things that can be done, but they require money.”

Correa said passage of the law underscores the state’s effort to address the issue of child pedestrian safety, both in Santa Ana and across the state. In pushing the bill, Correa said he cited The Times’ series on Santa Ana’s pedestrian accident record to convince fellow lawmakers that more resources are needed.

“It served to continue to focus attention on a very important issue and gave it credibility,” he said of the series. It showed that “pedestrian safety is a serious issue in Orange County.”

A study by the Surface Transportation Policy Project released earlier this year found that an average of two Orange County children a week are struck by cars. Reflecting a statewide trend, children account for 33% of Orange County pedestrian accidents, even though they make up less than a fourth of the population, researchers found.

Gloria Ohland, a spokeswoman for the advocacy group, said California currently spends very little money on pedestrian safety, so the new law is a step in the right direction.

“This is still a drop in the bucket,” she said. “Twenty million dollars is still less than 1% of what is spent on transportation statewide.”

Assemblywoman Nell Soto (D-Ontario), who introduced the bill, agreed.

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“With the amount of traffic nowadays, not to pay attention to this problem would be abominable,” Soto said. “I understand about congestion, and I know we need more traffic release, but we can’t afford to lose another child.”

Not everyone supported the bill, however. Critics contend it will create more bureaucracy with uncertain benefits.

Currently, the state receives about $60 million from the federal government to handle road hazards. The money is split between Caltrans and local transportation authorities. Under the new bill, a third of the federal money will now go to the “Safe Routes to School” grants.

“I doesn’t solve any specific problems; it only presents a different philosophy,” said Bob McCleary, executive director of the Contra Costa Transportation Authority and a critic of the bill.

Times staff writer Richard Marosi contributed to this report.