Ideas for City and Pedestrians

* Regarding the articles and Jan. 9 editorial on pedestrian safety for the city of Santa Ana:

Narrow streets are not more dangerous for pedestrians. Not only do narrow streets provide a shorter distance for pedestrians to cross, thus resulting in reduced exposure to moving vehicles; they reduce the speed of vehicles.

Pedestrian experts from throughout the United States agree that narrower streets encourage drivers to drive slower, thus giving them more opportunity to avoid a collision with a pedestrian.

And if a collision does occur, it usually results in less severe injuries than one at higher speeds.

DIANE WINN

Associate director

Pediatric Injury Prevention

Research Group

UC Irvine

* The current focus on motor vehicles and their drivers with respect to pedestrian traffic accidents is missing the point.

The fact is that anyone driving in Santa Ana on virtually any street at any time will note that pedestrians cross streets constantly, with no regard for traffic or their own safety.

Women dragging their children will dart from between parked cars in mid-block, pushing their way through moving traffic just to cross a street. Sometimes it seems almost like a game. Any honest appraisal of the situation must view all parts of the problem and include education of both drivers and pedestrians.

In the city of Vernon, where I worked for nearly 25 years as a police officer, we faced a similar problem with pedestrians crossing without any regard for their own safety or traffic laws.

One of the solutions we adopted, and one that Santa Ana could as well, was to place barriers down the center of major streets that forced pedestrians to at least consider using a crosswalk. To do otherwise would have involved climbing a fence.

Additionally, officers were instructed to firmly enforce all vehicle code laws at intersections and crosswalks.

Not surprisingly, the number of vehicle versus pedestrian accidents was reduced sharply. While the installation of Cyclone-type fences would be an expense, the saving of even one life would justify the expenditure.

Higher revenue from citations issued to violators, both pedestrian and driver, would help defray the initial cost if so allocated.

BILL WAXMAN

Huntington Beach

* Santa Ana pedestrian fatalities are now blamed on lack of spending (Dec. 30).

However, five of seven persons that died in 1999 were found to have alcohol or drugs in their systems!

BARRY McPHEE

Costa Mesa