50 Cited in Huntington Crosswalk Sting

In Huntington Beach’s first organized crackdown on motorists who fail to yield to pedestrians, police said they cited 50 drivers at Yorktown Avenue and Windward Lane in about two hours Thursday.

The motorcycle officer who supervised the effort said it is too early to call the sting a success.

“Just because we wrote 50 tickets doesn’t mean it’s a success. It just shows the depth of the problem,” Sgt. Mike Reynolds said. “Now we have to figure out a way to educate the public about how dangerous it is.”

Citing a 32% increase in pedestrian-related injuries in the city last year, police set up the sting, choosing that intersection because an 80-year-old woman trying to cross the street was killed there in November.

The sting involved eight motorcycle officers, three plainclothes officers and several supervisors. With the motorcycle police nearby, one of the plainclothes officers would step into the crosswalk. Motorists who failed to yield or shot past a stopped vehicle were cited.

“We were very conservative with our interpretation of the vehicle code,” Reynolds said.

Motorists Blew Through School Crossing

Police also cited two motorists who failed to yield at a school crossing on Yorktown near Newland Elementary School.

Reynolds said crossing guards have complained about drivers who speed and do not stop as children enter the crosswalk.

Reynolds said some violations were blatant. In one instance, when the officer tried to cross the street, three cars failed to yield, Reynolds said. The fourth car stopped, but the fifth shot around it.

The minimum fines are $103 for failure to yield to a pedestrian and $270 for overtaking a stopped vehicle at a crosswalk, he said.

A few cited motorists became irate, Reynolds said.

“The nice part was, we had a neighbor of the lady who was killed who said she was glad we were there,” he said. “That it was long overdue.”