Accident occurred days after meeting of the minds
By KATHLEEN BISHOP Special to the Daily Press
OCEAN PARK BLVD. — Merchants’ ongoing fears about the safety of a crosswalk at 18th Street were realized Saturday afternoon when two pedestrians were struck by a car. Despite a traffic light system installed four months ago to prevent such mishaps, last week’s accident seemed to justify their concerns.
The store owners feel the accident could have been prevented, but that the city hasn’t heard their concerns.
Two pedestrians hit while crossing Ocean Park Boulevard were taken to a local hospital, and according to Lt. Frank Fabrega of Santa Monica Police Department, the accident is under investigation by the department’s traffic division. This year alone, there have been 93 pedestrian-versus-vehicle accidents, said Fabrega.
The accident occurred just four days after store owners met with city officials about improving their area of business. The crosswalk in question had served as a major topic of discussion, with the proprietors offering suggestions on how to improve safety for pedestrians.
Annette Turner, owner of Bring Something to the Party, a greeting card and gift shop, said one proposal was to put diagonal parking in place directly front of the stores so Ocean Park Boulevard would have just one lane of traffic in either direction, forcing motorists to slow down.
“It’s awful. I mean, look at it... it’s like a freeway,” Turner said.
Nancy Lombardi, whose store Artful has been at its Ocean Park location for just about a month, felt city officials were unresponsive to their concerns in regards to the intersection at 18th Street. She said she is afraid herself when crossing the street and thinks a traffic signal needs to be installed.
Currently in place at the crosswalk are painted stripes, neon yellow pedestrian crossing signs and flashing lights embedded in the pavement. When pedestrians want to cross, they press the sidewalk button to activate the crossing lights. However, cars moving at high rates of speed do not always yield.
Lucy Dyke, a Santa Monica transportation planning manager who attended the Nov. 30 meeting with the merchants, said that reconfiguring the street or changing the current crosswalk is a matter that will need to be taken up with the City Council.
According to Dyke, a traffic signal at the intersection would not necessarily help, as an additional light at 18th Street would represent three lighted intersections in a row on Ocean Park, leaving even more cars on the street at any given time. In addition, she added, most pedestrian accidents occur at signalized intersections.
“We are very sad and humbled when we keep having accidents like this because it’s not enough, it’s never really enough,” she said.
Nevertheless, Dyke said the city has gone above and beyond the minimum required by the California Vehicle Code by studying individual intersections and bringing in traffic engineers, consultants and urban designers to ensure that each solution works for its respective location.
“A lot of times, when we have accidents in the city, somebody is blatantly not paying attention to what they’re doing,” said Dyke.
The police department stages weekly sting operations at Santa Monica crosswalks, during which they ticket drivers who fail to yield for pedestrians.
Sgt. Jay Trisler of SMDP’s Traffic Enforcement Division thinks crosswalks are necessary and helpful, but advises pedestrians to “be safe, be sane.”
“There are benefits to them (crosswalks), but there are cases in which they provide a false sense of security,” he said.
He said people should remember to look both ways, try to make eye contact with approaching drivers and cross the street at crosswalks with a hand signal.
The lighted crosswalks at 16th and 18th streets on Ocean Park Boulevard were the last two installed after about seven years of planning and construction and millions spent on Santa Monica crosswalk improvement. The city began studying its crosswalks in earnest after several cities in California began completely removing them, claiming they were dangerous.
The lighted crosswalks throughout the city, new traffic signals on 26th Street, medians on Wilshire Boulevard, curb extensions on Montana Avenue, police enforcement and an awareness campaign are all parts of the city’s subsequent plan.
Still, the statistics and bureaucracy are little consolation for those crossing Ocean Park Boulevard. “(The light system) doesn’t work,” Lombardi said. “They may have had good intentions, but it just doesn’t work.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on December 11, 2004. Read the original PDF.