Crosswalk Accident Waiting to Happen

By Jorge Casuso

Those who work near the Pico Boulevard crosswalk agreed that it was an accident waiting to happen.

At 7:40 Thursday night, a teenage girl, accompanied by her parents and little sister, stepped off a new curb extension at 31st Street.

Kelly Love, an actress recently arrived from Texas, saw the dark-clad pedestrian just in time to hit her brakes. Witnesses heard the screech of tires, then saw the red convertible sports car hit the girl.

"I saw her bounce off the hood of the car," said a driver who stopped behind Love's car. "I'll remember that for a long time."

Love said she is used to the crosswalk signals in Dallas and never saw the girl until it was too late.

"In Texas, there are lights way before you get to the intersection. You don't just walk out in the street," Love said. "This is dangerous. They don't have pedestrian signs here. You don't know until you get up on it. I've never seen anything like this before."

Police reported that the victim, whose neck was braced by Fire Department paramedics before she was taken away in a stretcher, had only sustained minor injuries.

"She looks to be just fine," an officer told Love. "It doesn't look like the injuries are more than cuts and scratches."

But if the accident wasn't serious, it alarmed nearby business owners and their employees, who say the sound of tires screeching is heard much too often as cars speed down the Pico corridor.

"They just barrel up this hill," said Jeff Vaughan, who owns DSJ Printing, which is just feet away from the scene. "It's amazing this doesn't happen daily. This is the third or fourth skid I've heard tonight."

"Every time I hear those brakes, I'm ready to go to the telephone," said Joe Moir, who owns the Brass and Woodwind Repair Shop next to the printers and who called 911. "I don't know how many they're going to have here before they do something."

Moir said that in the seven years he's been in business at the intersection, two pedestrians have been killed trying to cross the street.

City officials said that in addition to the curb extensions, some Pico intersections soon will get signals or lights that flash when a pedestrian enters an intersection. These are part of a crosswalk safety campaign that includes a television spot and bus ads, as well as a series of stings staged by officers across the city.

"The city has initiated an effort to increase pedestrian safety," said Mayor Ken Genser. "I personally feel we have to do more enforcement. I think that there is just too much willful violation of traffic laws.

"We have to educate people about the law," Genser said. "It takes time to change people's attitudes."