PEDESTRIANS GET LESSON IN SAFETY
By Veronica Rocha
Glendale News Press
May 18 2009
City of Glendale principal traffic engineer Wayne Ko shows a crosswalk
signal to a group participating in a pedestrian safety training
program Saturday. (Roger Wilson/News-Press)
UC Berkeley traffic center conducts a field trip examining some
Glendale intersections.
Residents and community leaders walked the streets Saturday and
examined local city intersections to determine whether they are safe
for pedestrians.
The stroll was a walkability assessment as part of the Community
Pedestrian Safety Training seminar that the UC Berkeley Traffic Safety
Center and California Walks put on for the city.
Saturday’s seminar was the first of 12 that the center will conduct
this year, said Jill Cooper, the center’s assistant director.
The center selected Glendale for the training seminar due to its high
number of pedestrian-related accidents and fatalities.
Glendale’s pedestrian safety problem is being noticed throughout the
state, Assemblyman Paul Krekorian said during the seminar.
"Enough is enough, and the time has come that we really have to fight
against people bringing mayhem in our streets," he said.
City and police officials have tried to combat the pedestrian safety
problem by installing lighted crosswalks, adjusting speed limits
and conducting pedestrian stings and helicopter patrols of Glenoaks
Boulevard, said Councilman Ara Najarian, who initially asked the
center to help the city.
Pedestrians most at risk of being hit are seniors, disabled people
and children, Najarian said.
Lessons taught at the seminar, he said, will hopefully be used to
create a pedestrian safety action plan as well as help residents learn
how to be safe walking or riding bicycles and how to drive safely.
"The bottom line here is saving our seniors, our children, our ethnic
communities and some of the busiest adults," Najarian said.
Glendale was also the first of 12 cities to get the seminar because
of its "strong degree of community involvement," said Wendy Alfsen,
California Walks’ executive director.
"Most communities get involved because of a galvanizing event,"
she said.
Alfsen asked those who attended the seminar to raise their arms if
they knew a pedestrian who was killed by a motorist, and if they knew
a pedestrian who was nearly hit by a motorist.
Most people raised their arms.
The length of a crosswalk, she said, can be problematic and lead
to accidents.
If a crosswalk is too long, pedestrians struggle crossing in time,
and motorists can become impatient, Alfsen said.
Last year, 84 pedestrian-related accidents and four fatalities occurred
in the city, Glendale Police Lt. Carl Povilaitis said.
"All of out fatalities last year were pedestrians," he said.
In 2007, the California Office of Traffic Safety ranked Glendale as
being third-worst among other cities with a population of 100,000 to
250,000 in pedestrian-related accidents.
The office also determined that Glendale was the worst in accidents
that involved a pedestrian older than 65.
Chris Garsevanian wrote down tips and statistics on a note pad during
the seminar.
Garsevanian, who is an Armenian Council of America board member,
attended the seminar to take back information to seniors in the
Armenian community.
"[Seniors] think the youth of Glendale drive too fast in our
community," he said.
The statistics provided in the seminar, Garsevanian said, illustrate
the pedestrian safety problem in the community.
Parent Kara Sergile went to the seminar in order to share information
with parents, staff and students at R.D. White Elementary School.
She and a group of parents and school staff members recently started
a committee to address traffic safety concerns in an effort to avoid
tragic accidents.
"It is very scary as a parent when we are sending our children out
into the community," Sergile said.