Mission Pedestrian: Forum

Peter Scott wrote after the December 22 collision:

Both Celia and I think that something should be done about the current situation ASAP. The current cross walk is essentially invisible to motorists, and there are no warning signs or indicators to motorists entering Santa Cruz that pedestrians might be present in ANY crosswalk, let alone the crucial one in question (between Shen's gallery and Tam's restaurant).

The (conservative) community of Sandpoint, Idaho has a big friendly sign at the north end of the long bridge across Lake Pend'Oreille, a sign that is highly visible to every motorist entering Sandpoint from the south, that says that Sandpoint is a pedestrian town, and that motorists must yield to pedestrians. At the very least, Santa Cruz should have a similar sign or indicator.

Do we have to file a lawsuit to get the city and CalTrans to act? This is a grievous situation, demanding immediate attention. Here's an idea for the present, admittedly temporary situation: the crosswalk in question could have big zebra stripes, and suitable signs could be erected. How do we get this to happen?

Laurel Street resident Richard Krause had these comments:

Crossing Mission Street is like playing Russian Roulette. What with the excessive speeders, heavy loaded semi trucks and people in their autos speeding up trying to make a yellow light without a thought of endangering people walking on the sidewalks or attempting to cross Mission Street.

It is a difficult situation that is not being address adequately by our City. I would urge members of the City Council to take ten minutes out of your day and watch the traffic at a Mission and Laurel Street intersection... Some motorist do drive 25 MPH on Laurel but are then passed by other motorist who attempt to make the Mission Street light at reckless speeds at well over 45 MPH! On numerous occasion I have had to protect bicyclists from angry motorist that feel the bicyclist, in the bicycle lane, was intentionally holding them up.

Responses, Comments, Ideas