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There have been a lot of deadly pedestrian deaths this past week making the news. USC, Fountain and La Brea, Highland Park, to name a few. Today, LAPD's Valley Traffic Division is out in force near California State University Northridge sending plain clothed cops into a marked crosswalk near Reseda and Deerborn and ticketing those who fail to yield. "Some of these motorists are not only failing to yield, they're slowing and then making a conscious decision to accelerate past the ped," exclaimed observer and activist Stephen Box on Twitter.
Although Box joked that the city could balance the budget based on these types of citations, pedestrian safety is of issue here, says the LAPD. "Although there has been a 19% reduction of automobile vs. pedestrian traffic collisions in the San Fernando Valley, there has been a 47% increase of these types of collisions in Devonshire Division, thus far this year," they said in a statement. "California has a right-of-way law for pedestrians within crosswalks, either marked or unmarked, which requires drivers to yield to pedestrians and exercise due care for their safety. If stopped and found in violation, officers will issue citations to drivers without warning."
About four motorcycles and six squad cars were deployed this morning. Undercover cops would have about a six foot parking lane to start their attempt on the marked crosswalk. Cars who failed to stop would be pulled over.
Captain Trotter of Valley Traffic told a group of residents and local business owners that one of the big issues they are seeing is that cars yielding to pedestrians in one lane and cars not stopping in the next lane over. If a car is stopped in another lane, other drivers should stop or approach cautiously because they can't see what's on the other side of the car, he explained.
