A Step Toward Safer Streets

Alarmed by the high number of pedestrian accidents in Santa Ana, state Assemblyman Lou Correa (D-Anaheim) on Friday called for a legislative oversight committee hearing on the subject next month and vowed to make pedestrian safety his top priority.

Santa Ana officials and residents will be invited to a Nov. 18 hearing of the Assembly Transportation Committee to discuss how to make streets safer, Correa said.

“We want to make sure we come up with some concrete solutions,” he said. “We want Santa Ana officials to come in and testify about what they are doing. Whatever they’re doing, they should be doing more. We should all be doing more.”

Among the proposals Correa plans to discuss are reducing speed limits on certain streets and finding funds to erect more traffic lights and medians.

The action comes three days after Gov. Gray Davis signed a measure earmarking $20 million in federal funds to improve pedestrian safety near California schools. The bill’s authors said Santa Ana’s pedestrian problems helped them win legislative support.

The city has the highest pedestrian death rate in Southern California, according to a study by UC Irvine. Seven people have died this year on Santa Ana streets. Most of the deaths have occurred after nightfall, between 6:30 p.m. and 5:30 a.m., said police Sgt. Raul Luna.

Children walking to school are also at risk. A school district study earlier this year found that nearly half of all the city’s pedestrian accidents involved children walking near schools.

Correa’s focus on the issue comes amid a major police crackdown on jaywalkers and motorists who don’t give pedestrians the right of way.

Despite a public awareness campaign, including a telephone hotline to report reckless drivers and a crackdown on jaywalking and drivers with suspended licenses, motorists and pedestrians continue to violate traffic laws, Luna said.

“We certainly welcome any support we can get from concerned individuals at all levels of government,” Luna said. “And certainly we would like to get more cooperation from the public.”

At the Nov. 18 hearing, city planning officials will be asked to outline safety measures, including walkways, that are being incorporated into the Bristol Street widening project, said Jay Barkman, Correa’s legislative assistant.

Two of this year’s fatalities in Santa Ana occurred on Bristol Street, at the intersections of Chestnut Avenue and Highland Street.

Correa disagrees with a state law that requires speed limits to be set at or near the speed traveled by 85% of motorists. Because of that law, cities across Orange County and California have gradually boosted speed limits over the past decade.

“In my opinion that doesn’t make sense,” Correa said. “We want to look at this statewide and see what kind of laws we can pass to address public safety.”

Besides Correa, Assemblyman Tom Torlakson (D-Antioch), chairman of the Assembly Transportation Committee, and perhaps other legislators are scheduled to attend the Nov. 18 public hearing, scheduled for 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at 2323 No. Broadway, the Rancho Santiago Community College Board Room, Suite 107, in Santa Ana.

The session will also focus on Caltrans’ oversight of contractors and the safety of welds in the Orange Crush interchange. Caltrans is planning to spend at least $1.8 million removing 700 welds in 18 columns that connect the Santa Ana, Orange and Garden Grove freeways beginning in December or January. The work, replacing the welds with mechanical couplers, should take about eight or nine months.