Special Report: Walking into danger

An alarming number of pedestrians are being killed every year across the country and in California.

It’s a problem also plaguing the Central Coast. According to the Office of Traffic Safety, Watsonville is in the fourth worst city in the state for injuries and deaths among pedestrians.

Watsonville Police are now working to prevent the problem by targeting the city’s most vulnerable, the homeless community.

Watsonville police officers are taking their message to the streets, one homeless person at a time.

In November, KION tagged along as officers made their way through the city’s homeless hot spots.

One of those spots, Struve slough, where we found 54-year-old Alan Moore who is no stranger to police.

“We want to spread the word Alan if you could help us spread the word, we want people to know we need everybody to pay attention and be safe so they can return to their destinations at the end of the day,” said Sergeant Donny Thul.

Alan told KION he knows firsthand the dangers of distracted walking and driving in the city.

“all the time people I don’t know they don’t really pay attention, a lot of people on their phones its pretty bad out there.” I’ve been hit a couple times by cars and it’s no joke. I was just standing in the middle of street, a van came by and hit me just hit me luckily I turned one way and not the other or I would have been dead.”

Although Alan admits he wasn’t following the rules at the time.

“I guess the guy was going to come turn left i was crossing the street standing there which i shouldn’t have done because there is no crosswalk but the man did hit me didn’t see me it was daylight and he still hit me be careful watch those crosswalks.”

Police also went to Ramsay Park near an area where they say people are darting into traffic.

“this area of main street all the way from freedom boulevard to holm road we have issues with pedestrians and bicycles crossing the road where they’re not supposed to.”

“it’s life choices a lot of this stuff is preventable.”

Sergeant Donny Thul with the Traffic Unit for Watsonville Police said he wants people to know they need to push the button at crosswalks to let cars know they are coming, but then wait for the flashing beacons and make eye contact with drivers before crossing right away.

Watsonville police are hoping doing outreach and enforcement will help them prevent future accidents.

“A lot of the people we’re talking to are known to us. They frequent the area they’re the people that are making the violations that are unsafe and these are the people we want to reach out so we can curb the bad behavior instead of just letting it continue,” said Sgt. Thul But they say they need your help preventing that bad behavior.

“If people would slow down take the extra time to wait until it’s safe to cross the roadway don’t expect that just because you’re standing at the corner or crosswalk a car is going to stop. We all need to do our part to protect our families.”

The City of Watsonville is also working to curb pedestrian accidents.

There are several projects underway right now. The City also has a grant for the complete streets project to make downtown safer for walkers, drivers and bicyclists.

They have also been installing crosswalks with these flashing beacons and median islands.

Maria Esther Rodriguez, assistant director for public works, says they also want to hear from you.

“we’re working on planning grants, working with public outreach to get feedback on what the public sees as issues to walk comfortably or ride bicycles or motorists where do they have problems or areas when people are crossing they can’t see them,” said Esther Rodriguez.

Public works is also working with other departments on their vision zero plan, a plan to bring traffic related injuries and deaths down to zero.

For more information visit https://www.cityofwatsonville.org/1612/Vision-Zero