An Orange County assemblyman said Thursday he will introduce legislation inspired by Santa Ana's pedestrian accident problems that would double fines on motorists who speed, run red lights or violate other traffic laws around schools and other areas frequented by pedestrians.
The proposal by Assemblyman Lou Correa (D-Anaheim) is aimed at reducing the number of children and others who are struck by cars while also providing government agencies with additional funds to install new traffic signals and take other pedestrian safety measures.
Orange County children are victims in a disproportionate share of pedestrian accidents, according to a statewide study released earlier this year, with an average of two a week being struck by cars.
Santa Ana has the highest pedestrian fatality rate in Southern California; about half of all accidents in the city involved children walking within a few blocks of a school.
Correa said his plan will aid police in Santa Ana and across California by adding teeth to the vehicle code. Motorists who now pay $271 for running a red light, for example, would pay $542 if the infraction occurred near a school, park or other area designated by the city as a pedestrian safety zone. The fine for failing to yield at a crosswalk would jump from $103 to $206 in those zones.
"We have a problem with traffic safety, and we have a serious problem in Santa Ana," Correa said.
The proposal, to be introduced in January, comes a month after the Assembly Transportation Committee held a special hearing on pedestrian safety in which Santa Ana officials said they didn't have the money to install flashing crosswalk lights, traffic signals or other street improvements.
It's unclear how much money doubling fines would generate, although some residents said they gladly welcomed additional money and penalties.
"I would think that any effort to penalize people who aren't more cautious around pedestrians might help to raise the awareness level of people in the community," said Michele Morrissey, a community activist who lives in Santa Ana's Floral Park area.
Cities Could Define Pedestrian Zones
Correa's proposal would give cities a new weapon in their efforts to reduce accidents: the power to designate certain intersections or full neighborhoods with a history of accidents as pedestrian safety zones.
A Times analysis of accidents in Santa Ana found several clusters with especially high numbers of pedestrian injuries and deaths.
