Police Patrols Increased Near School Crossings
SANTA ANA — Responding to safety concerns, Santa Ana police said Tuesday that they will begin special patrols at busy intersections near schools, ticketing motorists who fail to yield to crossing guards.
The move is the latest of several attempts by the Police Department to reduce accidents in a city with the highest pedestrian fatality rate in Southern California.
School crossing guards have complained that their jobs have become increasingly dangerous as traffic volume increases and fewer motorists yield to them as they try to walk children across streets. Two Santa Ana crossing guards were hit by cars in the last six months, and similar accidents occurred last year in Newport Beach and Orange.
More than half of the city’s 72 pedestrian accidents during the first six months of 1998 involved children walking near a school, according to a recently released study by the Santa Ana Unified School District.
Police officers will begin patrolling six intersections and will ticket drivers who fail to stop--with fines ranging from $77 to $136.
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