Commentary: Wheels and feet should have separate paths

Newport Beach has a significant problem because it allows wheeled vehicles and pedestrians in the same space.

This is dangerous. In the 1980s, a friend of mine was knocked unconscious on the boardwalk in Newport by a bicycle.

A couple years ago, a friend was walking along the Back Bay. The friend was out of work for a month after being hit by a bicycle.

When I am out in the mornings, I see what I consider an even more-serious problem: Pedestrians are walking in the streets, many times with baby carriages and dogs.

Somehow our sidewalks are not good enough for them. Instead, they walk on the other side of the parked cars in the streets.

I see this in Newport and Costa Mesa on Santa Isabella Avenue, Galaxy Drive, Cliff Drive, Santiago Drive, Monte Vista Avenue,

Tustin Avenue and

23rd Street, among other roadways.

Runners, dog walkers and young parents with kids in strollers are all walking in traffic in these residential neighborhoods.

Enforcement must change. We need a full-court press approach that involves the newspapers, city notices and social media to let people know that this is unacceptable and unsafe behavior. We need to have peace officers monitoring the known areas.

We need to consider if the boardwalk and the Back Bay walk can take pedestrians and bicycles on the same path. No matter what speed limit is posted, the bikes will exceed it (just like cars on the road).

It is difficult for bikes (even at the correct speed) to navigate around people walking dogs or pushing babies in strollers on a small path.

Wheels and feet do not belong on the same path except when crossing. We must do more now to make our citizens safe.

MARK F. WILLE lives in Costa Mesa and works in Newport Beach.