Published: 09/07/2007
Officials target pedestrian safety By Paul Leighton Staff writer
BEVERLY - James Williams walks with a cane due to his recent hip surgery. He also doesn't see very well.
So when he attempted to cross downtown Cabot Street in front of the Beverly police station yesterday morning, he was counting on the supposed safety of the green-painted crosswalk.
Instead, a woman in a blue Toyota sped right through the crosswalk, ignoring Williams and the possibility of a $200 fine.
"It's scary," said Williams, 59, who lives downtown and crosses busy Cabot Street almost every day. "You expect that in New York, but this is not New York."
Officials in Beverly and other North Shore communities are becoming increasingly concerned about the safety of pedestrians on busy downtown streets. Those concerns were highlighted this week when a 66-year-old Beverly woman was hit in a crosswalk on Cabot Street and dragged by a pickup truck driven by Richard Little.
Geraldine Meguyer was listed in good condition yesterday at Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital in Boston. Little, also of Beverly, was cited for negligent operation of a motor vehicle and two counts of failure to yield to a pedestrian and will be issued a court summons, according to police Chief Mark Ray.
In the wake of that accident, Ray said officials are considering ways to redesign that section of Cabot Street to improve safety. City Planner Tina Cassidy said she is organizing a meeting with police, the city Parking and Traffic Commission, the city engineer and the director of public services.
In Peabody, officials have been contemplating a redesign of Main Street in the downtown, including reducing the number of lanes from four to two. "The downtown's viability is contingent upon foot traffic," said Jean Delios, Peabody's director of community development and planning. "You're trying to make it an inviting atmosphere, and safety goes hand in hand with that."
Salem police Capt. Brian Gilligan said violation of the crosswalk and pedestrian light laws is a "huge" problem in Salem.
"There's a series of crosswalks on my way to work where I see this every morning, and I'll see it on my way home tonight," he said. "There's definitely a lack of knowledge or a lack of caring on drivers' part that once a pedestrian enters a crosswalk, you have to stop for them regardless of whether they're directly in front of your vehicle or not."
37 tickets
Even before Wednesday's accident, Ray said police had identified pedestrian safety on Beverly's Cabot Street as a problem. Over the last year, police have written 37 tickets for drivers in that area who violated the state law requiring vehicles to stop for pedestrians in a crosswalk.
In July, the traffic safety officer, Sgt. Christopher Negrotti, announced that police would be stepping up enforcement of the law. A violation carries a $200 fine.
Ray said he spoke to downtown business owners about the problem shortly after taking over as chief this summer. He said he had instructed police on patrol in cruisers to "stop and walk" in the downtown area and monitor the crosswalks.
But increased enforcement goes only so far, he said.
"Unless we are sitting at the crosswalks constantly and monitoring them, we can't stop everybody from violating the crosswalk law," he said.
Cassidy, the city planner, said officials will discuss other ways to improve safety on Cabot Street. If necessary, she said, the city might hire a consultant for a more comprehensive study.
One possibility is eliminating some of the crosswalks to reduce the number of meetings between pedestrians and drivers. The section of Cabot Street where Meguyer was hit, near City Hall and the police station, has four crosswalks within two blocks, she said.
"Maybe you pick the two center ones or the two at the extremes (to eliminate)," Cassidy said. "As a pedestrian you've got to walk a little bit farther, but it may cut down on the number of potential conflicts."
Officials will also consider changes in parking and signs, Cassidy said.
"Signage is a double-edge sword," she said. "Sometimes you put too many, and you don't see them anymore."
Since many of the problems occur right in front of City Hall and the police station, many of the people who will be making the decisions have firsthand knowledge of the perils of crossing Cabot Street.
Almost hit police chief
Ray said he was in the crosswalk in front of the police station a few weeks ago when a vehicle drove right through the adjacent crosswalk without stopping for a pedestrian. The car then proceeded to race right past Ray, who was wearing civilian clothes.
Ray said he yelled at the driver to pull over, then called for an officer, who wrote the driver a ticket for $200.
Williams, the downtown pedestrian, said some drivers even ignore the two crosswalks that are marked with red-and-yellow cones that spell out the $200 fine for violations. Not all drivers are so discourteous, he said. But he wouldn't mind if police cracked down on violators.
"Everyone, especially senior citizens, relies on those crosswalks," he said.
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