Vehicle-vs.-pedestrian crashes will lead to police outreach

Modesto police plan to step up education efforts to cut down on collisions involving pedestrians.

In the first month of 2016, there were 13 such crashes in Modesto, said Police Department spokeswoman Heather Graves. That’s a bit higher rate than the department recorded last year, when there were 134. In January and February of 2015, there were 22 pedestrian-involved crashes.

For years, the department has done periodic special enforcement focused on factors that lead to collisions involving pedestrians and bicyclists. Attention has been directed toward drivers speeding, making illegal turns, failing to stop for signs and signals, or failing to yield to pedestrians in crosswalks. Officers also watch for pedestrians crossing the street illegally or failing to yield to drivers who have the right of way.

But those efforts and others have been able to get the word out only so far, Graves said. “We have found a high number of collisions last year were individuals who were homeless. So what do we do? Social media still can make a big push on pedestrian and driver safety, but is it street signs – are they doing to read those, or bus benches? We don’t know.

“We’ll start with going down to shelters and places we know these individuals gather, like bus stops and the transit center. We’ll do some one-one-one education: ‘Here’s some informational material, we have this high number of collisions.’ ”

Last year, crashes in Modesto resulted in 16 deaths, Graves said, and 11 were pedestrians. “Out of those, eight were pedestrians being at fault, typically for a right-of-way violation, like crossing against a red light, even if they’re in the crosswalk.”

Fault is not a black-and-white, immediate determination in all cases, Graves said. Distracted driving, even driving under the influence, may end up being what police call “associated factors,” she said. “Say a DUI driver hits a pedestrian. The cause is not DUI, it’s either failure to yield to the pedestrian or the pedestrian not having the right of way,” such as walking in the roadway illegally. “So the officer determines the cause, then the associated factor would be DUI.”

In January’s crashes, weather does not appear to have been a factor of any significance, Graves said. “I would say the majority of what we’ve had was in dry weather. It seems like we’re not getting any more when it’s raining than when it’s not.”

Monday afternoon about 4:20, a man suffered major injuries while crossing McHenry Avenue south of Standiford Avenue in front of the Target store. He was not in a crosswalk when hit by a pickup truck traveling south. The 19-year-old man was hospitalized in critical condition after the collision.

Just the night before, a similar collision happened less than a half mile away. About 7:40 p.m. Sunday, a man was badly injured when he was struck by a vehicle as he crossed McHenry at Union Avenue. He was in a crosswalk but walking when his light was red.

A driver going south on McHenry had the green light while entering the intersection, did not see the pedestrian and struck him. The pedestrian was trapped beneath the vehicle. He was hospitalized in critical condition.

Though the Police Department just conducted a pedestrian and bike safety enforcement operation Feb. 2, Graves said, it likely will do another one soon, in addition to the outreach to the homeless. As part of this enforcement, officers in civilian clothes may present themselves as pedestrians to observe when motorists fail to stop. Such drivers may then be pulled over by another officer.

“We reduce accidents through enforcement. People slow down,” she said. “It’s tough to be able to do as much outreach as we’d like to, even through enforcement and education. And education comes first for us. We’d rather educate an individual we pull over – it doesn’t always mean a ticket.”

This story was originally published February 11, 2016 at 9:56 AM with the headline "Vehicle-vs.-pedestrian crashes will lead to police outreach."