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Anything but pedestrian Medford program addresses concerns of those who travel without cars By SARAH LEMON Mail Tribune Twice a week, Matthew Burger walks from his home on Hondeleau Lane near Costco to the Jacksonville Highway Bi-Mart store. He walks to his wife's workplace because he doesn't have a driver license and for the exercise, he said. But the 50-year-old Medford resident said he constantly worries for his safety as he dodges cars along his six-mile route. "It makes it tough when people try to run you over," he said. "I don't know how many times I've stepped off that curb and almost gotten hit." In response to complaints such as Burger's about drivers failing to stop for pedestrians, Medford police are targeting three crossings over the next three weeks. The enforcement campaign - a first for Medford Police Department - is designed to raise public awareness about pedestrian traffic in Medford and decrease accidents, said traffic officer Gail Schweizer. Today a man crossing Columbus Avenue at Prune Street between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. will be a plainclothes police officer. Another officer will observe cars approaching the intersection. If drivers don't yield to the pedestrian, they will be stopped and cited by motorcycle officers waiting in the wings. A ticket for failing to yield to a pedestrian carries a $175 fine. Motorists must stop for pedestrians who are on their side of the roadway or who are so close as to constitute an immediate hazard, Schweizer said. At school crossings, however, vehicles must stop on both sides of the street. Cars do not have to stop for pedestrians who are waiting on the sidewalk or curb, Schweizer added. The decoy officer won't be running out into traffic. The enforcement campaign's first concern is safety, Schweizer said. Two more enforcement operations will follow between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. on Feb. 26 at Crater Lake and Grand avenues and on March 6 at Eighth and Bartlett streets. The police department's traffic team has received a large number of complaints about cars speeding through those intersections. At Crater Lake and Grand, police investigated three pedestrian-versus-vehicle accidents last year, Schweizer said. In each case, the walker was transported to the hospital, he said. In 2000 and 2001 combined, Medford police investigated 35 car accidents involving pedestrians, 83 percent of which resulted in the pedestrian being injured, according to statistics kept by the police department's traffic division. Most injuries were minor, Schweizer said. Officers have planned between 10 and 15 additional enforcement operations this year at crossings that are not controlled by traffic signals. Police then will compare accident numbers with those in 2001 to see if the campaign decreased crashes between pedestrians and motorists, Schweizer said. It may be the first pedestrian sting for Medford police, but not for the area. Prompted by the death of a walker who was struck by a pickup in the downtown area, Ashland police performed a series of pedestrian stings over the past month. Ashland's stings also used a spotter to radio violators' license plates to another officer waiting to stop the car, said Ashland police Chief Scott Fleuter. Officers mostly concentrated on the downtown area and a few crossings around Southern Oregon University, Fleuter said. The locations and times for the stings were not disclosed to the public in advance. But similar to speed enforcement with radar, the stings cannot be considered entrapment on the part of police because they are just enforcing laws, Fleuter said. Officers wrote between eight and 10 tickets on each sting. The police department planned another series for March, the times and locations for which may be released ahead this time, Fleuter said. The department wasn't able to measure the success of the stings other than with comments from citizens, who said they are more educated about pedestrian laws, he added. Burger said he doesn't know how the Medford Police Department's enforcement campaign will solve the problems he encounters on his citywide rambles. Officers can't be at every street corner, he said. Schweizer said he hopes that by increasing public awareness about pedestrians, officers won't be needed on every street corner. "It's really the public's responsibility to obey laws," he said. "But sometimes we're not aware of the laws until they're brought to our attention." Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.