Editorial: Crosswalks vulnerable to tragedy

Thursday, Nov. 6, 2003 | 9:25 a.m.

Over the last three weeks there have been two tragic accidents involving local schoolchildren. On Oct. 15 two 13-year-old girls were struck by a car at the intersection of Robindale Road and Torrey Pines Drive. One of the girls was killed and the other was seriously injured. On Monday a 15-year-old girl was struck and killed while crossing Bonanza Road at Wardelle Street. In each of the accidents there were questions about crosswalks.

At Robindale and Torrey Pines, the issue was the lack of painted lines at the crosswalk. At Bonanza and Wardelle, the issue was a crosswalk whose lines had faded. Both situations contain lessons for drivers, pedestrians and local governments responsible for streets and public safety.

For drivers and pedestrians, the lesson should be clear -- crosswalks can be dangerous and caution should be the rule. Pedestrians have the right of way but they should wait for a clear break in traffic. Drivers must be aware that the potential for danger is high at crosswalks -- they should always slow down approaching them. Drivers should also realize that legal crosswalks exist wherever two public streets come together, whether lines are painted there or not.

As for local government officials, they would serve the public by re-examining both accidents and discussing possible policy changes. At Bonanza and Wardelle, for example, the city of Las Vegas knew the crosswalk lines were faded -- and wanted them that way. This is because another crosswalk a short distance to the west, at 28th Street, was completed 14 months ago. The city considered this crosswalk safer, so it wanted to discourage use of the one at Wardelle by not maintaining the lines. This didn't work, however, because the Wardelle crosswalk is the one area residents had become accustomed to using, largely because it leads to a popular convenience store. We feel it would be safer to always mark highly used crosswalks with freshly painted lines. If a local government wants to discourage use of a crosswalk because of safety concerns, it should devise way s better than faded lines to inform the area's residents.