How pedestrians can help balance city budget
Last week Wednesday, Gazette reporter Frank Schultz told about the problem of pedestrian-crossing signs placed in the middle of South Main Street near Hedberg Public Library and Olde Towne Mall being repeatedly abused by drivers. Repair costs vary from $100 to $500.
That prompted a Thursday story by Channel 3’s Margo Spann. Her story got me thinking about a grand way to prevent any future increases in city property taxes.
Just have a police officer stationed in his squad car near any busy crosswalk in the city and ticket those who ignore pedestrians. Spann says police here told her the citation for failure to stop for a pedestrian includes a fine of more than $230.
Imagine how quickly those fines could mount into thousands and even millions of dollars.
I know I’ve written about this in my blog previously, but one of those pedestrian signs with the spring-mounted base used to be in the middle of Milwaukee Street at Parker Place. It finally was removed because repairs were too frequent and costly.
I use that crosswalk about four times each weekday, and I’m almost always ignored by motorists zipping down Milwaukee Street. Even squad cars have passed me without stopping. I see older drivers, men and women, ignoring me as if I weren’t standing there, and I know they’d expect me to stop if it were them waiting to cross.
It’s rare when someone will stop, and when a car does, the driver risks being piled into from behind by the hasty, impatient and often inattentive motorists behind them.
Maybe I’m wrong, but I consider Janesville anything but pedestrian friendly. Would piles of tickets make motorists friendlier? Think it could really solve the city’s budget bind?
Greg Peck can be reached at (608) 755-8278 or gpeck@gazettextra.com. Or follow him on Twitter or Facebook
Jan 7, 2012 at 12:33 a.m.
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sad part is nicksmom, we don't get what we pay for. Look around the city, no way we get what we pay for.
Jan 6, 2012 at 2:45 p.m.
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Don't forget to have the police target the Milton Avenue and Highway 14 intersection for the 3-4 cars that typically turn left on red, tailgating the last legitimate driver making a left turn on the green arrow.
The police department could just do shift changes there for a few weeks so every officer could start and finish the day with a ticket to contribute to the fund.
Jan 6, 2012 at 9:19 a.m.
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Happy camper, that does not make any sense.
The general fund is the city budget.
Jan 6, 2012 at 9:10 a.m.
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Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't JPD down 2 officers due to budget constraints? It just amazes me that people constantly complain about their taxes & then want more services. You get what you pay for.
Jan 6, 2012 at 7:59 a.m.
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Fines, ambulance bills, any money collected goes into the general fund and is NOT used to offset or make up city budget.
Jan 6, 2012 at 6:01 a.m.
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OK I do not walk downtown and I guess I do not know the extent of the problem, but why can't they put in a pedestrian light in that when a pedestrian wanted to cross, the light would change to red to stop traffic? They used one at that factory on Delavan Dr and I do not recall any accidents there. It would not need to be a full stop light, but just a light to change. I'm sure they are not that cheap, but honestly if it is going to save lives and/or prevent injuries, than I am all for it.
Jan 6, 2012 at 5:59 a.m.
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phfed: Exactly right. Being the only vehicle to stop for pedestrians in multi-lane traffic can put them at greater risk than if no one had stopped at all. I have occasionally straddled the center line to block both lanes of traffic when I saw approaching danger in my rear-view mirror. Smaller children are especially vulnerable to the false sense of security created by a single stopped vehicle. Watch for what they can't see and keep both thumbs on the horn. :-)
Jan 5, 2012 at 9:41 p.m.
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Surprised the council doesn't impose a shoe tax on those pedestrians that cross the street.
Jan 5, 2012 at 7:28 p.m.
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It's good to enforce for public safety, but not to generate revenue, imo. Slippery slope.
Jan 5, 2012 at 3:36 p.m.
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I completely 100% agree. I used to live in Madison. It has taken me years to reluctantly "untrain" myself from stopping for pedestrians. I don't want to, but it becomes unsafe for both them and me because I'm the ONLY car that stops.
One time as a pedestrian while I was crossing an intersection on a walk light, I had to pull my child in her stroller back out of the crosswalk because 3 cars were making left hand turns and did not yield my right a way.
There needs to be an all out saftey blitz for autos, bicycles and pedestrians to learn the rules of the road.
Jan 5, 2012 at 1:55 p.m.
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Greg: That's essentially the solution I suggested in your last blog on this subject. Note that top return on your enforcement investment will come only from unpredictable, random and zero-tolerance enforcement.
Jan 5, 2012 at 1:12 p.m.
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I think doing sting operations like Madison did where the police place a plain clothes officer at the crosswalks as pedestrians would be a great idea. It's almost as bad to be one of those drivers that does stop for pedestrians as the law requires. I've repeatedly been honked at on main street in front of the library for stopping and more than once had a car try to go around me, only to realize I had stopped for a pedestrian in the crosswalk. I think most people in this town are just clueless jerks when they drive. I can't tell you how many times I've put my blinker on and pulled just past a parking space to parallel park, only to have a car pull right up behind me so I can't back in, and then sit there trying to figure out why I am not moving. Most of the time it still takes them a minute after my reverse lights come on to figure out what's going on.
Jan 5, 2012 at 12:46 p.m.
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Right after the red light runners , speeders and tailgaters start getting ticketed. I try to stop for pedestrians when I can if it's safe to do so. It would also be nice if pedestrians could actually give drivers a chance to see them before just walking out, especially at a certain bike crossing on E. Milwaukee. Maybe even activating the lights occasionally would be great.
Jan 5, 2012 at 12:33 p.m.
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To see it in the news every day that someone was ticketed for failure to yeild to a pedestrian would be a great relief from all the drunk driver arrests we see every single day in the news in Janesville. I for one agree 100 percent with you.
Jan 5, 2012 at 12:28 p.m.
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Like I said not "darting into traffic"
Timely article!
Pedestrian hit by car injured, ticketed
By SHELLY BIRKELO ( Contact ) Thursday, January 5, 2012 - 5:43 a.m.
JANESVILLE—A pedestrian who stepped in front of a vehicle Wednesday night remains hospitalized but was listed in fair condition Thursday morning at Mercy Hospital and Trauma Center, according to a hospital spokeswoman.
Alan Erdman, 57, of 525 Milton Ave., Apt. 4, was crossing West Milwaukee Street, in the 600 block, at 7:45 p.m. Wednesday, when he stepped in front of a vehicle driven by George Atkinson, whose age and address wasn’t readily available Thursday, according to Janesville police.
Erdman was ticketed for sudden movement into traffic and smelled of intoxicants, according to a Janesville police department sergeant.
He suffered a fractured right ankle and broken jaw during the accident and was taken to Mercy Hospital by a Janesville Fire Department ambulance.
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