CHP writes 50 tickets in traffic crackdown near schools
Personal Injury News
Article Date: 9/2/2009 | Resource: MLG
CHP writes 50 tickets in traffic crackdown near schools
“Officers wrote 50 tickets near 3 schools Tuesday, hoping the show of force will make drivers think twice.”
As students poured out of Foothill High School after their first day of classes on Tuesday afternoon, some of them got speeding tickets.
A 17-year-old girl driving a Toyota Corolla was pulled over by California Highway Patrol motorcycle officer Alvin Yamaguchi on Dodge Ave., just outside the school. She was doing 47 mph in the 25 mph school zone and still accelerating near a crosswalk when Yamaguchi took the reading, he said.
CHP officers were waiting outside Foothill High and nearby Hewes Middle School in an unincorporated section of Santa Ana on Tuesday afternoon to make their presence felt. It’s the start of a special two week enforcement effort near schools with the goal of reminding people to drive safely and be aware of children on foot.
Budget cuts have reduced the number of school buses this year, so more parents and students are driving to school, said CHP officer Jennifer Hink. There are also fewer crossing guards this year, she said.
The increased vehicular traffic was evident as lines of cars crawled along the streets near Foothill and Hewes schools Tuesday afternoon. CHP officers wrote about 50 tickets, mostly for speeding, during the morning drop-off and afternoon pick-up periods at three schools, including Arroyo Elementary. There likely would have been more tickets written if traffic had been lighter, officers said.
Other tickets were written for hand-held cell phone usage and failure to observe crosswalks and stop signs, Hink said. A pedestrian was cited for walking into traffic, she said. Those ticketed included students, parents, and passersby, officers said.
CHP is responsible for traffic enforcement in unincorporated sections of Orange County, Hink said.
For more information regarding this article please contact:
Jeffrey Marquart
(949)589-0150
jmarquart@marquartlawgroup.com