Pedestrian Safety

Wednesday The Glendale Chamber of Commerce will have its "Almost World Famous Network AM Breakfast Meeting" from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. at the Hilton Glendale Hotel at 100 West Glenoaks Blvd. The featured guest speaker is Christopher Gonzalez, managing partner of Business Corporate and Civil Law Group. The fees are $15 for members and $25 for nonmembers. Prospective members may join for $15. For more information, call (818) 240-7870, ext. 103. Thursday The Glendale Chamber of Commerce presents its "Lunch and Learn Workshop Series" from noon to 1:30 p.m. at the Glendale Chamber of Commerce Board Room at 200 S. Louise St. Captain Ray Edey from the Glendale Police Department and the Business Safety and Security Committee will discuss "Traffic Safety and Congestion --Collisions/DUI/Pedestrian Safety and You."

Only death brings constructive results I have noticed that once again the Glendale News-Press had an editorial on pedestrian safety (“It’s time for speeders to slow down,” May 10). I have worked on pedestrian and traffic safety matters for more years than I care to count. The reality is that the city of Glendale has a dismal record on pedestrian safety. It is one of the worst in the country. What has been done to correct this problem? Basically, nothing.

GLENDALE — Police are poised to roll out a pedestrian-education campaign today, designed to get the word out about problem intersections, where pedestrians are vulnerable to being hit by passing vehicles. The campaign — which is funded through a $133,000 California Office of Traffic Safety grant — will step up efforts to educate pedestrians and motorists, in light of the fact that more than 100 pedestrians were either injured or killed in pedestrian-vehicle collisions in 2006, Glendale Police Officer John Balian said.

Traffic safety has become a perennial topic of conversation in Glendale. With more than 350 miles of streets, reducing the number of injuries and accidents presents quite a challenge for our leanly staffed Police Department. During 2006 and 2007, there were 252 collisions between cars and pedestrians. During those same two years, five pedestrians lost their lives when struck by cars. When compared to cities of similar size, Glendale has the fourth-highest number of vehicle/pedestrian collisions and the highest number of collisions involving pedestrians over the age of 65, according to the California Office of Traffic Safety.

The only good thing about being struck by a vehicle while walking in Glendale is the instant before the impact. There are no lights, no sirens, no blood and no pain. It is the instant after that one must prepare for, because life as they knew it will never be the same. By the grace of God, my mother's fate did not end like Joo Lee's when he was struck by a Glendale motorist ("Reward posted in fatal hit-run," Jan. 13). Like in his case, the officers and ambulance arrived, and she was rushed to the hospital.

"It all points toward pedestrian safety," Chris Cochran, a spokesman for the California Office of Traffic Safety, said in July as state officials awarded Glendale police $254,800 to boost pedestrian safety measures and reduce the number of distracted drivers. Evidently, that investment has yet to pay any dividends as the recently released California Office of Traffic Safety figures suggest. They rank Glendale as having the third-worst overall record for pedestrian safety among cities with a population of 100,001 to 250,000.

Amber Willard GLENDALE -- Pedestrians and drivers have long been playing the dangerous and, sometimes, deadly game of trying to coexist on city streets. Like the arcade game "Frogger," pedestrians often dash across busy streets like the animated frogs. Most of the time they make it. Sometimes, they don't. "We need to bring home the realization of the risk," said Glendale Police Lt. Don Meredith, who oversees the department's traffic bureau.

RIVERWALK PROGRESS The City Council on Tuesday appropriated $102,500 from the California Department of Transportation for a master planning study and community outreach effort for the second and third phases of the project. WHAT IT MEANS The first phase of the project is still awaiting the completion of an easement and the receipt of state funding. A major portion of Phase II is being constructed as part of the flyover bridge at Fairmont Avenue. The remainder includes a connection with the first phase and pedestrian and bicycle bridges across the Verdugo Wash and Los Angeles River, finally connecting with Griffith Park.