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Police crack down on pedestrian laws
New PEST program created to curb deaths
Updated: Thursday, 28 Jun 2012, 7:54 AM CDT
Published : Wednesday, 27 Jun 2012, 5:32 PM CDT
AUSTIN (KXAN) - Police Chief Art Acevedo minced no words:
"Enough is enough! If you don't heed my voice today, you're going to get a ticket," said Acevedo on Wednesday as he announced APD's new get-tough policy for people who don't obey pedestrian laws.
The initiative is called the PEST program, for Pedestrian Enforcement Safety Team. The new unit will be out in full force for the rest of the summer.
Acevedo said 19 pedestrians deaths so far this year is too many.
"If this trend continues, (it will be) the highest number of fatalities in this city as far as we know," he said.
As PEST sets up on the city's east side, they have little trouble busting drivers who are either unaware or ignoring Austin's pedestrians right of way signs. Police said the goal is to enforce but also to educate the public.
Officers are trying to create pedestrian awareness for motorists, but they said responsibility also lies with those on foot.
According to police, 53 percent of all pedestrian fatalities involved walkers who were intoxicated. Many of these accidents happened in and around downtown and also involved intoxicated drivers on Sunday nights.
"Were trying to create a culture of change in Austin," said Lt. Ely Reyes, "In order to do that, we have to continue our enforcement operations and get the word out to the public that we are, have a zero-tolerance policy on pedestrian violations"
Attorney Len Gabbay said awareness of the law is one thing, but distracted driving is another.
"Technology in the car, road maps in the car, videos in the car, people having iPhones, iTunes, eye distraction is what it is," Gabbay said.
APD's PEST crackdown will continue through October. The unit will also be adding patrols on Sunday nights through the summers, hoping to reduce the number of deadly crashes.
Pedestrian deaths
Pedestrian crashes have been on the rise. They rose sharply in 2011 citywide.
Some 17 people were killed in auto-pedestrian crashes in Austin in 2011, up from 10 deaths in 2010.
APD has documented 128 intersections citywide that are dangerous for pedestrians -- those with 3 or more accidents since 2008.
Police are being reassigned to the city's most dangerous areas for pedestrians. A new strategy focuses on groups of officers saturating areas where there have been a large number of auto-pedestrian crashes.
Most dangerous intersections for walkers
| Congress & Cesar Chavez | 8 | ||
| 5th & Lavaca | 8 | ||
| Lamar & St Johns | 7 | ||
| Congress & Woodward (Lightsey) | 7 | ||
| 100 4th (E*W) | 6 | ||
| 9300 I 35 S WF | 6 | ||
| Riverside Dr & Crossing Pl | 6 | ||
| Bluebonnet & Lamar | 6 | ||
| 700 7th E | 6 | ||
| Congress & 4th | 6 | ||
| 600 Congress S | 5 | ||
| Lavaca & 6th | 5 | ||
| Lamar & Manchaca Rd | 5 | ||
| Jollyville & Braker | 5 | ||
| Lamar & Rutland | 5 | ||
| 1st St & Riverside | 5 | ||
| 1600 Congress S | 5 | ||
| Jones & Manchaca | 5 | ||
| Barton Springs & 1st St | 5 | ||
| 1300 Congress S | 5 | ||
| 100 8th (e*w) | 5 | ||
| 600 1st S | 5 | ||
| Barton Springs & Robert E Lee | 5 | ||
| Guadalupe & 38th St W | 5 | ||
| 1700 Rutland | 5 | ||
| Congress & Barton Springs | 5 | ||
| Congress & Alpine/Pickle | 4 | ||
| Riverside & Tinnin Ford (also Burton) | 4 | ||
| 1000 41ST ST E | 4 | ||
| Lamar & Rundberg | 4 | ||
| Congress Av & 7th St E | 4 | ||
| Congress & 2nd | 4 | ||
| 100 Riverside (E&W) | 4 | ||
| 5700 Manchaca | 4 | ||
| Riverside & Royal Crest | 4 | ||
| Riverside Dr & Montopolis | 4 | ||
| Nueces & 21st | 4 | ||
| Airport & 12th | 4 | ||
| Red River & 12th | 4 | ||
| 500 San Jacinto | 4 | ||
| 1200 Congress S | 4 | ||
| 1100 AIRPORT BLVD | 4 | ||
| Congress & 3rd | 4 | ||
| Guadalupe & 5th | 4 | ||
| Capital of Texas & Waymaker | 4 | ||
| Barton Springs & Riverside | 4 | ||
| 9200 North Plz | 4 | ||
| Capital of Texas & Wildridge | 4 | ||
| Guadalupe & 29th St | 4 | ||
| 45th & Shoal Creek | 4 | ||
| 800 Rutland | 4 | ||
| 7th & San Jacinto | 4 | ||
| 2400 Guadalupe | 4 | ||
| 11066 Pecan Park Bl | 4 | ||
| Speedway & 30th | 3 | ||
| 600 Barton Springs | 3 | ||
| Manchaca & Slaughter | 3 | ||
| 45th & Red River | 3 | ||
| 2000 Oltorf E | 3 | ||
| 12100 Metric Bl | 3 | ||
| 600 Red River | 3 | ||
| 2300 Lamar S | 3 | ||
| San Jacinto & 4th | 3 | ||
| 2500 Congress S | 3 | ||
| Parmer & Metric | 3 | ||
| MLK & San Jacinto | 3 | ||
| 3900 Congress S | 3 | ||
| 2500 Riverside E | 3 | ||
| Lamar & 51st | 3 | ||
| Congress S & Industrial | 3 | ||
| Barton Springs & Dawson | 3 | ||
| 3500 Lamar S | 3 | ||
| 2215 Town Lake Ci | 3 | ||
| I 35 SB Svc Rd & 6th St | 3 | ||
| Guadalupe & 2nd | 3 | ||
| Dean Keeton & Harris Park (Park Pl) | 3 | ||
| Congress & MLK | 3 | ||
| 800 Rundberg W | 3 | ||
| Wm Cannon & Bluff Springs | 3 | ||
| I 35 SB Svc Rd & 7th | 3 | ||
| 710 Ben White E | 3 | ||
| 24th & Nueces | 3 | ||
| 2200 Guadalupe | 3 | ||
| 1st St & Ben White EB Svc Rd | 3 | ||
| San Antonio & 3rd W | 3 | ||
| Red River & 8th St | 3 | ||
| Lamar & Barton Skyway | 3 | ||
| 7th & Red River | 3 | ||
| 5th & West | 3 | ||
| 1900 William Cannon W | 3 | ||
| 1900 Oltorf E | 3 | ||
| Speedway & 35th | 3 | ||
| Guadalupe & Dean Keeton | 3 | ||
| Riverside & Grove Blvd | 3 | ||
| Congress & Oltorf | 3 | ||
| 7th & Pleasant Valley | 3 | ||
| 4400 Riverside E | 3 | ||
| 1600 Barton Springs | 3 | ||
| 12901 I 35 N EF | 3 | ||
| Wm Cannon & S. Congress | 3 | ||
| Manor & Susquehanna | 3 | ||
| Lamar & Morrow | 3 | ||
| 8900 Lamar N | 3 | ||
| 8071 Lamar Bl N | 3 | ||
| Riverside & Wickersham | 3 | ||
| I 35 NB Svc Rd & Ben White E eb | 3 | ||
| Guadalupe & 8th | 3 | ||
| 500 6th E | 3 | ||
| 300 MLK W | 3 | ||
| Rutland & Mearns Meadow | 3 | ||
| Brodie & Silk Oak | 3 | ||
| Nueces & 5th | 3 | ||
| Lamar & Lamar Square | 3 | ||
| 6600 Elm Creek | 3 | ||
| 500 5th W | 3 | ||
| 400 7th E | 3 | ||
| 2100 Burton | 3 | ||
| 1900 Guadalupe | 3 | ||
| Congress Av & 5th St | 3 | ||
| 2110 Slaughter W | 3 | ||
| Lamar & 10th | 3 | ||
| West Gate & Jones | 3 | ||
| San Jacinto & 6th St | 3 | ||
| 500 Canyon Ridge W | 3 | ||
| 2200 Oltorf E | 3 | ||
| 11900 Jollyville | 3 | ||
| Lamar & Oltorf | 3 | ||
| 9616 Lamar N | 3 |
Last pedestrian crash
On June 10, well-known jogger and beloved educator Mark Gobble, 38, died after being hit by a car during a morning run. He died later at the hospital.
Many people -- from Texas all the way to Boston -- grieved his death.
Roman Jesus Turullos-Gonzalez, 20, is charged with failure to stop and render aid, a third-degree felony.
Gobble and his family were planning a move to Boston where he was joining the Boston University Programs in Deaf Studies as an associate professor. A memorial marks the spot where Gobble's life was taken.
Another crash killed a pedestrian in Central Austin nearly a month before that on May 15 after he was kneeling in the street.
It happened just after 2:30 a.m. on Guadalupe Street near 39th Street. Police shut down Guadalupe during the investigation. The victim was found on the ground in the northbound lanes, in front of a Natural Grocers food store.
Austin Police Department Watch Command said a taxi driver saw the accident and called 911. The taxi driver gave police the license plate number of the SUV that hit the man.
APD found the driver, who didn't initially stop at the scene, a few blocks away. He was arrested, and charges for failure to stop and render aid are pending.
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