San Marcos promotes pedestrian safety

SAN MARCOS, Texas (KXAN) - The San Marcos Police Department is buckling down on pedestrian safety after two auto-pedestrian accidents left four people injured and one man dead on Labor Day weekend.

Officer Paul Stephens said police will be focusing especially on the popular strip of downtown bars known as "The Square."

"We really want to teach them, especially when they've been drinking downtown, you can't just stumble out into the roadway," said Stephens. "There are other people who have been drinking and driving downtown."

San Marcos police normally have two officers dedicated to the downtown area. But more will be patrolling come closing time. Stephens, who has worked with the downtown crew, said officers not only will be looking for drunk drivers, but also drunks on foot.

"They'll stand at the crosswalks and wait for people to come across the road," said Stephens. "They're going to be looking for people walking when it says don't walk."

So far this year, five pedestrians were killed by vehicles in San Marcos.

Early this week, two women were arrested in unrelated hit-and-runs that left one man dead and three others injured over the Labor Day weekend

Jennifer McKernan, 21, was charged with felony failure to stop and render aid after a deadly hit-and-run early Monday that killed a man from New Braunfels. She was released on $10,000 bond.

Tiffany Danielle Dahl, 25,was charged with five felony counts after a hit-and-run early Sunday in downtown San Marcos. Three people were injured, two of them seriously.

Dahl also was charged with three counts of failure to stop and render aid and two counts of intoxication assault, all third-degree felonies. Bail for Dahl was set at $75,000.

Although police will be cracking down on the square, Stephens says that the main focus is to raise awareness and to educate people on pedestrian safety.

“Understandably, we’re going to be trying to educate people more on doing the right things,” he said.