Elaine Thompson, TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
WESTBORO (MA)-- Braking news from the police chief: Motorists must stop for pedestrians in crosswalks in this community or chance being fined $100.
Police Chief Alan R. Gordon said within the next few weeks, officers will conduct special surveillance at crosswalks, an undertaking that snared 150 motorists who failed to stop for a pedestrian in a crosswalk a few months ago.
“When the weather gets nice, we’ll be out at crosswalks again as part of our community policing,” the chief said in a telephone interview yesterday. During a month-and-a-half surveillance last fall, a plainclothes officer would try to cross at a crosswalk while an officer in uniform watched from a distance. Any motorist who failed to stop for the undercover officer would be pulled over and ticketed.
“People would give excuses ... they didn’t think they had enough time to stop, or they didn’t see the person starting to cross the road,” Chief Gordon said.
He said a few of the motorists were given warnings because their view of the pedestrian might have been blocked by a larger vehicle in front of them. He said he’s not sure how many of the $100 fines were paid because those cited could make an appeal to the assistant clerk magistrate at Westboro District Court.
There have been a couple of accidents related to drivers not stopping for people in crosswalks, the chief said.
At a recent selectmen’s meeting, Selectman Sue Abladian read the law of the road, which says that when traffic signals are not in place, drivers must yield to pedestrians.
“Motorists are discourteous,” she said. “I don’t know why we don’t have more pedestrian accidents.”
Ms. Abaladian recently stopped for a pedestrian in a crosswalk and the driver behind her became angry and blared his horn.
“We’ve had drivers who stopped and the driver behind them went around them,” Chief Gordon said.
There is also a problem with pedestrians not using crosswalks, though no accidents have occurred as a result, the chief said.
He said people will park near a business they plan to visit and instead of walking a few yards to cross at a crosswalk, they cross where they are parked.
“That’s just human nature. People are gong to take the easiest way,” Chief Gordon said. Like most small communities, Westboro does not have a bylaw prohibiting jaywalking.
“Some of the big cities have jaywalking laws. We have other things that are a lot more important. We’d rather target vehicles that fail to stop for the people in the crosswalks.”
March 23, 2006
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