Sebastopol police launch crosswalk sting operation

[Barry]

Heads up, indeed!


Sebastopol police launch crosswalk sting operation
By Laura Hagar Rush, Sonoma West Editor, [email protected] Aug 15, 2018

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Heads up, inattentive drivers: the Sebastopol Police Department is planning a series of sting operations in town, focusing on pedestrian safety. They’ll be doing speeding and stop sign enforcement, but the main focus of this new operation will be crosswalk safety.

“Basically we need drivers here in town to slow down and watch out for pedestrians, especially now that school is starting,” said Sebastopol police lieutenant Gregory DeVore.

The main method the department will be using is crosswalk stings.

“An employee of the police department, who is in plain clothes, will go out, and they’re going to walk back and forth across crosswalks,” DeVore said. “They’re going to do it legally — they’re not going to just jump out in front of cars. But when it’s legal and safe to cross, they’re going to start crossing in the crosswalk, and if a driver fails to yield to them, we’re going to have a couple of motorcycle officers sitting very nearby, and the offending driver is going to get stopped.”

DeVore says they’ll be running crosswalk stings on all the main corridors in town, focusing on those crosswalks that get the most complaints.

“Some of the areas that we really get complaints about are the crosswalk in front of the post office; the crosswalk on Petaluma Avenue at the trail. We also get a lot of complaints about the main intersection in town, at 116 and 12. Next in line would be the crosswalk up by Rite Aid, going across North Main Street, as well as the crosswalk across Gravenstein South, down by Fircrest Market, near the mobile home park.”

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[Shepherd]

Following is my letter to the editor in this week's Sonoma West, which they titled "Trees/not cellphones:

EDITOR:

I appreciate your informative front-page article “Watch Those Crosswalks” in today’s issue. However, I want to add something that is missing. It distresses me to see so many people — particularly young persons — walking in crosswalks while texting or otherwise using their cell phones, thus paying no attention to their safety or the safety of those driving cars. I hope that the police consider their responsibilities for mishaps and at least speak to them of the dangers of walking with your eyes down on your gadget, thus putting yourself at risk. It should be illegal, in my opinion, to have your eyes on your addiction, that cell phone, while putting drivers at risk, as well as other crosswalk users. It is too easy to blame others for the damage that we bring to ourselves.

I also want to appreciate Sonoma West for publishing Larry Robinson’s excellent letter in support of trees, which he knows a lot about, given that his father was a forester. I moved to what we used to refer to as the Redwood Empire, because I wanted to be around those beautiful redwoods, as well as diverse oaks and other trees. As Larry indicates, trees are not the problem.

When I established my organic farm in Sebastopol over a quarter of a century ago, I planted many redwoods. They bring moisture down from the sky and provide habitat for various insects, which then eat those few insects which damage my crops. Please don’t let the current White House and Department of Interior destroy our forests to benefit a few. I appreciate that there are far more trees here than people. Those trees bring beauty and absorb “the most carbon dioxide,” as Larry writes. The problem is the “timber companies,” as Larry points out. We should address climate change issues, rather than blame trees for the fires.
Shepherd Bliss, Sebastopol

Sebastopol police launch crosswalk sting operation
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