Common sense left at the roadside

Andrew Edwards

The summer festival season draws thousands of visitors to Laguna

Beach every year, but before art lovers can see exhibits, they must

negotiate one of the city’s most hazardous streets, Laguna Canyon

Road.

“It’s definitely one of the most dangerous,” Sgt. Darin Lenyi

said.

Since 2000, police statistics show 13 injury crashes on the

stretch of Laguna Canyon Road near the festivals, Senior Records

Manager Hilda Madrid said. The records show one case when a

pedestrian was killed, in November 2003, but these records are

incomplete.

Madrid said crashes that result in deaths are not always logged as

fatal accidents. In cases when a person dies after they are taken

from the scene of a crash, records staffers do not always receive

supplemental reports to update records.

In the November crash, Santosh Rao, a tourist from India, was hit

and killed by a truck while crossing the street on his way to the

Sawdust Festival Winter Fantasy.

Accidents involving pedestrians are a serious concern, Sgt. Louise

Callus said. She said accidents frequently result from people walking

through jammed parking lots as drivers pull in and out of parking

spaces or when people ignore traffic when crossing the road.

“Basically, they’re jaywalking, walking in the highway, not using

crosswalks, running in front of cars,” she said. Police do not

aggressively enforce jaywalking around in the festival season, since

the area is so full of tourists.

“Are you going to give Joe Schmo from Iowa a ticket for

jaywalking?” Callus said.

To stay safe, police advise pedestrians to follow basic

guidelines.

“Look both ways, and make sure the car stops before you go out in

front of them,” Lenyi said.