Hansen: Cars stop for no one in Laguna Beach

The intersection is dark at 7:13 p.m, which is when the women were hit.

This stretch of South Coast Highway at Calliope Street is like a freeway. It’s about a mile south of downtown Laguna Beach, which means that drivers have cleared most of the bottlenecks and speed to make up lost time.

It’s not uncommon to see cars whizzing by at 50 mph or more, a good 20 miles over the speed limit.

And on Sunday night, about a week after two women were struck by a vehicle and severely injured on Dec. 6, I watched as others tried to cross at Calliope.

You have to remember, Calliope has nothing in the way of safety features. There are no flashing crossing lights, no reassuring buttons to push. The faded “PED XING” letters on the street don’t help. They appear faintly yellow from the dim, florescent lights.

The half-mile stretch from Calliope to Thalia Street is one of the most dangerous areas in Laguna Beach, with more serious accidents since 2007 than any other location, according to the Police Department.

So it is no surprise that after dark, pedestrians stand on the sidewalk and wait. Most people do not even attempt to cross until there is a long break between cars. Some are more daring and step halfway into the lane until they are seen.

But cars never see, and drivers rarely notice — especially not now, with smartphones buzzing, radios talking and dinners waiting at home.

People are oblivious.

One man in dark clothes makes an attempt to cross but has to stop midway. He is waiting in the middle of the street, knowing that the northbound cars don’t see him. One car brushes by him without slowing. Another driver sees him too late; he brakes but is already past the intersection, waving an apology.

The pedestrian runs the rest of the way across.

When he reaches the sidewalk, I say to him, “They didn’t even see you.”

“Good thing I saw them,” he said, shaking his head.

We don’t know exactly what happened when the women were hit. In a press release, police said only what you would expect: “The driver was southbound and did not see the pedestrians.”

Special circumstances for drivers southbound make this particular intersection bad. The Surf and Sand Resort fills almost the entire block. It is the backside of the building and is covered with ivy, which makes it essentially a long black wall. There are very few lights.

Street parking on both sides blocks the beginning of the intersection. Pedestrians seemingly come out of nowhere.

It’s fairly busy with restaurants and art galleries. People stay out late. Hotel workers are trying to get home.

The adjacent pedestrian intersections have flashing lights: Mountain Road to the north and Pearl Street to the south. You don’t have to wait long to see them illuminate in the night. Sometimes, they are almost like synchronized Christmas lights. They are always followed by the immediate red brake lights of cars.

Everything lights up, except Calliope.

And so at precisely 7:13 p.m., I cross Calliope. I look but do not wait. I see cars coming fast and hold my breath. I calculate how far I would have to jump out of the way if they did not stop.

It would be close.

The first car brakes hard and stops about 10 feet away. That slows the others behind him. When I reach the halfway mark, the southbound cars are thick, bunched up in a pack after leaving the intersection at Cress Street.

The first car, a luxury SUV, does not stop, and I feel the wind as it passes me. The other cars stop, with the final car halfway in the intersection.

I finally reach the sidewalk and look at the time.

It is still 7:13 p.m., as if frozen, like a broken watch.

DAVID HANSEN is a writer and Laguna Beach resident. He can be reached at hansen.dave@gmail.com.