Letters from pedestrians. "Don'T make me a statistic".

Let me start by saying I am a 62 years old wife, mom and grandma and I walk/run daily and ride my bike several times a week.  I don’t do any outdoor activities while listening to headphones or earbuds on.  I want to be able to hear what’s going on around me which includes not only other people on foot or bicycles but mostly the cars.  I also, depending on the temperatures have either a bright orange reflective vest on or a bright orange reflective jacket on.  In the summer months I’m usually out by 5 am and it’s already pretty light.  In the winter months I leave around 6:30 but I have a very bright LED headlamp on if it’s even a little dark outside.  I have lights on my bike that are turned on in broad daylight even though my bike is a very bright blue.

Because our neighborhood is so small and I don’t want to walk the same way everyday, I venture out of my neighborhood within a 10 mile radius.  I cross at designated cross walks.

I have lost count of how many times I have been almost hit or run over by drivers who are totally oblivious to pedestrians on foot or a bike.  They’re on their phones or putting on makeup or are running late - whatever their excuse is - they’re just not paying attention. I will cross the 347 at Cobblestone and Lakeview Drive only when I have the walk signal and only on the South side (never on the North bound side where people are leaving Maricopa and will run you over if you impede the new continuous lane). Even when I have the walk signal light I am repeatedly challenged by cars turning left to go towards Smith-Enke at that intersection.  Let me say again I HAVE THE WALK LIGHT but because the signal is set up the way it is the cars going east/west all just take off at the same time, there is no dedicated turn light so when the light turns green, even if the pedestrian signal is on the cars turning left don’t pay attention to the fact that there is a pedestrian legally crossing there.  I have had cars race in front of me or right behind me.  I’ve had a woman come right at me and I was looking directly at her with my headlamp shining in her eyes and at the last minute she swerved and hit the brakes and threw her hands up at me like it was my fault - even though the walk light was flashing I had 45 seconds to still get across.  Not only is the 347 the most dangerous road to drive - it’s the most dangerous to cross on foot - even if you’re doing it correctly!

I’ve had numerous drivers in Rancho Eldorado pull up to a stop sign and then barrel right thru while I’m almost in front of their car, legally crossing the street as a pedestrian - it’s like they can’t get in line fast enough to get out to the 347.  I’ve had them so close I can touch their front end or their driver side window - and every time they act like it’s my fault.  You can hear their music blaring or they’re talking on their phone and I can also usually hear the rude stuff they say.  I was almost run over a week ago in the Village at the 3 way stop there on Edison.  All the cars stopped and I stepped off and was about halfway thru when a guy in a truck decided to take off on me and had to slam on the breaks.  He just kind of looked at me and shrugged as if to say where did you come from? I had a car that was sitting at the stop sign by the Santa Rosa grade school squeal their tires and lurch forward just as I was in front of their car on my bike.  I have no idea what they were doing behind the wheel but then they sat there for a few minutes before I saw them pass me on the road - very slowly.  That’s just a few of the many encounters I’ve had. I’ve just been lucky - especially crossing the 347.

Something needs to be done about drivers using cell phones in cars on a state level. If it’s not already a law, then it should be and it should be enforced.  I think most of the accidents that happen in Maricopa and the 347 are from distracted drivers.

The next thing that should be done is the light situation at not only the 347/Cobblestone crossing but ALL the intersections in Maricopa and statewide for that matter, have a dedicated walk light that’s independent of the lights where no one moves, including turn lanes that either have a turn light or not.  If the walk button is pressed then ALL traffic should be held for at least a minute to allow pedestrians to cross the road.  Then let the traffic go - it’s a minute out of everyone's day.  You’re making pedestrians play chicken with their lives by not stopping all the traffic.  I also have sent out an email to a couple of folks who work for the City roads and traffic division asking if something could be done about that cross walk, like making it a dedicated walk light independent of the actual lights and/or put in dedicated turn lights that don’t turn on until after a pedestrian has cleared the intersection and I never heard anything back.  I have presented a viable solution to someone getting hit and or killed and up to today it has been completely ignored.  I guess until someone on foot or a bicycle actually gets run over then they think the problem doesn’t exist.

Thank you for your time. 

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