Police fine 500 in city over lights

ERIN PEARSON
SOMEONE will die if pedestrians continue crossing streets against traffic lights, police have warned.
Geelong Road Policing Advisor Shane Coles said the city station’s traffic management unit had fined almost 500 jaywalkers in central Geelong in the past 10 months.
Some pedestrians seemed to have a “total disregard” for safety, he said.
“The problem is the way they cross, they don’t want to wait.
“In Ryrie Street because of the median strip people might get across the first section but not the second and get cleaned up.
“We don’t have a huge pedestrian injury rate but people need to cross at a traffic light, that’s what they’re there for.”
Snr Sgt Coles warned jaywalkers face fines of $60.
A woman who witnessed what she described as a near miss on Tuesday told the Independent a woman in her late-20s crossed Ryrie Street near Village Cinema against the traffic signal.
The witness said the woman saw the car but continued to cross, forcing an oncoming vehicle to brake suddenly, missing the woman “by just millimetres”.
In April a teenage girl was taken to hospital after a car struck her at the same crossing.
The Squire Shoppe owner Hayden Spurling, whose business is near the crossing, said the aftermath of the April accident was “shocking”.
“The people who have had either near misses or been hit have done so at their own peril. Pedestrians need to be patient because it does take longer than most traffic lights to change,” he said.
“It was supposed to be pedestrian-activated crossing when first installed but it’s tied into traffic lights elsewhere, so there is a fair delay.
“It’s incredibly frustrating but safety must come first.”