Santa Maria Pedestrians Ignore No Crossing Sign On Busy Street

Desia Santos admitted she crosses busy streets like Broadway Street while listening to music and says doing so has created moments where she will walk “across the street and realize [she is] not allowed to walk right now.”

Sean Booker said he, too, does not always pay any attention and “just waits for it to clear and run across the street as quick as [he] can.

Santa Maria police tell us earlier this month a man was hit Inger and Broadway, one of the busiest intersections in the city. He was sent to the hospital with severe brain injuries.

Bob Panchal thinks one big contributing factor to this is people walking around using their phones.

“It’s not good and there have been accidents all the time,” said Panchal.

Nipomo resident Robyn DeRohan said she feels like she has “to watch out for them more than [she] would normally for a normal driver.”

Police said this is an ongoing problem and notes that last year there were close to 1,900 collisions in Santa Maria; 58 of those involved pedestrians and vehicles; seven were fatal.

Officials tells KEYT/KCOY/KKFX that many of these accidents happen to people at night who are wearing dark clothing and not paying attention

“I see it very frequently and it really concerns me,” said Santa Maria traffic Sgt. Mark Streker.