Officers from the Baltimore Police Department have recently been monitoring various intersections of Charles Village, especially that of St. Paul Street and 33rd Street, and issuing citations to jaywalking pedestrians.
“The grant currently funding this initiative originates from the U.S. Department of Transportation, National Highways Traffic Safety Administration and is provided to the state of Maryland. who administers it through the city of Baltimore,” Major George Kibler, Head of Operations for Campus Safety & Security said.
The officers of the Baltimore City Police Department who are working overtime at the crosswalks are looking out for several specific violations of state law.
“[If a] pedestrian fails to yield right of way to oncoming traffic, [or a] pedestrian fails to comply with crosswalk signals, [they will be given a citation],” Kibler said.
With the University’s three-prong initiative to improve pedestrian safety, including education, engineering and enforcement, the enforcement component could be responsible for the rise in citations.
“We have been working with the city and asking for enforcement of
traffic laws in the area. It is the city police’s choice as to how they enforce laws for drivers and pedestrians. It’s a matter of interpretation as to whether [the citations] are a part of [the enforcement prong] or not. We certainly are working with the city to make pedestrian crossing in that area safer, and enforcement is one of the ways,” Executive Director of Media Relations and Crisis Communications Dennis O’Shea said.
The city of Baltimore is severely cracking down on carrying out its policies, handing out no warnings and only citations, with those in violation of the law provided with the option of appearing in court or paying a $50 fine.
This past Friday, junior Clint Hall was crossing an intersection on his way to the Village Lofts from Eddie’s Market in the afternoon and was cited for jaywalking.
He witnessed four others receive the same penalty directly after him.
“I was crossing 32nd Street and there were no cars going either direction so I just walked across the street like I normally do. A police officer called me over and I gave him my J-Card and he ended up writing me a $50 citation,” Hall said.
Hall recalled asking the policeman why he was not just receiving a warning, to which the officer responded that in accordance with Baltimore Police policy, there are no warnings for these violations, only citations.
Even though Hall does have the option of appealing his citation in court, he believes it is unnecessary.
“I’m probably just going to pay the fine because I don’t really want to go to court in Baltimore and I think it’s more of a hassle than it would be worth,” Hall said.
Two weekends ago, 40 warnings were issued by Baltimore police in the area.
With the recent attention that the various officers have been giving the region, it seems that the increasing rate of issued citations will not be slowing.
“I feel the police department’s time could be better spent if it focused on other issues within the city,” sophomore Georgina Rupp said.
“The purpose of the grant is to direct selective enforcement toward the causes of traffic collisions. Some of the grant focus areas are driving under the influence, traffic violations, general enforcement and pedestrian violations,” Kibler stated. “Enforcement is one of the three components that are deemed essential to reducing serious pedestrian accidents at the most hazardous city street intersections.”
Junior Debra Schwitzer, a resident of the Village Lofts who uses the intersection of St. Paul Street and 33rd Street. daily, says she is now keenly aware of the jaywalking citations.
“Now, when I cross the street, I don’t look both ways for cars. I look both ways for cops,” Schwitzer said.
Kibler believes that cooperation from the Hopkins community is absolutely necessary to make a difference in the safety of Charles Village.
“Traffic engineering and education are the other components [essential to lowering the number of pedestrian accidents], both of which involve active participation by the university in the joint state, city and university effort to make the area safer for the community,” he said.
The grant funding the initiative responsible for the upswing of jaywalking citations is for a one-year period that could be renewed next year.
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