SPD to hand out safety vests to help increase pedestrian safety

The Salinas Police Department is trying something new to keep pedestrians safe – handing out safety vests.

“Those vests being fluorescent, they definitely stand out,” said Assistant Chief Roberto Filice. “You’re going to see pedestrians, if anything else because you see these yellow figure in the middle of the roadway, it’s going to catch your attention.”

Gabriel Salcedo is a street vendor in East Salinas who knows walking along the roadways can be risky.

“One time by Alisal, a car was going to squish me,” Salcedo said. “It’s dangerous. They are big streets and a lot of cars pass through here.”

In 2017, there were ten traffic deaths, seven were pedestrians (70-percent). In 2016, there were 12 traffic deaths with pedestrians making up six of them (50-percent). The national average is about 18-percent.

Those accelerating numbers are prompting Salinas Police to take action.

Police are going to keep the safety vests in their patrol cars and will hand them out to people they see crossing the streets, especially at some of the city’s most dangerous intersections.

According to police, some of the most dangerous intersections are:

-East Market Street and North Sanborn Road
-North Main Street and Bernal Drive
-North Main Street and East Laurel Drive
-East Laurel Drive and Constitution Boulevard.

Salcedo, who works along Sanborn, said he would definitely wear a safety vest.

“I think it’s a good idea, especially for those of us who walk a lot around here,” Salcedo said. “Good thinking.”

“It’s a good idea yeah, but it doesn’t mean people are going to use them,” another man told us.

The vests are being paid for by a private donor. The department is going to hand them out, then will evaluate how useful the vests are and if people are actually using them.

Other steps police are taking to improve pedestrian safety include more high visibility enforcement and working with other agencies to make sure people are following the rules.

“It’s one of the objectives of Chief Frese’s community policing concept,” Filice said. “It makes it part of a safe community to have a traffic unit, so, because of staffing issues we were unable to have a traffic unit up to this point but now we’re going to bring it back.”