Pedestrians are dying at a higher rate

With pedestrian deaths on the rise, Alex Valenzuela said he has to be careful while riding his skateboard.

“I like skating and I like being outside,” said Valenzuela.

A new study by the Governors Highway Safety Association found that the number of pedestrian deaths increased by 10 percent from 2014 to 2015 and up 11 percent in 2016. Valenzuela said he too has had a couple of close calls with drivers.

“They care but they don’t show that they care about the pedestrians because it’s just so many of them focusing on things that could hurt them, that’s other cars,” said Valenzuela. “If I get hit by a car it’s not going to hurt them at all.”

The study attributes more pedestrian deaths to an improved economy, lower gas prices, alcohol and cell phone use.

Salinas Police Department said they’ve definitely seen an increase in people being hit by cars.

“Half of our fatalities in Salinas are pedestrian fatalities and that’s way higher than the national average,” said Salinas Police Sgt . Gerry Ross.

Officers are doing what they can to try and slow down that trend with a traffic enforcement grant geared towards pedestrian and bike safety.

“A lot of that money is used for enforcement,” said Ross. “It hires extra officers to work overtime, to watch these intersections that are dangerous, to watch the streets that are dangerous for pedestrians.”

The City of Salinas is also working to reduce pedestrian fatalities by spending $2.6 million on street and sidewalk repairs.

“This is the first year that the city’s actually been able to fund sidewalk and street improvements,” said Don Reynolds with Salinas Public Works.

Funding will go towards narrowing the width of streets, adding safer side and crosswalks, roundabouts and signals.

“A number of our signals and other things could use a dose of upgrade,” said Reynolds. “We’re working on that now. To put in timing signals to give people a better indication of how much time they have to cross the streets.”