The Cincinnati Police Department has responded to a video that shows multiple drivers, including a Cincinnati Police officer, not yielding to two pedestrians in a crosswalk.
The video shows two people with backpacks standing in the middle of the crosswalk on Glenway Avenue at Relleum Avenue in West Price Hill, as a police SUV and a dozcars drive past. The video was taken Thursday afternoon by Clayton Adams, who provided it to The Enquirer Saturday afternoon.
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“I am extremely sad about the state of pedestrian safety across our city. I am confident that our newly elected mayor and city council will tackle this issue in the coming months and years,” Adams said in a statement. “Sadly, this is an issue they inherited but are now tasked to fix. I believe more pedestrian safety measures should be implemented, particularly around areas close to schools. Lastly, I hope CPD is able to learn from this incident and place more of an emphasis on following traffic laws.”
The Cincinnati Police Department released a statement Friday afternoon.
“The action of one officer does not define how District 3 or the Cincinnati Police Department operates,” Captain David Johnston said in the statement.
“Pedestrian safety is and has always been a priority for our department and I continually stress with my officers how important traffic enforcement and safe driving is in District 3, a district that sees so much pedestrian traffic.”
The statement said multiple districts “put traffic enforcement and pedestrian safety at the top of their enforcement efforts,” noting a traffic safety campaign in District 5 and an enforcement campaign on Warsaw Avenue.
Residents can expect to see speed trailers up near Woodlawn and Warsaw Avenues collecting speed data, and laser-trained officers are actively citing drivers for traffic violations, according to the release.
“(District 3) officers will be focused on traffic enforcement in the area for as long as it takes to get drivers to adhere to the speed limit and pedestrians in the area to feel as if drivers are obeying traffic laws,” Johnston said.
Last year in Cincinnati, there were more than 300 crashes involving pedestrians, city data shows. Seven of those pedestrians were killed.
A new initiative proposed co-sponsored by Councilman Mark Jeffreys and Mayor Aftab Pureval would use new ideas and technology to calm traffic in the city.
“The truly touches all 52 neighborhoods,” Jeffreys previously told The Enquirer. He said his own mother-in-law was fatally struck by a vehicle.
https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2022/04/09/police-address-disregard-pedestrian-safety-officer/9528225002/