Getting a moving violation from a police officer can often take around 15 minutes, says John Hirokawa, captain of the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Department West Valley substation--so the answer should be easy.

Approximately 25 drivers found themselves running a bit late on June 9 when they were all pulled over and given tickets for failure to yield to a pedestrian in the crosswalk at Highway 9 and Oak Street. Hirokawa says it was all part of a special traffic enforcement he initiated that morning, in response to complaints from local residents who say the crosswalk can be a death trap during the morning rush hour--particularly because of its proximity to elementary schools.

"[Residents] had emailed us asking us for a special enforcement, so we did," Hirokawa says. "On a random date, I'll gather all my traffic units for the substation, which include officers from Cupertino, and we'll go ahead and work a particular area of enforcement. So on [June 9], I had seven units out there, not including the decoys walking the crosswalk."

Hirokawa says there is a short window of opportunity to work a crosswalk such as Oak Street and Highway 9.

"People start walking to school around 8 to 8:20 a.m. For one officer to issue a citation takes about 15 minutes, so [after he or she is finished], the window is pretty much closed," he explains. Therefore, with seven officers out there, Hirokawa says one or two will monitor the intersection, while several others will take various posts down the street. When an officer in the intersection sees a vehicle fail to yield to a pedestrian, he or she will radio officers down the street which vehicle to pull over.

"This is how we were able to issue 25 citations," Hirokawa says.

"What sometimes residents don't understand ... they say they don't see us out there. We're out there, but we can only get one or two cars at a time," Hirokawa says. "And we can only do this on a random basis, when we have the time."

Hirokawa says they also try to do this at other problem intersections, such as Prospect Road and Lawrence Expressway. Hirokawa says they will issue tickets to students who walk against a red light or run across the street in the middle of the road, forcing cars to stop and putting themselves in danger of being hit by a car. Another such location is Big Basin Way and Fourth Street.

However, Hirokawa says that in July his unit will lose three officers to city budget cutbacks, so he is unsure how often he will be able to initiate these random traffic enforcements.

Mayor Kathleen King says that last year the city went from four officers to three, and this year will go from three to 2.65, meaning that one person will work less than full-time.

"The person who is not a full-time police officer will work school traffic," she says. Asked about traffic enforcement, she replied, "I don't think it will make a big difference in patrolling for schools [in the mornings], but it may make a difference at other times, such as rush hour in the afternoons." She says cutting the officers is a result of general budget issues.

King says the random traffic enforcements make a difference.

"The residents feel the [electronic] speed sign we have posted on Highway 9 is not slowing people down. They're slowing down, but speeding back up by the time they reach the Village," she says. "The residents wrote in and the city manager spoke with John Hirokawa to make sure people slow down and stop before the crosswalk."

Denise Michel, one of the most vocal of the Saratoga residents pushing the city council and staff to help in this matter, says she is frustrated that it has taken five years for something to be done.

"[This] crosswalk is used hundreds of times a week to take children to Saratoga elementary schools, and cars frequently disregard the law and don't yield to pedestrians in the crosswalk. I've personally witnessed accidents in this crosswalk and many near-misses, cars almost hitting people," she says. "The council has been committing for many years to fix this crosswalk, and for five years has not actually done anything to improve the crosswalk except add paint to the pavement."

Michel says she is grateful that finally the residents' voices are being heard.

"It's taken five years but the sheriff has finally started enforcing the law that cars must yield to pedestrians in the crosswalk. The city staff has finally submitted a Safe Route to Schools grant application to Caltrans to upgrade the crosswalk," she says, referring to the bill that was passed in 1999 by the California Department of Transportation. The state set aside $25 million per year to reimburse cities for improvements that make it safer for children to walk or bike to school.

"It's a culmination of five years of work of repeatedly pushing for crosswalk upgrades, of informing city council of accidents and near-misses," Michel says. "It's unfortunately taken a few deaths on Highway 9 to take action to not only make this crosswalk safe, but other places on Highway 9 as well ... to get these changes to finally occur."

Michel, a member of the Citizens for Highway 9 Safety group that formed last year, says she hopes that June 9 was not an isolated incident.

"I am hopeful. Drivers that don't yield to people in the crosswalk will now have a higher chance of getting a moving violation. So we're hopeful that that, coupled with continued advocacy to upgrade and make the crosswalk safer, will be successful," she says. "I'm just hoping it won't take another five years to get something in place."