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Pedestrian hit by auto on Lincoln sustained few injuries
WGNA president calls for additional safety measures for downtown strip
By Chantal Lamers
A pedestrian-involved car accident on Lincoln Avenue Feb. 14 has Willow Glen residents hoping council members will finally help them slow traffic on their busy streets.
The accident took place about 5 p.m., in a pedestrian walkway near the intersection of Lincoln Avenue and Willow Street. A southbound van stopped in the slow lane of Lincoln Avenue, and the driver signaled 23-year-old Mariana Aguilar Fisco, who was waiting on the sidewalk, to cross. As she began to jog across Lincoln toward Peet's Coffee, she was struck by a vehicle in the other southbound lane.
Police say the driver of the car, 46-year-old Armen Biegian, was not speeding. Fisco was transported to Valley Medical with minor injuries and was released the same day.
Willow Glen Neighborhood Association president J. Michael Gonzales said pedestrian safety has been a growing issue on Lincoln. "We're becoming very concerned this is not going to be a rare incident," he said.
Last year, concerned Willow Glen residents began meeting with representatives from the San Jose Police Department, looking for ways to slow drivers who speed down the Lincoln Avenue strip. "They [police] did respond to our request for more enforcement but it can only be so effective."
Gonzales wants to install plastic pylons in crosswalks, which he hopes will signal drivers to slow down. "We're going to get the traffic department down here and try something new," he said.
Michelle McGurk, chief of staff for vice mayor Frank Fiscalini, said funding has been approved to install motion-sensor lights on archways on Lincoln Avenue. When activated, the lights would shine on the crosswalk. "The city is beginning to look at some of the alternatives we have to slow traffic down," she said.
McGurk said when the budget opens up this June, the District 6 staff will be re-opening the discussion on some traffic-slowing possibilities.
McGurk said they'd like to initiate a pilot program similar to one being launched in Almaden Valley. The project consists of crosswalks that light up when pedestrians step into them, signaling drivers to ease off the gas.
Although pedestrian-lighted crosswalks would be inexpensive compared to a traffic light, the project still remains in the experimental stages. "If we were to install them as a test project, we could have to take them out," she said.
But McGurk said drivers should take it upon themselves to slow down. "To some extent we all need to drive with some additional sensitivity that we are all pedestrians on Lincoln Avenue."
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Willow Glen, California Since 1992
