By Jeannine Gage

gage@hometownnewsol.com

SOUTH DAYTONA - On any given day, traffic screams by at a pretty steady pace on Ridgewood Avenue. For pedestrians, it's a risky proposition crossing the busy thruway. Police say one of the reasons is too many drivers just don't know the rules when it comes to sharing the road with those on foot, bicycle or in wheelchair.

"A lot of people don't understand how it works," said South Daytona Police Sgt. Steve Pignataro. "When the little man says they can walk, they can walk."

Sgt. Pignataro and other members of the police department recently held "Operation Pedestrian Safety" in which for they had two officers in plainclothes use the crosswalk at Ridgewood and Ridge avenues for two hours. If drivers failed to follow pedestrian rules, they were cited.

"I was very surprised at the number of citations," Sgt. Pignataro said. "We ticketed 27 drivers and two pedestrians."

The tickets are issued for failing to yield the right-of-way and cost drivers $101.

"Most of them said 'pedestrian, what pedestrian?'" Sgt. Pignataro said. "They just didn't see them."

The rule for drivers at a crosswalk on a four-lane road split by a median is that if the pedestrian has the signal (The "little man" Sgt. Pignataro mentioned), drivers cannot enter the roadway until the pedestrian has crossed both lanes of the side of the road the driver is using.

Tony Lambombard was one of the two police officers crossing the street in the operation.

"Both of us had at least four close calls," Officer Lambombard said, "where vehicles brushed right by us."

Sgt. Pignataro said the department held the operation to raise awareness and make roadways safer. The event was planned before a woman in a wheelchair was killed crossing Ridgewood last month.

"We weren't trying to sandbag anyone," he said. "The whole goal is to get fewer violations."

Sgt. Pignataro said the department will hold another pedestrian safety operation in the future.