SAN ANTONIO --The trip to the bus stop has become a game of traffic-chicken for some disabled seniors.
Thel Weaver says he didn’t make it—and made quite an impact, when a car struck him on his trip through the 2800 block of Fredericksburg Road.
Weaver said, “My elbow hit the car windshield and broke it, busted it out.”
“It’s extremely dangerous, extremely dangerous,” added Norma Luther. “And sometimes, we have to even stand in the middle, and the cars don’t even slow down for us.”
Luther, like many in the Primrose at Monticello Park Apartments, uses a wheelchair to get around. She says the nearest legitimate crosswalk is a quarter mile away.
A homemade memorial speaks to the deadly nature of the walk. It remembers Yolanda Najera, one of two people who didn’t make it through the 16,000 vehicles that speed along Fredericksburg Road every day.
The deaths have prompted cit Councilman Cris Medina to dip into his district’s funds to erect a high-intensity activated crosswalk.
Medina said, “One loss of life for someone trying to cross any road is one loss too many.”
At the same time, San Antonio Police Chief Bill McManus is warning the group of seniors—and all pedestrians—to obey the law, that a jaywalking crackdown is underway.
“We’re going to start tonight issuing warning citations for anyone we see jaywalking. Starting next Friday night, we’ll be issuing real citations, which could cost you up to $200,” said McManus.
