An increase in pedestrian-related accidents last year and earlier this year forced Gainesville Police to step its enforcement efforts up — starting with jaywalking tickets.
Accidents in late 2012 and early 2013 caused GPD to send officers to several different locations specifically looking for pedestrian violations. One of those locations includes West University Avenue, where many students have received $52.50 jaywalking tickets.
GPD spokesman Officer Ben Tobias said running the traffic safety initiative is part of a grant-funded program.
GPD receives about $30,000 each year from the Florida Department of Transportation to prevent pedestrian and vehicle violations, he said.
Tobias said that because the Department of Transportation gives GPD money to conduct the intiative, it has the funds to send officers looking for violations about twice a month.
Michelle Tulande, a 20-year-old UF telecommunication junior, was standing at a median after crossing the street near UF when an officer stopped her.
“A cop flashed his lights, and his siren went off, but I thought he was just pulling a car over,” Tulande said. “I think it is effective in the sense that I won’t ever jaywalk on University again.”
Tobias said the goal is to prevent jaywalking on University Avenue.
“Whether they do it elsewhere or what, we’ve at least corrected that particular problem,” he said.
Tulande said she suspects GPD is simply trying to make money off of students.
But Tobias said the tickets are not for revenue building.
“If it hits you in your wallet, and it hurts a little bit, you’re less likely to make that same mistake again,” he said.
One student took his ticket to court.
Donovan Triplett, a 20-year-old UF advertising senior, was walking on the crosswalk when an officer wrote him a jaywalking ticket.
The officer had traffic stopped both ways, so Triplett said he assumed he could walk across.
Triplett, with his headphones in, said he felt the officer pull his backpack and tell him he was not allowed to walk.
Triplett brought his case to court and lost.
He had to pay his jaywalking ticket and take a driver’s improvement course.
Tobias said whether commuters are pedestrians, drivers or bikers, they usually think they have the right of way.
“We’re just trying to keep everyone safe,” Tobias said.
A version of this story ran on page 1 on 9/18/2013 under the headline "Police issuing tickets to jaywalkers near campus"
