(Photo: WBOC)OCEAN CITY, Md.- It is a common occurrence in Ocean City and is becoming a major issue for police: jaywalking. Already this year, 23 pedestrians have been hit, compared to 19 all of last year.
On Monday, this reporter witnessed dozens of people of all ages, including families with small children, dodging traffic on Coastal Highway instead of using crosswalks.
"I see people do it all the time," remarked Kim Bavis.
The most recent pedestrian-involved accident happened early in the morning of July 2, at the busy intersection of North Division Street and Philadelphia Avenue. Of the 23 incidents thus far, two of them have been fatal.
"Recently, we do see people not using the crosswalks," noted Ocean City Police Department spokeswoman Jessica Waters. "We want to encourage people to come to Ocean City, park their cars, walk but use the crosswalks."
That is exactly what the Louey family was doing Monday, all in the name of safety.
"We got our kids with us, seems to be the safest place," explained Jody Louey of Pennsylvania. "There's traffic on both sides."
"There's four lanes of traffic and we want to make sure we get across and everybody's safe," added Kristi Jones.
But WBOC spotted plenty of people putting safety on the back burner Monday. Some of them didn't want to talk. Others blamed their jaywalking ways on convenience.
"'Cause we live that way and we would've had to walk a block that way to cross," explained Pennsylvania resident Colleen MacDonald.
According to Waters, the changing population of the town makes enforcing common sense tough.
"We see about 300,000 people that come, different people each weekend, so it can be a challenge to let people know how important it is to use the crosswalk," Waters noted.
Waters also stressed that everyone, whether in a car or on foot, should be aware of each other and remember to share the road.
