WEST JORDAN, Utah (ABC 4 News) - There have been nearly a half dozen hit and runs involving pedestrians, bicyclists and cars lately and now police are cracking down.
In 2007, more than 890 pedestrians were hurt or killed in Utah. So, police conducted a sting to make sure both drivers and pedestrians are looking out for each other.
The man crossing 41st South in West Valley today looked like Joe-Q citizen. He’s actually a decoy--a plain clothes West Valley cop testing drivers to see if they'll stop for pedestrians and Police are pulling over violators.
Some people only received warnings but others received a $97 ticket for not stopping for pedestrians.
In fact, during the sting there was a three car accident at the same crosswalk the decoy officer had been walking at. Two cars stopped for him but a third diver didn’t, which caused the accident. No one was hurt but all three cars were damaged.
ABC 4 News decided to go across town and do our own test at 4th South 2nd East. Cameras rolled for half an hour and spotted several vehicles driving through crosswalks while pedestrians had the right of way. But even worse were the number of jaywalkers. We counted 30 in a half-hour, about one a minute.
