Every month we get together with the Racine County Traffic Safety Commission.
We put together, well, they put together, I just show up, they put together a special safety program.
And last month it was older drivers.
And I'm saying, yeah, those old drivers.
And then I realized I'm one of them, older drivers.
Today it's pedestrian safety.
And this is where everybody's involved because everybody is a pedestrian.
And sometimes across the streets, even the most quiet street can be dangerous.
And with me in the studio today from the receiving police department, their public information officer, Alicia Mitchell.
Thanks for coming in.
Thanks for having me.
Thanks for waking up early.
I always tell people, thank you for getting up early.
I mean, you turn on your radio when you wake up, you say, you give a big yawn, but there are people that have to get up at 4 30 in the morning to get in here.
So I do appreciate it.
So you're the public information officer now, but you do some patrolling occasionally, right?
Occasionally.
When they go, when they need the heavy stuff, you come in and they need some muscle, they call you, right?
Yeah,
exactly.
All right, let's talk about pedestrian safety.
Everybody's a pedestrian.
It comes from the word ped, which is foot pedestrians.
And give us the definition of what a pedestrian is.
I think you have it in front of you there.
So Wisconsin law defines a pedestrian as anyone afoot or using a wheelchair manually or mechanically powered or another low powered mobility device specifically designed for use by physically disabled individuals.
Now here's something people have to remember.
pedestrians always have the right of way, even if they're in the wrong, they have the right of way because it's them against your car or truck and you will win every time.
So even if they're wrong crossing the street, they still have the right of way.
And you even tell me they don't give out J walking tickets anymore.
That's not a law anymore.
J walking.
J walking is not an ordinance in the city.
When did that all vanish?
I always heard you get a J walking ticket.
But I guess they don't, I guess times change, right?
Yeah.
But what do you call it?
You have another name for it?
We have, um, it's called sudden pedestrian movement in the city.
Um, so common council would figure out the ordinances and they vote on that kind of thing.
Um, and what the fines and all that will be imposed on them.
So we work with what they give us.
So we have a sudden pedestrian.
Well, I, I still see people, I'm coming down main street when I go home from here, crossing right in the middle of the street, trying to out run my car.
I still have to stop.
You can't say, well, I was in the right.
Hit them 20 points.
No, it doesn't work like that.
Even though they're in the wrong, you got to stop.
I mean, use common sense.
You want to hurt somebody just because they ran in the middle of the street.
And I understand that because when I was a kid going to high school, I had to cross the railroad tracks every day.
It was electric cranes.
We had a third rail on the tracks and we had to jump on top of wooden board that covered the third rail and jump over it so you didn't get electrocuted.
Otherwise, I'd have to walk a quarter of a mile down and a quarter of a mile back just to get into school.
So I jumped it every day.
I look at the stupid things I did as a kid.
I wouldn't do that today.
But crossing in the middle of the street, it's wrong.
There's an old jingle.
I think I'm going to dig it up for you during the break here about crossing the streets in the middle.
Don't do it.
I know you're too young to remember the jingle.
I'm going to play it for you a little while from now.
Okay.
Pedestrians always have the right-of-way yield to pedestrians crossing highways.
and walking on shoulders.
I think you're supposed to walk in the opposite direction.
Right.
I know it seems odd.
You always want to walk with traffic.
If you walk in the opposite direction, you can see them better than them creeping up on you.
Yep.
You walk facing them so you can see if they're coming, but if you're on a bike, you would go with them.
Never pass a vehicle stopped at a crosswalk or intersection for a pedestrian.
What's that mean?
If somebody else is stopped, don't go around them.
Oh, yeah.
Because you can't see the person then.
Right.
And, you know, they may be with walkers, wheelchairs, older people.
We don't move that fast anymore.
I can't believe I said we.
We don't move that fast anymore.
We're a little slower.
So you got to have patience for people and that's your pedestrians.
All right.
Um, bicyclists must yield to pedestrians too.
They have the e-bikes now.
And they have these bikes that have lawn mower engines on it.
I see going down the street.
Then you've got the electric skateboards that have, they still have to follow the rules.
I mean, they're not supposed to be on the road anyway.
We are supposed to ride those things.
You can't ride them on the sidewalk, can't ride them in the street.
We're supposed to ride those e-bikes because they don't have license plates or anything.
Right.
So it depends on how much power they have.
There's different engines and even a moped, 50 CCs.
If you're over that, you have to have a motorcycle's license.
And obviously for something that has that, you have to have a driver's license.
So it all depends on what you're operating.
But above a surge age limit, if you're over 10, you can't ride on a sidewalk.
You're supposed to be in the street.
And then in certain areas like downtown, you shouldn't be riding a bike on a sidewalk.
So yeah.
You got to pay attention to what you can be doing when you buy certain equipment.
A lot of rules out there.
Everybody's got a rule for you.
All right.
Let's move on here.
Be cautious around young or disabled pedestrians, have patience for them.
And I do when I'm driving.
I really do.
I'll stop if I see somebody with a wheelchair trying to get across the street or a walker.
Stop.
I mean, do you want to be in their position or do you rather be in your position?
stop, let them go.
It's a tough life anyway, dealing with a walker in a wheelchair, getting around.
My boss in radio, this place I've worked in for 10 years, was in a wheelchair.
And when we went places, I realized it's tough.
It's not easy being in a wheelchair, especially when you're going down sidewalks, crossing streets.
And the worst part was when people pull into their driveway sometimes, and they can't get in because they have multiple cars, they block the sidewalk.
Where is the person with the wheelchair supposed to go?
They can't go down the curb.
Where are they supposed to go people don't think about this stuff.
So even pedestrians on the sidewalk Don't park your car on the sidewalk,
right?
Well, you get a ticket and I'm calling you But you know, I understand if you have to run in for a second But still person with a will they have to wait for you to get out of your house now because they can't get her I'll just go around my car.
What go down the curb in a wheelchair.
What are you crazy?
They'll fall over We are talking to Racine County public ever seen the city of Racine police officer
and public safety officer Alicia Mitchell, and we're talking about pedestrian safety, part of the Racine County Traffic Safety Commission, monthly get together here.
And before we get to the rest of the stuff here, I'm going to tell you about a pedestrian, which I almost hit.
I didn't almost hit him, but I always say that because it makes the story more interesting.
So I was in California with a bunch of people from play safes to work at.
And I said, let's take a tour of the star's homes.
Let's just get a map and we'll drive.
So we stop at this corner and a woman and a dog walk.
What's even at the corner?
It's in front of their house.
She walks with her dog across the street and this old guy gets out.
He's got like an old sailor's cap pulled out upside down and he steps by the curb and I stop.
There's no stop, somebody stop and he waves me on and as I start to go he steps into the street and I wave him on.
He goes, no, no, no, you go, go, go.
And he steps further into the street and finally I roll down the window.
Mr. Stewart, please pass.
Then he gives me a solo James Stewart.
From it's a wonderful life George Bailey.
So I was hoping I almost killed James Stewart, which it wasn't close but makes it an interesting story But yeah, he started to walk out in front of my car and he wasn't even at a corner.
He was jaywalking I should have called the police on him arrest that man.
He's almost stepped in front of my car So the people sitting next to me said, don't you dare roll down that window and talk to him?
Don't you dare do it?
I just wanted from the past in front of me give me a little salute and he walked across the street
James Stewart.
All right, that sounds good.
All right, so we're talking about pedestrian safety.
Obviously, James Stewart does not know how to cross the street.
Let's talk about safety tips for young and disabled pedestrians.
When I see disabled people, I kind of thank the Lord that God forbid this could have been me.
Have a little patience with people who are disabled because through no fault of their own, they have problems.
They get around a little slower.
They may have walkers, they may have fake limbs, and they may, for whatever reason,
They're slower.
So just have some mercy on them.
Let's talk about that.
Safety tips for pedestrians and young people.
See it on your list there?
Yeah.
Okay, let's talk about that.
Read some of those there.
So
some
of the tips that they gave us for blind pedestrians would be to stop about 10 feet away from them if they're using a white cane or a guide dog.
School bus stops, if you're a pedestrian, stop at least 20 feet from a bus with flashing red lights in both directions until they turn those lights off.
And then school zones and crosswalks obey the posted speed limits and yield to children in crosswalks or intersections.
Let's talk about the school bus stop signs.
Because when I was a kid, they didn't have them.
Now I sound like my grandfather again, don't I?
And they come out and you're supposed to stop when you see that stop sign.
I mean, it's pretty obvious, but people go right by it.
And what you don't realize is kids
be crossing the street in front of that bus and you can't see them.
And please see the little kids.
They don't know.
They're just going to run because they're little kids and that's just the way they are.
So when you see this stop sign, stop because a kid could be crossing the street and you don't want to hurt that child.
So stop when you see you got the red flashing lights.
You got the stop sign.
I see people go past it anyway.
And by the way, it's both sides of the street, unless it's like a boulevard, I guess, with an island in the middle and you don't have to on the other side, I think, right?
Right, divided highway.
Yeah, divided highway, yeah.
But you still have to stop on the other side if it's just, you know, a regular road.
So stop at those things, all right?
Blind people.
If you see a person with a guide dog, you could tell by the leash they have, it's a solid metal thing.
You could tell with a white cane, stop and let them take all the time they want to cross the street because it's tough enough to be blind.
Our pastor did that the other day.
A pastor to the Bible talking about a blind man who was cured by Jesus.
And he said, I want to see what it's like to walk around blind for 24 hours.
He put a thing around it.
He went to Starbucks and he said, it was horrible.
So it's horrible enough to be blind.
Give him some extra time to cross the street, okay?
It may take about extra 15 seconds out of your day.
Let him do it.
And of course the school bus and
school zones, crosswalks, you know, just be careful out there, okay?
You got a car, they don't have the car.
You hit them, they're gonna get hurt.
General safety tips for pedestrians.
Let's talk about some of them.
Go ahead.
Use the sidewalks.
In the city, we have mostly sidewalks everywhere.
Take advantage of those and use those sidewalks.
Now, what if there is no sidewalk?
If there is no sidewalk, you should walk facing traffic.
Yeah.
And also, even though there's those sidewalks, sometimes they have what they call a right of way.
If you see a phone pole there, that's, that's public property.
It's a right of way.
And it's maybe a grassy area.
You can walk there too, but you're right.
Face traffic.
It's not normal to do that though.
You want to, your brain tells you to go with the traffic, but face traffic.
And there's a reason for it because.
You can see what's coming your way.
So if you need to move over or get out of the way of somebody that's not paying attention to you, then you can do that.
Seems obvious, doesn't
it?
Yeah.
But there's not, my, my grandmother used to say common sense is not common.
It's
habit though.
Like you said, you want to walk with it.
So
you have once you, you want to go with the flow of traffic.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Continue.
All right.
Wear bright or reflective clothing to stay visible.
Um, especially if you're going to be out at night or in the mornings.
I can't tell you if I travel and when I come here in the morning during the winter, it's pitch dark outside because I'm five o'clock in the morning.
People wearing all black.
When I'm you know black hoodies black pants black And you walk in at night.
I can't see a lot of the streets.
I travel don't have street lights on them It's very tough to see but you're right and you see somebody occasionally you'll see but like the joggers wear the yellow vest and so forth That's a good idea.
What else we got?
All right, this one I think is kind of big cross only at corners are marked crosswalks That's where people are gonna be paying attention to you and people I mean drivers we expect other cars to come out at an intersection So if you're gonna cross them where that'd be where I would suggest doing it Ideally at an intersection where you can push that little button and it'll give you the walk sign.
It does work I have a feeling that hooked up to anything.
I do yeah, I told my my wife's always use that button when we're walking I said that's that's not hooked up to anything.
It's just a button.
They
glued onto the thing for people like you.
They do work though, huh?
Yeah.
Okay.
They have really cool ones in the Dells, and I've actually seen them in Florida as well, where it's not at the intersection, but it's a yield sign.
So you get up there, there's a crosswalk, you push the button, it lights up and flashes, and then cars actually stop and you cross.
So those
are cool.
I thought that they just glued on.
They were actually wired in.
Oh yeah.
Okay.
I didn't know.
What else do we have?
All right, back to the basics.
Stop at the curb, look left, right.
Then left again before crossing.
I should be waiting for vehicles that are approaching to pass before you step into the street as a pedestrian.
And then if there's parked vehicles, look and see if there's somebody in that vehicle that could be operating it.
If there's a driver in that vehicle.
Let's talk about you for a little bit here.
Talking a little bit about your career.
You've been a police officer for how long?
Give us a little rundown of yourself here.
Yeah, I've been with the Racine Police Department for 14 years.
held a bunch of different positions within that time.
Like?
Started on night shift.
So when you're talking about people wearing dark clothing, I know what it's like to not have a lot of lights, nature's light helping you see certain things.
So you kind of just pay attention to shadows and things at nighttime.
But yeah, I started at Thurshift Patrol.
From there, I went on to the neighborhood COP officer.
I was at the villa house for a year.
Then I was promoted to detective did that for about three years and then I was promoted a sergeant in 22 So I was a patrol sergeant and then became the PIO about a year and a half ago
That's your family feel about you being in the police department.
I think it depends on the day.
I'm just a dangerous job.
Yeah Depends on what's going on in the world.
So We fluctuated a little bit, but I think that's just kind of what this job has been over the years So
I can't imagine being a police officer in New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles gotta be rough in a big city
I mean, it's always something going on.
Yeah.
I mean, we're seeing I hear the sirens going up on Main Street 24 hours a day.
There's always something going on.
But now you can't get the Racine Police Department on the little radios anymore.
My son got me one.
Yeah.
And it's not on there anymore.
The fire department's on there.
Mount Pleasant is on there.
Why'd they take it off, you know, so the bad guys can't listen?
I have no idea.
No,
I know that the.
the medical responses are still out there.
I don't know if this is the jingle I was listening for.
Let me see if this is it.
Don't cross the street in the middle, in the middle, in the middle, in the middle of the block.
Don't cross the street in the middle, in the middle, in the middle, in the middle, in the middle of the block.
Teach your eyes to look up.
Teach your ears to hear.
Walk up to the corner where the coast is clear.
and wait and wait until you've seen the light turn green.
Don't cross the street in the middle, in the middle, in the middle, in the middle, in the middle of the block.
Don't cross the street in the middle, in the middle, in the middle, in the middle, in the middle of the block.
Don't cross the street in the middle, in the middle, in the middle, in the middle, in the middle of the block.
Teach our eyes to look up.
Teach your ears to hear.
Walk up to the
Wait, and wait until you've seen the light turn green.
Don't cross the street in the middle, in the middle, in the middle, in the middle of the park.
Don't cross the street in the middle, in the middle, in the middle, in the middle, in the middle, in the middle of the park.
Got a good advice, huh?
It's great advice.
I haven't heard that jingle in about 50
years.
And it's catchy, that's
great.
It is catchy, and it's good advice too.
So let's sum up for people now.
Some of the major things, the school bus thing is really going to be important, especially when
Schools open up again.
Little kids, they get excited.
They'll run in front of the bus and that stop sign is there for a reason.
But just stop until the bus driver takes the stop sign in.
Right.
And you were talking about when you walk on the streets, walk in which direction now?
Facing traffic.
Facing traffic.
I know it seems odd.
Your brain tells you to do something else, but that's the best way to do it.
Bicycles, that's rough.
Now they're not pedestrians, but still bicycle safety.
You got to ride in the street some you can't ride on the sidewalk in some cities, right?
Right.
So
So you would ride with traffic that direction and on a bike you follow the rules of the road to the same You and I would do in a car is what whoever's on a bike should stop signs traffic signals yielding to pedestrians All those things apply if you're riding a bike
and who has the right of way no matter what
pedestrians
pedestrians even if they're in the wrong they have the right of way
Even if they are crossing the street in the middle, in the middle, in the middle of the block, they still have the right of way.
And especially elderly people, people a little slower, people with wheelchairs, walkers, blind people, children, extra care.
Even if it makes you one minute late to where you're going, just wait for them because you don't want to be involved in any accidents.
Your life will change forever.
You'll change their lives.
You don't want to do anything like that.
I'm glad you came in.
Thank you.
Yeah.
Well, thank you for serving the city of Racine.
That's good.
This is what you want to do forever.
What, the PIO?
No, just working with the lease department.
Yeah, I'm here until I retire.
Well, good for you.
You're a young lady.
Stuck
with me.
Yeah, I don't mind.
That's very good.
You know, we have officers coming here all the time and I say, you know, God bless you want to do this because I wouldn't want to do it.
But thank goodness there are people like you to do that and I do appreciate your service to the city of Racine.
It's not a it's it's kind of a thankless job because There's gonna be half the people who disagree with what you do any decision you make when you're on the street They're gonna be busy.
You have to take the abuse from people yelling and you got to just suck it up and I couldn't do that I've got you I'd attack I You can have a temperament for that so that's good
So you were going to be this or what were you, what was the other profession you were choosing?
You said when you went to?
Yeah, when I started college, it was nursing.
Nursing.
Yeah.
Yeah, everyone want to go, everyone want to switch back?
Um, I will say I've never actually committed to it, but they were hurting for employees.
So they, they created like a fast track program where you could go if you already had a bachelor's degree and it was like two years or something.
So
They've made it easier to jump to that profession because your degree doesn't have to be a nursing.
You could start with a degree in whatever and then go to school for nursing and then go with that career path and they still are well-paid, so.
Well, thank you Tom Nitter for letting Alicia come in this morning.
We do appreciate it.
Alicia Mitchell and thanks for getting up early and coming in.
I do appreciate it too.
Alicia Mitchell is the Public Information Officer for the Racine Police Department, Pedestrian Safety,
Just remember pedestrians have the right of way.
Thanks for coming in.
Thank
you.
We appreciate it.
