Pennsylvania law gives pedestrians in a designated crosswalk the right of way and requires vehicular traffic to stop and allow walkers to complete their journey from curb to curb.

Apparently, a lot of drivers do not completely understand the law or they choose not to observe it.

A joint enforcement blitz by Salisbury Township and Fountain Hill Police Department personnel May 21, along the 1600 block of Broadway, Salisbury Township, in front of the KidsPeace facility, resulted in 24 citations to motorists who breezed through a clearly marked crosswalk while a police officer in plain clothes was using the crosswalk.

Salisbury Police Department Senior Patrol Officer Bryan Losagio said multiple warning devices were in place during the aggressive driving detail to forewarn motorists about yielding to pedestrians in a crosswalk.

"Besides the normal roadway striping paint used on the street to specify a crosswalk, we had a large yellow flashing illuminated sign above the crosswalk," Losagio said. "We deployed the department's large LED sign which very brightly flashed the message 'Yield To Pedestrians.' We also had a large orange and black 'Aggressive Driving Enforcement' sign just prior to the crosswalk, as well as two portable 'Yield To Pedestrian' signs at the crosswalk itself.

"Short of parking a police car in the middle of the road with its lights flashing, I am not sure we could have given any more of a fair warning to motorists to yield to pedestrians today," Losagio said.

"Although we enforced several types of traffic safety laws, most of the day on Broadway, from about 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., we focused in on the crosswalk itself. In the four hours of direct crosswalk enforcement, we stopped and cited a total of 24 people for failing to yield to a pedestrian within a crosswalk. That's an average of one vehicle stop every 10 minutes, without even counting the down time when we were on the traffic stops themselves," Losagio said.

A crosswalk violation citation will cost a motorist $152.50 in fines and comes with a two point penalty which PennDOT will assess to the driver's license.

"Most of the stops resulted after Fountain Hill Police Officer Leslie McDonald posed as the pedestrian in plain clothes and walked through the crosswalk," Losagio said.

"Additionally, we enforced the crosswalk law after seeing citizens who were crossing the roadway play cat and mouse with the cars who failed to yield to them also.

"What amazed us the most wasn't a vehicle not yielding when the pedestrian first entered the crosswalk," Losagio said, "but how they would not even slow down as the pedestrian stood dead center in the roadway just being missed as the vehicle accelerated up or down the hill, especially with all of the warning devices in place."

Former Allentown police officer Robert Webre, who now is PennDot's regional coordinator for the Buckle Up PA safety program, was at the enforcement location to observe the detail.

"What we are trying to do here," Webre said, "is to change the driver culture.

"When I was in Boston recently, I was pleased to see that all over the city, when a pedestrian entered a crosswalk, traffic just naturally came to a halt," Webre said.

"With these enforcement details, we hope to make yielding to pedestrians in a crosswalk as natural as stopping for a school bus that is stopped and has its lights flashing," Losagio said.

"The majority of drivers upon being stopped were cooperative and pretty much took responsibility for the violation. A select few thought the law was not needed and expressed some very vulgar words after being cited, almost like an angry baseball player yelling at an umpire after being called out on strikes.

"At the end of the day though, even the few angry drivers will now remember this law, and I believe they will be more careful in the future," Losagio said.

Including the crosswalk enforcement, the three-person detail finished the day with a total of 36 total vehicle stops, resulting in 42 citations in the area.

"We will continue to work hard to keep the streets in Salisbury Township safe for our residents and visitors," Losagio said. "Several more traffic safety details are scheduled within the next few weeks in this area. As always we ask that you buckle up and slow down."

The overtime pay for the enforcement details comes from PennDOT grants and not from regular budgeted police funds. Enforcement details such at this one do not pull officers from their regularly scheduled patrol activities in the township.