Residents Worry About Reckless Driving on La Ronda

Though police say extra patrols on neighborhood streets near La Novia Avenue have put the brakes on reckless driving, some residents concerned about the possibility of a big crash are asking the city do more.

During amplified patrols dispatched after residents began reporting dangerous driving on Camino La Ronda, Los Corrales and Via Puntero in June, sheriff's deputies have issued 122 citations, most of them to drivers who didn't yield to stop signs.

"Law enforcement alone is not the ultimate resolution," resident Trevor Dale told the City Council on Tuesday. "Solve this problem before something seriously happens."

According to resident Diane Dokos, speeding on Los Corrales is not a new problem. "The residents of this community have been dealing with this issue for some time," she wrote recently in a letter to City Hall.

Dokos said that in September of 1996, the neighborhood launched a campaign to find solutions for safer streets. That year they met with the City Council and the traffic commission and circulated a petition that a majority of Los Corrales residents signed.

"The city gave us two three-way stops on Camino La Ronda," she wrote. "Unfortunately, the stop signs have not been enough to discourage those drivers who purposely continue to speed and run the stop signs with impunity."

Complaints from residents were compounded when in July, a driver on Camino La Ronda passed a marked patrol car, crashed into a city fence, then ran off as a deputy was arriving, sheriff's Lt. John Meyer said.

"This incident, the numerous traffic violations observed by the deputies and the reports received from residents in the community all supported the need for additional traffic enforcement," he said.

Since then, the Sheriff's Department has issued 111 tickets for failing to   yield to stop signs, six for speeding and five for other violations, such as not wearing a seat belt and talking on a cell phone.

Meyer, the chief of police services in San Juan Capistrano, said he agrees with city staffers that although this type of enforcement can help the problem, another tactic is needed.

"It does not change behavior in the long term," Meyer said, noting that all of the extra ticketing has prompted some backlash from other neighbors.

Mayor Sam Allevato told Dale Tuesday night that city staffers are looking into how they might make the streets safer from an engineering standpoint.