HEBER CITY, Utah — Heber City Police are working to keep pedestrians safe after several auto-pedestrian incidents in the past month.
Three of those involved Wasatch High School students being hit by drivers back in September, including one at 800 South and Main Street, near the school.
“The city, UDOT, everybody agreed to put in a crosswalk there," said Sgt. Josh Weishar with the Heber City Police Department. "In the process of putting that crosswalk, while they were still installing it, we had ... a 14-year-old girl get hit in that crosswalk."
Sgt. Weishar oversees traffic enforcement for the department.
"We had a 40-year-old female get hit last week in that intersection, minor injuries," he said.
Weishar says that area is now equipped with a couple of crosswalk precaution signs, as well as yellow flashing lights to alert traffic to stop when someone is crossing.
Just two weeks ago, Wasatch High School Principal Justin Kelly and his colleagues could be seen walking students safely across the road.
However, on Tuesday, as students returned from fall break, they were greeted by two crossing guards, between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.
One of those is Carol Harvey.
"This is my first day here," said Harvey.
Harvey has been a crossing guard for eight years.
"They decided they needed two crossing guards up here, and I volunteered to come up here to work here," she said.
Also visible in the area is the Heber City Police Department.
“We've got 20 shifts ... specific for crosswalks, at five hours a piece, all of them in the city," Weishar said. "But we kind of are emphasizing trying to get a daily officer at that specific crosswalk."
Those shifts, Weishar says, are funded through the Utah Department of Public Safety.
He said that during the first one of these shifts he worked, they issued about a dozen citations — something that wasn't the case on Tuesday.
“We had the crossing guards in there... We had very minimal violations. Still some, enough to pull over. One DUI," said Sgt. Weishar.
Harvey has four grandchildren who attend Wasatch High School, and she even recognized one boy from her time serving as a crossing guard elsewhere.
She says she just wants to make sure all of these kids have a safe place to cross the street.
“It's really important for all of the kids to be safe," said Harvey.
Sgt. Weishar told FOX 13 News that the crossing guards will be out at that intersection at least through the end of the school year.
