Safety

Bikeway use is no excuse to ignore safety Let me set the scene. It a quarter to 5 p.m. Sunday afternoon, Aug. 29, I'm walking westbound on the north side of Chandler between Parish Place and Lamer Street. Just up ahead a father in his early 30s and two children, a boy and a girl, about 5 or 6 years old, all riding bicycles south on Lamer come to a stop upon reaching Chandler. Dad looks both ways for automobile traffic and then the three carefully pedal across the street and stop at the curb in preparation to make use of the Chandler Bikeway.

Gary Moskowitz SOUTH SAN FERNANDO DISTRICT -- It took them less than five minutes to put up the new disaster preparedness tent, a sort of safety canopy designed to provide a designated area of shelter for injured children during an emergency. The seven kindergarten teachers and Principal Gail Copeland at Miller Kindergarten School wanted to update their campus safety supplies, which used to include an old safety tent for emergency situations that took as long as an hour to assemble.

Jackson Bell The Bob Hope Airport was recognized this week by the Federal Aviation Administration for its exemplary safety record between 1999 and 2003. The airport was lauded for passing five consecutive annual safety inspections without error. The award was announced at Monday's Burbank-Glendale- Pasadena Airport Authority meeting. The Authority received a letter and certificate from the FAA. "This means that our operations are some of the best in the country," authority President Charles Lombardo said.

Ben Godar Outside a row of brownstone buildings, employees of Warner Bros. found tables loaded with safety-related information and products. The street fair was part of the studio's 13th annual Emergency Preparedness Fair on Wednesday. In addition to the vendors, the Warner Bros. and Burbank fire departments displayed several of their new and antique rigs and demonstrated lifesaving techniques. The event is always during the third week of April because organizers said with television shows and pilots in production, they can reach the largest possible audience.

After I read about the airport's proposed agreement between the parties, I thought the 10-year period on the prohibition of building a new terminal was a stretch. Ten years is a long time. Despite this guarantee, it still stirred the wrath of the anti-expansion troops. Several well-written, erudite letters implied the airport would find a way around the agreement. The conspiracy theorists are on the march. Can't they even agree on a reasonable negotiated contract?

Lolita Harper MEDIA DISTRICT WEST -- Women often have a say as to whether they become victims of certain crimes, police said. By being aware and planning, people can prevent a lot of crimes, Burbank Police Sgt. Bill Taylor said. Taylor and Officer Darin Ryburn will hold a free seminar on personal safety for women Wednesday at Providence St. Joseph Medical Center. Police will speak about how women can protect themselves and be aware of current criminal trends.

Karen S. Kim BURBANK -- As the first day of school approaches more rapidly than students might wish, parents are reminded to teach their children school bus safety rules. Durham School Services, the bus company for Burbank Unified School District, implores parents to teach kids about appropriate behavior on school buses before they board the big yellow vehicles Tuesday. Kids are reminded to stay seated, keep the noise level down, keep heads and hands inside the bus, refrain from throwing objects out of the bus, cooperate with the bus driver, follow the drivers directions about crossing the street, watch for traffic, look both ways, always walk in front of the bus and stay outside of the "danger zone" -- within 10 feet of the bus.

About 4,000 people are expected to gather outside Police and Fire Headquarters on Saturday to have a good time and hopefully learn a little about safety as well. This year's Fire Service Day and National Police Week celebration will take place from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. More than a dozen new and vintage police and fire vehicles will be on display along with the police helicopter. Paramedics, hazardous-materials crews and urban search-and- rescue teams are among the groups expected to perform demonstrations.

I gave it a lot of thought. I had never owned one before. With all the news and publicity, I felt it was an investment in the safety of my family. Once the decision was made to purchase, it was decided to get a large, expensive model. One that would afford the greatest amount of protection for myself and my family. Not with intentions to harm anyone, but to assure maximum protection for ourselves. We took great care with our "family insurance" purchase.

Summer's suddenly rearing its hot, ugly head -- as you read this, temperatures in Burbank and surrounding environs were expected to be well into the 90s throughout this week -- and that means it's time to take some precautions. When it comes to personal heat safety for you, your family and your pets, try to keep two words in mind during really hot weather: air and water. Air, because letting a little bit in can mean the difference between a room that ends up warmer than usual at the end of a long day or one that's a stifling hotbox.

I came across an article in the Burbank Leader that both concerns and infuriates me. (“ Split council OKs transitional living homes ,” April 27). I was under the impression the Burbank City Council worked for the betterment of our community and our residents. Imagine my surprise when the council voted to change the zoning code in Burbank, thereby allowing transitional and sober-living facilities in residential areas of our city. Isn't this something the residents of Burbank should have voted on, or at the very least had a say in?

Providence St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank was the only area hospital to receive an A this week in a national evaluation of patient safety. Most other local hospitals all were ranked as average. Glendale Adventist Medical Center, Glendale Memorial and Huntington Memorial hospitals all received Cs in the latest annual report card released by The Leapfrog Group. Verdugo Hills Hospital was not graded because there was not enough information available about the facility's operations, according to Leapfrog officials.

Burbank will be getting more than $800,000 in federal grant assistance for pedestrian and traffic safety upgrades along the North San Fernando Boulevard corridor, where officials logged 89 collisions over a five-year period, one of them fatal. The collisions occurred between January 2006 and December 2010 within a roughly half-mile stretch of the corridor that carries more than 20,000 cars daily each way, according to the city's grant application. About 20% of the accidents involved rear-end collisions and right-of-way incidents, partly because of speeding motorists.

The Burbank Police Department has received a $31,500 grant to fund sobriety checkpoints citywide through next September. The funds will be used to conduct three sobriety checkpoints in Burbank streets in an effort to reduce the number of alcohol-related car crashes and pedestrian injuries, and improve traffic safety. In 2011, police made 403 drunk driving arrests and responded to 89 alcohol-related traffic collisions, said Burbank Police Lt. Jay Hawver. This year, through the end of October, police have arrested 332 motorists on suspicion of drunk driving and responded to 81 alcohol-related crashes.

Public safety officials have issued a slew of warnings for parents as they prepare to take their children trick-or-treating this Halloween night. Chief among them: beware of drunk drivers, marijuana-laced candy, and dark streets and alleys. Halloween is the third busiest night of the year in terms of car and pedestrian accidents and trips to the emergency room, officials reported, adding that 41 million trick-or-treaters are expected to hit the streets tonight nationwide. Police asked that trick-or-treaters travel in pairs or groups, carry a flashlight, wear costumes that don't obstruct their vision, watch for cars, and don't enter the homes of strangers.  At a joint news conference with Los Angeles police Wednesday, Burbank Capt.

Transportation officials are scheduled to unveil a safety measure Monday morning designed to keep trains from colliding even in case of human error. The system uses global positioning system technology to keep track of trains, and if two get too close or appear to be in other danger, a computer will warn the engineer and can also automatically apply the brakes. Called "positive train control" technology, the system will be implemented by rail providers nationwide including Metrolink, BNSF, Union Pacific Railroad and Amtrak in Southern California.

A new multimillion-dollar communications system that would link fire and police departments throughout Los Angeles County got some good news last week after a long series of setbacks that has forced stakeholders to relinquish millions in federal funding. Legislation that gives the project limited exemption from environmental review passed both houses of the Legislature in a whirlwind effort to get the measure onto Gov. Jerry Brown's desk. “We received [a] significant stride forward in Sacramento,” Patrick Mallon, executive director of the authority for the Los Angeles Regional Interoperable Communications System, said at a meeting this week in downtown L.A. “We have great confidence that Gov. Brown will sign the legislation.” If Brown signs AB 1486, it will take effect immediately because it's considered emergency legislation, Mallon said.

As a player, Hoover High School football Coach Andrew Policky shrugged off headaches and injuries to become a stalwart wide receiver. A graduate of Arcadia High in 1998, he never once thought to go over to a trainer when he “got his bell rung” on the field. But that was then, and now, “there is protocol in place.” That protocol - not allowing student athletes to play through what could be a concussion - has taken a more prominent role on sports fields in recent years as more research continues to show just how fragile young craniums can be. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, the number of brain injuries in teenagers is between 1.6 to 3.8 million per year - with the vast majority of those, studies show, occurring on the football field.

Burbank's annual National Night Out takes place Tuesday, offering the public a chance to get to know their neighbors and police. The block-party style event will offer free food and is part of a national one-night rally designed to strengthen ties between police and residents. Burbank police and the city's Park, Recreation and Community Services department host the event. The main city and police-sponsored event will be held on the Chandler Bikeway. Sgt. Darin Ryburn said 18 additional block parties are planned by Neighborhood Watch block captains.

Glendale and Burbank have been awarded nearly $900,000 to improve pedestrian and bicycle safety around school sites, the latest wave of grant money aimed at addressing local traffic congestion and the dangers it poses to students. The combined amount was announced by the California Department of Transportation last week as part of $48.5 million in grants to be filtered via the Safe Routes to School Program that will fund 139 projects up and down the state. The city of Burbank received $438,700 to enhance the bicycle infrastructure around Muir Middle School and Jefferson and Washington elementary schools, and to offer a safety education program.