PONTIAC, Mich. (FOX 2) - A targeted enforcement effort aimed at keeping pedestrians safe after a rash of deadly and serious pedestrian crashes in Pontiac led to more than 100 tickets being handed out to drivers.
Dubbed "Operation No Walking Zone" by the Oakland County Sheriff's Office, the goal was to educate pedestrians about safely crossing the street and crack down on dangerous driving behaviors. It was focused mainly on hot spots for pedestrian-involved crashes: Huron and Saginaw; Baldwin and Montcalm; Walton and Perry, and Auburn and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.
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Oakland County Sheriff's Office cracks down after recent crashes
A rise in deadly pedestrian crashes have led police to target those areas to not only slow down drivers but watch for jaywalkers.
Over a two-week period, deputies issued 78 warnings to pedestrians who were unsafely crossing the road and wrote 116 tickets to drivers for various offenses, including speeding, texting while driving, and more.
The sheriff's office said that its Crash Reconstruction Unit was not deployed at all during the two-week period. This unit is typically sent to serious and fatal crashes.
"Our traffic unit did a great job stepping up enforcement in areas with multiple pedestrian accidents," Sheriff Mike Bouchard said. "Their focus on both pedestrian and driver behavior clearly made an impact."
Lost West Bloomfield man hit, killed while trying to cross Pontiac road to ask for directions
A West Bloomfield man who authorities believe was lost in Pontiac died after a pickup truck hit him Monday afternoon.
By the numbers:
According to the sheriff's office, there have been seven hit-and-run crashes in Pontiac in 2025. Two of those over the summer, which happened within a block of each other on Baldwin, were fatal.
Between Jan. 1, 2023 and Sept. 2, 2025, the sheriff's office has recorded 70 pedestrian-involved crashes, with seven of those crashes being fatal. Five of those fatalities happened in 2025 alone.
Nineteen of the 70 crashes left pedestrians with serious injuries.
The Source: This information is from the Oakland County Sheriff's Office.
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