Heavy-Duty Nets To Protect Santa Monica Farmers Market Pedestrians

SANTA MONICA (AP) — Heavy duty nets will be in place next month to protect pedestrians at the Santa Monica Farmers Market where 10 people were killed when an elderly motorist sped through the open-air marketplace in 2003.

KNX 1070’s Pete Demetriou Reports

The city says highway-style barricades and nets capable of stopping errant vehicles will be installed on Wednesdays and Saturdays at the entrances to the downtown Arizona Street farmers market.

Market supervisor Laura Avery tells the Los Angeles Times that the safety netting is the most effect and nonlethal way to stop a car from entering the market areas.

Nearly eight years ago, 86-year-old George Russell Weller was behind the wheel of a Buick that crashed through a wood-and-plastic barricade and struck 10 people. Investigators say he mistook the gas pedal for the brake.

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