Ever see what a 12-year-old boy looks like after he’s been struck by a car and slammed into its windshield as if he were an insect splatter?

It’s not pretty.

It happened in Roseville 40 years ago.

The kid survived.

What happened was almost a carbon copy of a Manteca “accident” about six years ago in the North Main Street crosswalk at Edison Street.

It involved two teen girls who were about two thirds across the street when they were struck.

Both survived, but incurred serious issues.

Data compiled by the Federal Highway Administration indicates the odds of that happening would have been greatly diminished by roughly 70 percent if a High Intensity Activated Crosswalk (HAWK) had been in use.

The current road work in North Main Street will install such a crosswalk at that location.

A separate endeavor will install a HAWK crosswalk signal at Moffat Boulevard and Garfield Avenue by Manteca High.

The Edison/Main crosswalk has racked up an inordinate number of pedestrian hits and close calls over the years.

The Garfield at Moffat crosswalk has intense use at specific times of the day where speeding is way too common.

The “anything-the-City-of-Manteca-does-is-stupid” crowd is having a field day on social media slamming the city.

My favorite is “if the pedestrians are that stupid . . .” comments.

The problem it addresses isn’t stupid pedestrian behavior but people who drive with borderline depraved indifference toward the rules of the road and the safety of others.

The bottom line is simple.

The HAWK system, which the city is judiciously installing at the most problematic intersections in  terms of near misses/hits and pedestrian volume, is designed to enhance the odds of pedestrians to safely cross a street in one piece.

It is a solution that is more effective than overhead flashing beacons and much less intrusive to vehicle traffic than installing stop signs.

Overhead flashing yellow beacons activated by pedestrians are more visible than those placed on sign posts along the street’s edge.

But flashing yellow often does not get a number of motorists to either slow down and stop to allow pedestrians to start crossing the street

Worse yet, that can happen when a pedestrian is midway or so in the crosswalk.

Yellow, in Manteca and elsewhere, apparently means step on the gas and to hell with anyone else.

That’s based on the fact that just at three intersections in three months, Manteca Police is rapidly approaching issuing its 1,000th red light running violation ticket.

The HAWK crosswalk signal combats the tendency of many drivers to think a yellow light is only a suggestion to consider stopping if you are not even close to crossing the limit line.

Once a pedestrian activates it, the HAWK will first display a flashing yellow light, then a solid yellow.

That is followed by a solid red that means stop.

Then there is a flashing red that starts after a measured time for the pedestrian to cross.

In the flashing red sequence, drivers can proceed with caution if the crosswalk is clear of pedestrians.

This takes into account that some pedestrians aren’t as quick as others.

The last sequence has the signals all going dark.

The problem with the solo flashing yellow signal overhead is that a good share of drivers ignore them.

In a sense, they have no obligation to slow down and stop if a pedestrian hasn’t stepped off the curb.

Combine that attitude with heavy traffic and the fact more than a few people speed making it difficult at times to accurately judge how far away, and how fast, a vehicle is closing down on a crosswalk.

In at least two of the Manteca pedestrian fatalities as well as more than a few no-fatal hits in the last 12 years, the victims were in the mid-section of the street in a crosswalk.

It included one on Main Street at Edison where a driver was stopped in the lane near the center for more than 15 seconds to allow a pedestrian to cross from the far side of the street.

A vehicle coming up  in the curb lane didn’t even slow down and clipped the pedestrian just as he cleared the front end of the stopped vehicle.

Walk around Manteca for a while.

Those red light runners include a healthy dose of people making right turns after a red light has been in place for more than 5 seconds. They check for cars passing in front of them, but not pedestrians that have entered the crosswalk.

Near misses happen all the time.

Yes, pedestrians can be at fault and do stupid things.

But drivers who are at fault and do stupid things are doing so operating a bone crushing and potential killing machine weighing 3,000 pounds or more.

The HAWK crosswalk signals are being placed at the most egregious locations.

Manteca has come a long way since the days when a former public works director vetoed deploying high profile crosswalks. They are the  ones with numerous white cross bars between the parallel lines painted on the pavement.

His reason?

Crosswalks give pedestrians a false sense of security.

It is no different than refusing to put stop signs in where they are warranted because stop signs give motorists a false sense of security if they come to a complete stop and proceed that cross traffic with stop signs will actually come to a stop.

This is an era in Manteca when the flashing beacon on a curbside sign warning motorists that a pedestrian was in, or was trying to enter, the Wellington Avenue crosswalk on Woodward Avenue to cross to the park was inoperable for more than two years,

Woodward Avenue by the park is where a grandfather pushing his grandson in a stroller was struck and killed in the middle of the Buena Vista crosswalk on Woodward.

If Manteca being proactive in pedestrian safety makes the City Council the Three Stooges Plus Two in the minds of some, so be it.

Who knows? The 70 percent reduction in pedestrian safety incidents that Federal Highway Administration studies show a HAWK guarded crosswalk allows might just spare, or avoid maiming them, a loved one, or a friend.

This column is the opinion of editor, Dennis Wyatt, and does not necessarily represent the opinions of The Bulletin or 209 Multimedia. He can be reached at dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com