Many Seattle residents said they were outraged this week when a municipal court judge on Thursday ordered fines, no driving, and community service for a driver found guilty of hitting and killing a pedestrian in a crosswalk.

Ephraim Schwartz will serve no jail time, and if he avoids driving and completes the community service, the conviction will be wiped off his record in two years.

"Where is the incentive for people to drive safely and responsibly?" asked Rebecca Deehr, executive director of Feet First, a pedestrian advocacy group.

"Besides the fines and ticketing that may result from not driving safely and responsibly, there is no incentive," she said.

Deehr said the consequences for drivers like Schwartz do not match "the gravity of their action." Without consequences, she said, "we can't expect that drivers will take the extra step to put down the latte, stop looking at their cell phone, or to take the other necessary precautions to avoid hitting a pedestrian."

Mathew (Tatsuo) Nakata, 29, was walking to catch a bus to work at City Hall in November 2006 when he was hit at the crosswalk.

Schwartz, 37, who lives near the intersection, was driving his daughter to school, and was busy on his cell phone. He said he never saw the man in the crosswalk.

West Seattle residents who use the crosswalk regularly, or drive on Southwest Admiral Way, a wide and sweeping boulevard, said Saturday it was an accident waiting to happen. Too many drivers are going too fast and are too distracted.

The crosswalk at 47th Avenue Southwest is on a slight hill, at a curve. However, it is marked with flashing lights and bright signs. Since the accident, there are also buckets of fluorescent orange flags for people to carry as they cross.

"They need a traffic light out there, said Josh Trass who works at Alki Mail and Dispatch, a few feet from the crosswalk. "I hear screeching tires all the time. I don't ever cross there, people driving are not paying attention."

But Trass also said the sentence seemed weak, too.

"It seems that he died in vain," he said of Nakata.

City Attorney Tom Carr said next year he plans to ask the state Legislature to eliminate deferred sentences for people who are found guilty of their crimes by juries.

Carr said deferred sentences are appropriate for people who plead guilty to their crimes and accept responsibility. They are not appropriate in cases where people deny their guilt throughout the length of a trial and show remorse only after the jury returns with a guilty verdict, he said.

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