Pay attention while driving. Pay attention walking near traffic.

What seem like safety rules almost too obvious to mention are necessary reminders for a commonplace problem on Anna Maria Island where only last month a Sarasota woman was struck and killed by an SUV while attempting to cross Gulf Drive at a marked crosswalk.

According to police reports, driver Kathleen Benison of Cortez and her passenger were northbound on Gulf Drive in Bradenton Beach, admiring the view of the Gulf of Mexico at 10:30 a.m. Dec. 8, when Benison’s GMC Yukon struck Antoinette Pruss of Sarasota in front of the Gulf Drive Cafe.

Bradenton Beach Police Department Sgt. James Gill, in charge of the city’s first traffic fatality in more than 19 years, cautioned everyone to “pay attention.”

The crash is under investigation, he said, pending blood results from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, accident reconstruction results from the Bradenton Police Department and a medical examiner’s report.

A full crash report is expected to be released by the end of January.

Gill said the blood results would determine any driver impairment. However, he said, the driver “was not obviously impaired,” and the crash was not due to “recklessness.”

Nonetheless, accidents happen when people are not alert to their surroundings, law enforcement warns.

Patrol officer Sgt. Thomas Ferrara said he sees many vacationers walking along city streets as if they have “an invisible force field around them.

“When the group walks, people don’t look.” Ferrara said.

Asked whether speeding is prevalent, Gill said not usually, and that speeds generally slow during high traffic times. As far as the use of cell phones or other electronic devices distracting drivers more these days, he said, “There’s not supposed to be anything in front of drivers.”

“It comes down to everybody, both driving and walking, watching where they’re going. You see so many people walk out in front of cars on a regular basis,” Gill said. “People are looking this way, and walking that way,” he said, while pointing in opposite directions.

Gill warned pedestrians not to rely on state law for self-preservation. While it is Florida law that pedestrians have the right of way in crosswalks, he said, “when it comes down to a vehicle against a pedestrian, the pedestrian always loses.”

Sgt. Ferrara also said pedestrians get a false sense of security in crosswalks. Motorists are not always paying attention.