Why did the unicorns cross the road? To urge drivers to slow down at a busy intersection where a Normal Heights woman was struck and critically injured last week.
It may not be the punchline you were looking for, but local business owners in Normal Heights were fed up with speeding vehicles on Adams Avenue and decided to take matters into their own hands -- or hooves.
Donning inflatable unicorn costumes and holding signs that read "Unicorn Crossing" and "Slow Down," two people behind the cookie company Paleo Treats walked pedestrians across the intersection at Adams Avenue and 34th Street, where a woman walking a dog was struck on Dec. 12.
“We had a recent accident that was pretty devastating to a lady and a dog and we wanted to make sure that folks around here knew that keeping this place safe was important,” owner Nik Hawks said.
Kerri O’Farrell, 25, a mother of three, was taken to the hospital in critical condition and had to undergo brain surgery as a result of the crash. The dog, her neighbor's that she was walking as a favor, was killed.
O'Farrell was meant to meet up with her family to decorate for Christmas that night. She hasn't returned home since.
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Family members told NBC 7 she has moved her hands and her feet, but doctors say the prognosis is not good.
Hawks said drivers often speed through the crosswalk at Adams Avenue and 34th Street, which is lit with a flashing sign that a pedestrian presses when they are ready to cross, and which warns a driver that a person is in the street.
The problem is, Hawks says, that people don't always stop.
San Diego Police say they are still investigating the collision that injured O’Farrell but at this time there is no reason to suspect the driver was negligent.
Despite, the owners of Paleo Treats said it was important for them to serve their community.
"I think we’re making it so that everybody kind of sees what’s going on and feels like we're all part of a big group," Hawks said.
They were rewarded with honks and waves from drivers and "Thank yous" from pedestrians.
The Paleo Treats isn't the first Normal Heights business whose owners were moved by the tragedy to help their community. The local bar The Rabit Hole held a fundraiser and donated 15 percent of its profits to the O'Farrell family. Other businesses donated items for a raffle.
