SUNLAND, Calif. -- Mayvis Coyle, 82, believes she's not getting a fair shake from the Los Angeles Police Department.

She says she was shuffling with her cane across busy Foothill Boulevard in Sunland Feb. 15, carrying groceries, while a traffic police officer watched and waited.

Even before Coyle finished crossing the intersection at Woodward Avenue, he had scribbled a $114 ticket for crossing against a don't-walk signal, the Daily News reported.

"I entered the crosswalk, it was green," Coyle, who is fighting the citation, told the newspaper. "It turned red before I could get over. There he was, waiting, the motorcycle cop. He said, 'You're obstructing the flow of traffic.'"

Coyle and other seniors at Monte Vista Mobile Estates are up in arms over signals they say are too short to safely cross the five-lane boulevard, the Daily News reported. They say signals turn red before they can reach the opposite curb on Sunland-Tujunga's busiest thoroughfare.

"I am old and I am slow. I walk with a stick. I can't make it across in the amount of time that the light is set for. I understand that it is seven seconds," said Coyle.

So many seniors have complained about hasty intersections that Councilwoman Wendy Greuel asked transportation officials last week to study how to accommodate them, according to the Daily News.

The Coyle incident "has brought to bear an issue that is relatively common," Greuel told the newspaper. "We should look at those areas with predominantly seniors and accommodate their needs in intersections."

The danger to pedestrians -- particularly seniors -- is acute, according to police. Of the 94 pedestrians killed in the San Fernando Valley from 2003-05 while crossing the street, 31 were seniors, the Daily News reported.

Authorities say Coyle was not cited for not crossing the traffic light in time, but rather for entering a crosswalk when the don't walk sign was on.

Coyle maintains she did everything right except sprint across the street like a teenager.

"He should have given me a warning if anything or helped me across the street. I thought that the LAPD was trying to hunt down criminals, not old ladies and taking their Social Security," said Coyle said.