Crosswalk guardians
There are no comments for this page [ Add Comment ]Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Every now and then, the rules we use to guide our decisions have to be tossed aside and an exception made.
That's what needs to happen with respect to an unguarded school crosswalk near Layton's Ellison Park Elementary School, where two children have been struck by automobiles in three weeks. The city says its traffic studies indicate there is not sufficient need for a crossing guard at that location.
Parents have reacted by saying they would gladly volunteer to protect their children, and the city's police department has agreed to offer instruction and training to volunteers.
Not so fast, says the Davis School District: There are liability issues to be considered.
The result, so far, is that there's still no crossing guard at the crosswalk.
Concerned parents and school officials are scheduled to meet with the Layton City Council on Thursday at 7 p.m. We hope all parties can make some accommodation with logic at that time. After all, two children being hit within three weeks ought to tell them something. Furthermore, this business of saying that liability issues would prevent the school district from approving a parent volunteer guarding the crosswalk seems peculiar on its face: Are we to understand that in order to protect the district from liability if a volunteer parent is involved, it's willing to allow students to cross the unguarded street where two children have recently been struck by automobiles?
Part of the reason the crosswalk may be more problematic -- a reason the traffic studies apparently do not recognize -- is that the school is located on a dead-end street. (The long-range plan is for the city to punch the road through, connecting it with another street, but that may not happen for years.) This means the estimated 129 vehicles delivering children to, or retrieving children from, the school each day must travel through the crosswalk twice: once to drop off or pick up the child, and once more on the return trip out of the dead-end street.
We understand, too, the city's skittishness when it comes to making an exception. There are 24 unguarded school crosswalks in Layton. If the city makes an exception for this one near Ellison Park Elementary, it will be tougher to say "no" to parents regarding other crosswalks.
Is hiring crossing guards an added expense? Yes. But this seems a clear case of placing a price on the heads of students utilizing that crosswalk. If the city and district continue to balk, whether for reasons of cost or liability, and another student is injured or, heaven forbid, killed in the meantime, will they feel comfortable in their decision to strictly follow the rules? Humans have brains capable of abstract thought; we should use them more often to find solutions. Protect these children who are at risk -- that, it seems to us, should be the overriding concern.
Hire a crossing guard today and have that person posted at the crosswalk tomorrow. It's a temporary solution, and the particulars of the matter can be studied in greater detail over the summer.
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