Traffic - School Crosswalk Tips
School begins Wednesday and with that, there come new hazards for our children as they make their way to school. We must teach our children how to avoid these hazards and what to do in case one presents itself. As drivers, there are new rules that are in play. The game has changed for motorists in many locations. Some of these locations are designated as school zones with signs, and many others with flashing lights and a person in an orange vest with a stop sign. Some self-centered drivers view these locations as an obstruction to their commute. Still others are oblivious to these locations at all and pass them by with never a change in their driving or even a thought. Children may also be at any corner, and sometimes in the middle of the block as they try and cross the street.
Regular crosswalks don’t have flashing lights or signs designating them as school zones. When approaching a crosswalk, a driver must stop when a person steps off the sidewalk upon the driver’s half of the roadway or approaches from the other side of the roadway as to be a hazzard. School crosswalks are different in that a driver must stop if the crosswalk is occupied by a person no matter their location within the crosswalk. This means that if a person steps off the curb on the driver’s left, that driver must stop. A school zone must be designated as such, and the warning lights must be in operation for this requirement to be valid. If the lights are not operating, then this location is treated as a regular crosswalk, and drivers must stop for a person upon their half of the roadway.
In this example of a typical school zone, permitted movements are in green, prohibited movements are in red. Traffic may proceed across the intersection (1), and may make right turns (2) and left turns (3) as long as the crosswalk that the pedestrian is in or that the cross guard is protecting is not violated. This means that oncoming traffic may not cross the crosswalk (4), and may not enter the intersection so as to block it while the children are crossing, and may not make right (5) or left (6) turns across the protected crosswalk. Cross guards are instructed to jot down license plate numbers for an officer to issue a citation at a later time to those drivers who violate their stop signs. Failing to stop for a pedestrian in a crosswalk is a moving violation and carries a fine. Insurance companies also get notified of these moving violations.
It is important to teach our children to watch for themselves. Just because the cross guard signals it’s OK to cross, doesn’t make it so. The children need to look both ways to verify the safety of crossing. This gets them in the habit of doing this all the time, and they will do this at other times and at locations that have no cross guard. Kids should not play or horse around. Drivers should be able to tell what the kids are doing and what their intentions are as they cross. They should also walk their bicycles across for increased safety to themselves and others around them. The kids should be taught to always use the crosswalks and to cross only at corners where there is no crosswalk.
A little teaching and instruction now, for children and drivers, can prevent much heartache later on.
Posted by
Sgt. Craig Harding
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