How Can We Keep Students Safe on the Way to School?
An accident Friday outside Anderson Middle School has sparked a heated debate about how to protect pedestrians in Berkley. Leave a comment to share your thoughts!
How can we make it safer for students to walk to and from school in Berkley? Leave a comment!
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A vehicle struck a crossing guard Friday outside Anderson Middle School in Berkley, sparking a heated debate on the Huntington Woods-Berkley Facebook page about the safety of students navigating the city's streets.
Commenters suggested slower speeds, the installation of a stop sign or traffic light on Catalpa, more attentiveness among drivers and other steps to protect pedestrians. The following are a sampling of comments from the discussion.
- Stephanie Norton: ... I live very close to this intersection and see parents pulling into/out of my driveway without care or concern. I have been concerned for my (preschool) daughter waking to our car in our driveway in the morning. PLEASE SLOW DOWN EVERYONE, HANG UP YOUR CELL PHONE and BE CAREFUL keep the children and others SAFE!
- Maureen Reynolds-Popkin: Attention High School Parents! You should also be very worried about your students crossing Coolidge Hwy. There are no cross walks and during lunch time on Coolidge Hwy is like watching someone throw $100. bills in the air and watching the kids run into the streets without a care in the world. The business here are working hard to get cross walks for everyone's safety, perhaps you could talk to City Officials and ask what they are doing about keeping High School kids safe!
- Ian Papp: The city needs to install more stop signs on Catalpa. Most of the traveling public drives in excess of 25 down that street. I drive the posted speed limit and without fail another driver feels the need to tailgate. People need to slow down, speeding saves little if any time.
- Lori Schoessler-Robertson: Traffic light is a great idea. I forgot there used to be one there. I would love to see a stop sign too at the corner of where the tennis courts are. The trouble is, Berkley is a walking district and was not built to accommodate everyone driving their kids to school. I always walked rain or shine.
[What do you think about these ideas? Do you have thoughts to add to the discussion? Leave a comment to share your suggestions!]
Scott Hammer
2:10 pm on Monday, January 14, 2013
I live a half block north of that street corner. First, I hope the crossing guard is able to recover quickly. I don't know the guy's name, but I exchange a friendly wave with him each time I pass him by.
The intersection begs for a 3-way stop sign for student safety. It might help with through traffic as well. It is often difficult for me to make a turn onto Catalpa for my morning commute due to congestion in the area.
Parking enforcement might also relieve congestion at the intersection. Parents park illegally on the west side of Gardner during drop-off and pick-up. This obscures visibility of the children and traffic, and it reduces traffic to one lane on Gardner.
Perhaps another solution would be to create a long turnout on the south side of Catalpa where parents can drop off kids safely on school property. There is plenty of room between the roadway and the sidewalk in that area.