Speeding Drivers Put Students In Jeopardy

The afternoon bell rings and students at Greenacres Junior High stream out the school’s front door. Dozens head for the two crosswalks that lead across busy Sprague Avenue.

Traffic zooms along the thoroughfare at speeds up to 10 miles per hour faster than the posted speed limit of 35 miles per hour. To cross, students must brave four lanes of steady traffic without the aid of crossing guards or stop lights.

“It’s kind of a take your chances type of situation,” said Sgt. Jim Finke of the Sheriff’s Department traffic unit.

Drivers are not required to stop for pedestrians waiting on the sidewalk to cross the street. Consequently, some cars zip past, while others stop, making the crossing situation dangerous, parents, school officials and sheriff’s deputies complained.

Greenacres is not the only Valley school with a traffic problem, Finke said. Sheriff’s deputies have received complaints about speeders around other schools over the past few months.

In front of Greenacres, a flashing yellow light alerts motorists to the crosswalk at Sprague and Tschirley Road. Signs point out the crosswalk at Sprague and Appleway Avenue.

On a recent afternoon, a minivan stopped to let two girls cross the street. As the girls stepped into the crosswalk, another car went screaming past in the next lane.

“My heart drops every time I see something like that,” said Linda Younker, whose son Jeremy is an eighth-grader at Greenacres.

Younker’s complaint is one Greenacres assistant principal Lyle Krislock hears regularly from parents. He blamed the same scenario for an accident about a year and a half ago in which a student in a crosswalk was hit by a car. Fortunately, the student was not seriously injured.

Following that accident, county engineers put up larger signs and the flashing yellow light to alert motorists to the crosswalks.

“They’ve made some changes, but it seems like it’s still an ongoing problem,” Krislock said.

County engineer Bob Brueggeman said the county applied for state funding two years ago to install a traffic signal light and buttonactivated crosswalk at Sprague and Appleway, but was turned down. The county plans to apply again this fall.

Until then, sheriff’s Cpl. Jim Speaks has asked deputies to keep a closer eye on the school crossing.

Requests for increased patrols have also come from Broadway Elementary, University Elementary and North Pines Junior High, Sheriff’s Department records show.

To combat a speeding problem around Greenacres Junior High late last spring, PTA members used a radar gun and electronic reader board to slow speeders. Speeders were sent letters asking them to slow down, Finke said, adding it may be time to do it again.

“We just have to continue to be on the lookout.”

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