Traffic safety starts at home

School traffic safety issues have been brought to the forefront with recent accidents involving children and vehicles at school drop-off points. A few weeks ago, a child at Toll Middle School in Glendale was struck and killed in front of her classmates and teachers while in the crosswalk in front of her school. A few days later, a third grader careened into another car when he exited his vehicle into oncoming traffic at Palm Crest Elementary School in La Cañada. He escaped the incident with minor injuries. In both cases the drivers of the vehicles were parents that had, or were in the process, of dropping their children off.

Sgt. Mark Slater, traffic sergeant for Crescenta Valley Sheriff’s Station, said the issue of traffic safety is important on all area roads but especially around schools.

“A lot of the problems [we encounter] deal with parents opting for convenience over safety,” Slater said.

Slater said he understands what it is like in the morning as everyone is rushing to get to school and work on time, but a hurried atmosphere is no excuse to ignore safety.

The child that was involved in the accident at Palm Crest had opened his car door into traffic and attempted to run across the street. As he exited the vehicle, the oncoming driver had to swerve to avoid hitting the car door. The driver heard a bump and, according to the report, the child had hit the car and fell to the ground.

This type of dashing across the street into oncoming traffic is a common occurrence at Rosemont Middle School. Many drivers heading north on Rosemont Avenue allow their child to jump out of the vehicle and run across the street to the school, crossing oncoming southbound traffic.

Rosemont’s School Resource Officer Deputy Steve Toley regularly witnesses this and similar traffic violations that can easily end in tragedy.

“Parents drop their kids off away from the crosswalk or make illegal turns,” he said. “They could find a [less crowded] area to drop their child off and let them walk the rest of the way.”

Slater added that at times, parents will pull over to a curb, drop their child off and instead of walking to the crosswalk, the child will run across the street.

“That technically may be legal, but [it’s] not safe,” he said. “Some parents take short cuts — shame on those parents.”