To the editor:
My wife and I recently visited a business, late in the afternoon, near 22nd and Ousdahl. School was letting out at Schwegler Elementary. What we witnessed was beyond our belief! Very young children, toddlers it appeared, trying to cross the streets to get home. Crossing Ousdahl and 23rd Street, which happens to be one of the busiest streets in Lawrence.
No adult supervision, crossing guards or anything to aid them. Huge tractor-trailers lumbering through the intersection at 40 mph, etc. The whole area packed with traffic and these kids weaving their way through it all. It was bizarre if not scary as hell!
For heaven’s sake, and the children’s too, can’t we afford a crossing guard to at least get them across 23rd Street? Sure, there’s a traffic signal there, but would you trust a bunch of giggly, talkative, distracted 7-year-olds to cross four lanes of intense traffic without some kind of help?
Comments
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been_there (anonymous) says…
Mr. Gill, you seem to leave out some important information. What time is "late in the afternoon" and what day of the week was it. Wednesday is early dismissal day and they get out at about 2:15. You do not know if these are kids that just got out of school or were just playing at the playground. There is a crossing guard there, but only at specific times. The city cannot provide crossing guards for parents who let their kids cross whenever. It is the parents responsibility to see that their kids use the crosswalk during supervised times instead of hanging out with their friends on the playground for an hour. You would be surprised how many parents don't care.
RETICENT_IRREVERENT (Ronaldo Ignacio) says…
A crossing guard could be prone to friendly but distracting waves.
workinghard (anonymous) says…
LOL--R_I, some of the newer readers may not understand the comment but I remember the controversy over waving crossing guard.
grammaddy (anonymous) says…
It is scary! With th economy in the shape it's in, Parents will have to take more responsibility for their kids' safety and not rely on the city to provide it for them. The number of crossing guards was cut earlier this year. It's sad but it is what it is.
snap_pop_no_crackle (anonymous) says…
That's a blast from the past, R_I. LOLZ!
AreUNorml (anonymous) says…
you would be surprised at how apt kids are these days. The smart ones will continue to make that journey day after day, year after year. The dumb ones.. probably not.
Darwin would agree.
justbegintowrite (Ronda Miller) says…
Children should not be allowed to cross the street until they are third graders - okay, I didn't make that up, but I did read it in a parenting magazine.
The article stated that children under that age can be taught to look to the left and to the right before crossing the street, but it is all they are doing. In their young, undeveloped mind, they don't see the car justbeginningtoturn onto the street, the one going faster than it should, they don't have the ability to calculate at what point and time it will be close to them, to discern that while one driver may wave them across the street at the same moment another car is barreling upon them in the other lane.
Children should not be left unsupervised - funding cuts should never be allowed to threaten the health and safety of our children. (Darwinism be damned)
Irish (Leslie Swearingen) says…
I'm with you Ronda, it's hard enough for an adult to get across the streets. Drivers seem to just ignore the law and go though red lights at will and turn whether someone is in the crosswalk or not.
How do you teach a very young child not to run the second the light turns green, but to wait a moment in case someone is running the light.
workinghard (anonymous) says…
Irish-Seem to remember a jogger losing his life that way at the intersection of 23rd and Louisiana a few years back, and he was an adult.
3up3down (anonymous) says…
Want to get to the heart of the issue. The court system. Go to the court clerks office and find out how many people paid double the fine to get the moving violation reduced to a non-moving violation so it has no impact on their driving record and insurance premiums. Maybe it is time that policy stops and make drivers more accountable. While they are at it, ban the cell phones by drivers along with their damn lapdogs. Watched a gal go through the red light on 23rd yesterday because she was too busy talking to and stroking her dog in her lap.