School Crossing Guards

[jaiminee krikit]

Do you think crossing guards should follow traffic signals?

I live in a small town, we only have 3 crossing guards. I typically encounter 2 of them every day, morning and after school. At one of the schools (4th and 5th grade), parents picking up their kids have to park directly across the street from the school to wait, and the stoplight is directly outside the front doors of the school. The crossing guard and the kids do wait until the "walk" signal is on to begin crossing, but then the crossing guard will wait until every single kid is out the door before letting traffic through. I have sat through 2 lights before waiting for the kids to finish crossing. This honestly concerns me because I'm afraid some day a car is just going to plow through all these kids.

The other crossing that bugs me is the main intersection in town. It's a 4-way stoplight with turn signals going each direction. The crossing guard here will typically let kids cross when the green arrow is on, but not the walk signal, therefor cars are having to wait for them to finish before going. I also find this dangerous for the same reason as above.

In my state, pedestrians are supposed to follow traffic signals. Shouldn't we be teaching our children to follow these simple laws? Nothing irks me more when I hear someone say "I'm a pedestrian, I always have the right of way", primarily because that's not always true - and it won't matter if you're killed by a car if you had the right of way or not.

The crossing guards are hired by our local police department, and I'm considering sending them a little message about my concerns. Share your thoughts...

 

[gotomu212]

In my city the crossing guards have the same authority as the police directing traffic which means they supersede traffic signals.

Here there’s no way they can safety hold 50 kids on a corner waiting for a light while traffic goes by. There’s also no way they can get more than 5 or 6 kids through a normal walk sign so they stop traffic despite the light. In fact many of the crossings occur mid street and the guards walk into the street and stop traffic. The speed limit in school zones is 20 so it’s hard to see how someone blows through the crossing.

I view school crossings like train crossings- settle in because you have to wait.

 

[ShirikiUtundu]

The authority of school crossing guards should be laid out in your state statutes, which you can find with a google search or a search on your state's website.
But I'm not clear if you are asking what the statutes are, or what is the opinion people hold of said statutes?
I think it makes sense to teach children proper pedestrian rules, but these rules aren't necessarily applicable when one is trying to herd a number of small people safely across the road, similar to when police officers are dispatched to take care of problem intersections.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I agree that you should look into what your local and state ordinances and laws are.

In my state the rule states "Do not allow any motorists to enter the crosswalk until the students have finished crossing."

The rules also states "The adult crossing guard and supervisor may need to work with a local traffic engineer to assure adequate signal clearance time to finish crossing the students before the "SOLID DON'T WALK" (SOW) comes on." Could it be that during high school traffic time the light settings need to be adjusted in order to give more time to children crossing and less time waiting through several cycles due to number of children crossing? In my area typically cities rely on the citizens to help them out in regards to traffic lights, especially newly added ones, to fine tune the timing and sometimes the timing needs to be adjusted as more students or more traffic (depending on the individual intersection).

But remember my comments above pertain to my state. You should look into the rules for your area.

 

[Imzadi]

The crossing guard and the kids do wait until the "walk" signal is on to begin crossing, but then the crossing guard will wait until every single kid is out the door before letting traffic through. I have sat through 2 lights before waiting for the kids to finish crossing. This honestly concerns me because I'm afraid some day a car is just going to plow through all these kids.

I generally do think crossing guards should be also teaching kids to follow the traffic signals. I remember being a kid and having a crossing guard who didn't, and it was confusing as to WHY and WHEN they deemed it safe to cross, yet not other times.

However, in the instance you are mentioning above, I can foresee that a time when a kid may see his fellow friends have just made it across the street and be so focused on them that he runs across the street to catch up with them, rather looking at the crossing guard or what the traffic is doing. That could be when a lone, random kid gets mowed down. Making a whole group wait together and there are no kids lagging behind, for whatever reason, being too slow, being inattentive to friends, etc., and making them walk in one mass group is safer.

 

[tazdev3225]

I was a school crossing guard before I retired with a disability. I worked on several corners over my career, some with traffic lights and others with stop signs. We were trained that you cross as many as can cross with the signal safely. We were never to cross the children on a red light and hold up traffic to do so. You get a feel for your corner and the flow of traffic, both motor vehicle and pedestrian. You also get to know the kids that are darters and look for them. There are always a couple every year.

As to the comment made above about speed limits, they are a joke at least where I live. There is a major street near me that has three schools on it and traffic is supposed to slow to 15 mph. I have seen cars doing 45 to 50 through the school zone easily. It is a major complaint at meetings but the police department doesn't have the man power to patrol every road. They are filling in as crossing guards among other duties, trying to keep roads cleared of double parked cars at the schools, etc. I always joked with my partner that we would never have to pay another tax if they had the manpower to hand out tickets for all the traffic violations at the schools.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

There is a major street near me that has three schools on it and traffic is supposed to slow to 15 mph. I have seen cars doing 45 to 50 through the school zone easily.

Our school zones are 25mph for the most part when the flashing lights are on-they have the times lists but unfortunately you wouldn't be able to see the time until you got right up on the sign--I mention that part because sometimes the lights aren't flashing when they are supposed to.

Anyways here it's kinda a 50/50 shot if the police are anywhere nearby. More or less it would be a few days in a row with police presence to get tickets written (so not really a speed trap but you get the idea).

I'd say it's probably fairly common, even if not right, for people to go 30 as a norm in the school zones or what I'll see sometimes is higher speed at the beginning and end of school zones with a slight slow down the driver does towards the actual school.

Every once in a while in my neighborhood near the elementary school they put out one of those radar signs that tell you your speed but there's no police waiting to give you a ticket it's just designed to get you more aware of your speed and hopefully get you to slow down as a norm.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

In my city the crossing guards have the same authority as the police directing traffic which means they supersede traffic signals.

Here there’s no way they can safety hold 50 kids on a corner waiting for a light while traffic goes by. There’s also no way they can get more than 5 or 6 kids through a normal walk sign so they stop traffic despite the light. In fact many of the crossings occur mid street and the guards walk into the street and stop traffic. The speed limit in school zones is 20 so it’s hard to see how someone blows through the crossing.

I view school crossings like train crossings- settle in because you have to wait.

Pretty much the same here. In fact the crossing guards aren't hired by the school. They are hired by the police department. They have all the powers of directing traffic the cops have. They don't have to follow the lights if there is one. But often there is not. And though the guards can't write tickets, often there is a cop hiding near the school zone and boom. You're caught.

 

[tinkerbellandeeyor]

Do you think crossing guards should follow traffic signals?

I live in a small town, we only have 3 crossing guards. I typically encounter 2 of them every day, morning and after school. At one of the schools (4th and 5th grade), parents picking up their kids have to park directly across the street from the school to wait, and the stoplight is directly outside the front doors of the school. The crossing guard and the kids do wait until the "walk" signal is on to begin crossing, but then the crossing guard will wait until every single kid is out the door before letting traffic through. I have sat through 2 lights before waiting for the kids to finish crossing. This honestly concerns me because I'm afraid some day a car is just going to plow through all these kids.

The other crossing that bugs me is the main intersection in town. It's a 4-way stoplight with turn signals going each direction. The crossing guard here will typically let kids cross when the green arrow is on, but not the walk signal, therefor cars are having to wait for them to finish before going. I also find this dangerous for the same reason as above.

In my state, pedestrians are supposed to follow traffic signals. Shouldn't we be teaching our children to follow these simple laws? Nothing irks me more when I hear someone say "I'm a pedestrian, I always have the right of way", primarily because that's not always true - and it won't matter if you're killed by a car if you had the right of way or not.

The crossing guards are hired by our local police department, and I'm considering sending them a little message about my concerns. Share your thoughts...

Thank you for making my point as a pedestrian I dont feel like I have the right away for the reasons you stated I always make sure it's safe

 

[Domo]

We call them "lolipop ladies" or "lolipop men" after the lolipop-shaped traffic sign they carry, to safeguard school kids across the road.

 

[Skellingtonj]

Yes and no. Yes she will stop cars for kids to cross and then stop the other cars so cars making the left can go. But she does not stop cars forever, she wouldn’t let the whole school cross.

 

[martikus]

I think crossing guards should get to trump signals. I don’t see it as teaching my kids bad habits, I see it as teaching my kid to follow a crossing guard if they are there. In real life there won’t be one so he won’t be confused and he will follow the lights.

I can’t fathom the hard job they have to get kids in and out quickly. They should get to hold up traffic to get kids out fast and safely.

At our school there aren’t lights but you better believe everyone is expected to obey the crossing guard stop sign. No one driving should be impatient enough to endanger kids even though we all see those idiots every day.

 

[kdonnel]

No crossing guards here. The school would probably try and get parents arrested if they let their kids walk to school.

 

[jaiminee krikit]

In my city the crossing guards have the same authority as the police directing traffic which means they supersede traffic signals.

Here there’s no way they can safety hold 50 kids on a corner waiting for a light while traffic goes by. There’s also no way they can get more than 5 or 6 kids through a normal walk sign so they stop traffic despite the light. In fact many of the crossings occur mid street and the guards walk into the street and stop traffic. The speed limit in school zones is 20 so it’s hard to see how someone blows through the crossing.

I view school crossings like train crossings- settle in because you have to wait.

I understand when the kids are all in a group. Usually there are about 20 kid that get to the stoplight at the same time and they should all cross together. What bothers me is the crossing guard waiting as some kids dilly-dally coming out of the school, and she stands there waiting for them to get to the crosswalk. The doors to the school are probably a good 20 yards from the crosswalk, so it does take a bit of time for a straggler to make it to the crosswalk. If the group is across, I think she should be going back to the sidewalk and instructing the last handful of kids to wait for the next green light.

The authority of school crossing guards should be laid out in your state statutes, which you can find with a google search or a search on your state's website.
But I'm not clear if you are asking what the statutes are, or what is the opinion people hold of said statutes?
I think it makes sense to teach children proper pedestrian rules, but these rules aren't necessarily applicable when one is trying to herd a number of small people safely across the road, similar to when police officers are dispatched to take care of problem intersections.

I have searched online multiple times and it's not easy to find the statutes. I was curious as to what other people think should be happening, hence why I asked for posters to share their thoughts, I didn't ask them to tell me what the laws are in my state.

I agree that you should look into what your local and state ordinances and laws are.

In my state the rule states "Do not allow any motorists to enter the crosswalk until the students have finished crossing."

The rules also states "The adult crossing guard and supervisor may need to work with a local traffic engineer to assure adequate signal clearance time to finish crossing the students before the "SOLID DON'T WALK" (SOW) comes on." Could it be that during high school traffic time the light settings need to be adjusted in order to give more time to children crossing and less time waiting through several cycles due to number of children crossing? In my area typically cities rely on the citizens to help them out in regards to traffic lights, especially newly added ones, to fine tune the timing and sometimes the timing needs to be adjusted as more students or more traffic (depending on the individual intersection).

But remember my comments above pertain to my state. You should look into the rules for your area.

I don't see this town changing timers on the lights. It's already a pain at the one intersection because the main time anyone crosses there is before and after school and the "walk" time is ridiculously high for one person to walk across the street. Then traffic backs up, and it's just a mess.

I generally do think crossing guards should be also teaching kids to follow the traffic signals. I remember being a kid and having a crossing guard who didn't, and it was confusing as to WHY and WHEN they deemed it safe to cross, yet not other times.

However, in the instance you are mentioning above, I can foresee that a time when a kid may see his fellow friends have just made it across the street and be so focused on them that he runs across the street to catch up with them, rather looking at the crossing guard or what the traffic is doing. That could be when a lone, random kid gets mowed down. Making a whole group wait together and there are no kids lagging behind, for whatever reason, being too slow, being inattentive to friends, etc., and making them walk in one mass group is safer.

When I was in elementary school, we had to cross two busy roads to get to where our parents parked. The crossing guards never disobeyed the traffic signals, and taught us to always be aware of them and our surroundings. We even had one guard have to cross two different streets, so she left a group of kids unattended, but we never moved until she told us to.

 

[jaiminee krikit]

In my city the crossing guards have the same authority as the police directing traffic which means they supersede traffic signals.

Here there’s no way they can safety hold 50 kids on a corner waiting for a light while traffic goes by. There’s also no way they can get more than 5 or 6 kids through a normal walk sign so they stop traffic despite the light. In fact many of the crossings occur mid street and the guards walk into the street and stop traffic. The speed limit in school zones is 20 so it’s hard to see how someone blows through the crossing.

I view school crossings like train crossings- settle in because you have to wait.

I was a school crossing guard before I retired with a disability. I worked on several corners over my career, some with traffic lights and others with stop signs. We were trained that you cross as many as can cross with the signal safely. We were never to cross the children on a red light and hold up traffic to do so. You get a feel for your corner and the flow of traffic, both motor vehicle and pedestrian. You also get to know the kids that are darters and look for them. There are always a couple every year.

As to the comment made above about speed limits, they are a joke at least where I live. There is a major street near me that has three schools on it and traffic is supposed to slow to 15 mph. I have seen cars doing 45 to 50 through the school zone easily. It is a major complaint at meetings but the police department doesn't have the man power to patrol every road. They are filling in as crossing guards among other duties, trying to keep roads cleared of double parked cars at the schools, etc. I always joked with my partner that we would never have to pay another tax if they had the manpower to hand out tickets for all the traffic violations at the schools.

This is exactly how it was when I was a kid. And I agree about the speed limits and that is why it concerns me. We have a lot of semis flying through town (the normal speed limit on said road is 35mph, but that is often not followed), and what if they look down at their phones or something, I cringe when I'm stopped by these crossing guards when the light changes for that reason alone.

I think crossing guards should get to trump signals. I don’t see it as teaching my kids bad habits, I see it as teaching my kid to follow a crossing guard if they are there. In real life there won’t be one so he won’t be confused and he will follow the lights.

I can’t fathom the hard job they have to get kids in and out quickly. They should get to hold up traffic to get kids out fast and safely.

At our school there aren’t lights but you better believe everyone is expected to obey the crossing guard stop sign. No one driving should be impatient enough to endanger kids even though we all see those idiots every day.

I'm glad your child will still follow traffic signals and is taught to do so. A lot of these kids aren't taught any better, so then they just think they always have the right-of-way at a crosswalk. When I was a kid, we were taught, by the crossing guards, when we should and should not walk across a crosswalk.

 

[Shanti]

Do you think crossing guards should follow traffic signals?

Crossing guards supersede traffic signals.

We have a lot of semis flying through town (the normal speed limit on said road is 35mph, but that is often not followed), and what if they look down at their phones or something, I cringe when I'm stopped by these crossing guards when the light changes for that reason alone.

If they aren't looking to see the crossing guard, they also aren't looking to see a traffic light. Let this go.

 

[tvguy]

Crossing guards here follow the signal.

 

[luvsJack]

I have noticed that they don't follow the lights. But neither do police officers when they are directing traffic at a light due to a wreck or something. I assume there is purpose in it.

As for speed limits in school zones, at every school around here there are police/sheriff cars at every end of the school zones and Lord help you if you aren't doing the 15 MPH. That take speeding in a school zone very personally. (as they should)

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

That take speeding in a school zone very personally. (as they should)

I think they should too but the reality of the situation is there is never going to be enough police force for the sheer amount of citizens and schools in my area. It's not practical nor feasible in my area.

Heck in my school district alone there are 34 elementary schools, 9 middle schools and 5 high schools plus multiple other educational facilities. Even with different start times for each type of school there's overlap and isn't feasible to send a police officer for speed enforcement to every school everyday.

There are 2 other large school districts in the area too. The 3 main school districts cross city lines too so you're also talking cross jurisdiction with police force.

 

[luvsJack]

I think they should too but the reality of the situation is there is never going to be enough police force for the sheer amount of citizens and schools in my area. It's not practical nor feasible in my area.

Heck in my school district alone there are 34 elementary schools, 9 middle schools and 5 high schools plus multiple other educational facilities. Even with different start times for each type of school there's overlap and isn't feasible to send a police officer for speed enforcement to every school everyday.

There are 2 other large school districts in the area too. The 3 main school districts cross city lines too so you're also talking cross jurisdiction with police force.

Some of our's cross jurisdictions too. They share the load. Honestly only takes one or two at each school. but I can certainly understand why every school district can't.

Where my grandkids go to school, they use their campus police force and add city police or county deputies as needed.