Ann Arbor officials looking into parents' concerns about safety of King School crosswalk
Fourth and fifth grade crossing guards at King Elementary School in Ann Arbor wait for a gap in traffic before letting fellow students cross Waldenwood Drive. Parents are concerned the lack of stop signs combined with the close proximity of the school's driveway poses a safety risk.
Ryan J. Stanton | AnnArbor.com
The fourth and fifth graders who serve as crossing guards at King Elementary School are reminded of a simple rule each morning: No letting any students cross the street if a single car is coming — even if it has a turn signal on.
Parents and school officials say a unique set of circumstances surrounding a mid-block crosswalk in front of the school has created a safety problem they want solved. And they now have Ann Arbor city officials looking into their concerns.
Mayor John Hieftje and 2nd Ward City Council members Tony Derezinski and Stephen Rapundalo stood and watched on a recent morning as students negotiated with passing traffic to cross Waldenwood Drive to get to school.
Ann Arbor City Council Members Tony Derezinski and Stephen Rapundalo meet with students at the crosswalk. The students agreed it isn't as safe as it should be.
Ryan J. Stanton | AnnArbor.com
The crosswalk is located in the middle of a residential block where there are no stop signs and, as concerned parents point out, it's only a matter of feet from where cars and buses turn into the school's entrance driveway.
"People are driving straight, turning into the lot, you've got buses turning into the lot, and you've got 10-year-olds trying to cross the kids and they're not allowed to stop traffic," said Susan Gechter, who has a daughter in fourth grade at King School.
"The bottom line is you've got 10-year-olds who do not know the rules of the road and they can't cross the kids safely. And when you have drivers who aren't looking for stop signs, they're not looking necessarily for kids. There's constantly near-misses."
While the addition of stop signs would be an improvement, what Gechter and others are pushing for is a relocation of the crosswalk to a four-way stop at the end of the block. That would require an extension of a stretch of blacktop or sidewalk south down Waldenwood to Penberton Drive, as well as reengineering of handicapped-accessible curb cuts at the corner.
Hieftje said he didn't see anything overwhelmingly alarming about the current crosswalk, and it appeared most students were being dropped off by parents. But he said he'll take the idea of relocating the crosswalk back to the city's engineers.
Kathy Griswold shows Mayor John Hieftje the four-way stop where she wants a new crosswalk constructed to replace the less-safe one.
Ryan J. Stanton | AnnArbor.com
"I think we need to do a little sorting out — we didn't see a whole lot of kids coming down to cross the street," he said. "The safety patrols didn't have a whole lot to do, but I recognize how the problem might be different (on other days) because a number of kids were walking on the other side of the street. If you had a snow-covered area over there where it's grass, and nobody was taking care of it, there would have been more kids crossing (at the crosswalk) because it would have been very difficult for them to navigate that."
Kathy Griswold, a resident who sits on the Ann Arbor Public Schools Transportation Safety Committee, has heavily lobbied the City Council in recent months to take action.
Griswold said the project has gone through a lengthy evaluation process, has been recommended by the Transportation Safety Committee, has written support from the school principal and the school district's transportation director, and now it just needs a resolution from the City Council. She said she hopes it is approved before there's a serious accident.
King School Principal Kevin Karr went on the record back in November stating that he continues to see the mid-block crosswalk as less safe than it should be. He said he would support moving the crosswalk to the corner of Waldenwood and Penberton.
Griswold, who has said she's willing to hire a lawyer if that's what it takes, has a long history of championing safety improvements in Ann Arbor. Back in 1994, when she was making plans for her daughter to begin walking to King School, she said she discovered there was no sidewalk along Penberton near Waldenwood.
Despite the lack of a sidewalk, these students follow their parents' advice and cross at the intersection of Penberton Drive and Waldenwood Drive where there is a four-way stop.
Ryan J. Stanton | AnnArbor.com
"And so I worked with the city and they put the sidewalk in and that is very similar to what needs to be done now," she said.
Griswold said the only reason the crosswalk wasn't located at the corner of Penberton and Waledenwood to begin with was because it never used to be a four-way stop. Stop signs were added in the last decade after complaints by residents, she said.
Diane Fingar, the mother of two children in third grade and kindergarten, has come up with an interim solution. She has instructed her children to forget crossing at the crosswalk and instead cross at the four-way stop and walk on the grass to school. She said while her children are in the habit of doing that now, it's not the practice of other students who still cross at the crosswalk.
As witnessed by Hieftje and other city officials, it can take up to five or six minutes sometimes for a long enough gap in traffic for students to safely cross Waldenwood at the official crosswalk.
"The fifth-grade crossing guards are told not to allow any children to cross if they can see a car coming because the cars are not required to stop," Fingar said. "They're also told not to believe turn signals because people sometimes don't use turn signals properly. When everybody's coming to school, there are rarely times when there are no cars in sight, so you can wait a long time to cross down there."
Griswold said the school can't move the crosswalk without council action.
"Unless it's an official crosswalk, the school can't move the safeties, and they can't move the safeties unless there's a continuous path of some type, either blacktop or sidewalk," she said. "And having safeties with almost no one crossing doesn't really make sense."
Ryan J. Stanton covers government for AnnArbor.com. Reach him at ryanstanton@annarbor.com or 734-623-2529.
Comments
Lily Guzman
Mon, May 10, 2010 : 9:12 a.m.
Kathy, Does King have a Safe Routes to School committee and have you considered applying for SRTS funds (no match required) to pay for this and possibly other improvements?
S Campbell
Thu, May 6, 2010 : 10:21 p.m.
Too many postwar subdivisions were approved without sidewalks -- on either one or both sides of the street. The city should commit to a clear policy that all city streets should have well-maintained sidewalks, and develop a systematic plan to meet this goal. Yes, this strategy involves significant costs. But there is no alternative for a city that is committed to pedestrian safety and walkable neighborhoods. (The Waldenwood subdivision has many lovely design features, but the incomplete coverage in its sidewalk network is a shortcoming.) An irony of the recent sidewalk inspection and repair program is that those blocks with existing sidewalks in need of repair posed a modest hazard to pedestrians (e.g., the risk of trip-and-fall), while those without sidewalks posed a far greater hazard to pedestrians (e.g., being struck by a car while walking on the street). Alas, the narrow definition of that sidewalk repair program required the former risk to be mitigated but ignored the latter. If we took pedestrian safely seriously, we would require the retrofitting of sidewalks in all neighborhoods. Property owners who currently live on streets without sidewalks may see the burden of paying for sidewalks as an unfair injury. In fact, such a step would simply bring their property up to the standards that should have been implemented a long time ago. True, assessing property owners for sidewalk installation may not be popular. But being responsible for providing, maintaining and shoveling sidewalks -- and thus contributing to the larger community good -- is an appropriate cost for living in a walkable city.
Kathy Griswold
Wed, Apr 28, 2010 : 9:53 a.m.
Great news! We just received an anonymous, out-of-state donation of $500 for the sidewalk/pathway portion of the project. In addition, the City completed the engineering drawings and all the pre-construction work last fall. Thus the remaining project cost is about $8,000, based on the final construction documents shared with neighbors in October 2009.
KJMClark
Tue, Apr 27, 2010 : 10:15 p.m.
"Every time I'm out there, I don't see a large amount of pedestrian and vehicle conflicts at the time." Translation: He went "a couple of times", and mostly at times other than when students are crossing. When he goes there when students are crossing, he sees nothing wrong with kids waiting five or six minutes for a safe crossing opportunity. In Michigan, traffic engineers move motor vehicles. It's partly the profession, partly the way the traffic laws/MUTCD warrants are set up, partly the Michigan "car is king" attitude. In fairness to the engineer, there isn't a whole lot he's allowed to do to change the situation. Looking at the area in Google maps, I see two marked crosswalks crossing Waldenwood at the boundaries of the school property. Both are right next to driveways, like we also have at Northside elementary and probably other schools. But it's a marked crosswalk. Motorists by law have to yield to pedestrians, "stopping if necessary to so yield" in marked crosswalks. But Lokalisierung is right. Enforcing the crosswalk laws would protect pedestrians, which the AA police have never shown much interest in.
Marc Williams
Tue, Apr 27, 2010 : 2:18 p.m.
Why aren't pedestrian crossing flags used in our community? I have lived in and visited other communities where this type of pedestrian crossing has been very effective. More information can be found here http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/bumpertobumper/2008194841_bumper22m.html and here http://sites.google.com/site/crossingflags/home
Kathy Griswold
Tue, Apr 27, 2010 : 12:12 p.m.
@Ryan The neighbors agreed to fundraise for the sidewalk last fall and the project was designed and scheduled. Then the project was halted with no communication from anyone in the City to the parents who agreed to pay for the sidewalk. Why are we even debating whether our children are safer crossing mid-block than at a 4-way stop intersection? The real issue is much bigger than a single crosswalk. Why do most of our elected officials appear to place little value on safety (police, fire, transportation safety, etc.)? Why have they relegated safety to the political arena, ignoring best practices, engineering standards and the official committee (as listed on the City website) charged with addressing these issues? The Transportation Safety Committee (TSC) was formed in the late 1960s with transportation expertise from AAPS and the City, plus parent representation. More recently, representatives have been appointed by the county and Pittsfield Township. Through the early 2000s, a city council member and a school board member served on the TSC and provided links to their respective governing bodies. Today, there is a serious disconnect resulting in many unresolved safety issues. Please visit www.SeeKids.org for how you can report and help resolve safety issues in your neighborhood.
Lokalisierung
Tue, Apr 27, 2010 : 12:03 p.m.
"raised the speed limit on Washtenaw to 45 between Stadium and Austin, adjacent to Tappan. There's a school cross-walk right there, but anyone attempting to use it is taking their life in their hands." People crossing have a huge sight distance there so I'm not that worried about them. As I've said time and time again start giving people tickets for failure to yield to a crosswalk becasue that is the only way people are going to learn they need to stop. but of course giving tickets isn't seen as "real police work" around here.
Thick Candy Shell
Tue, Apr 27, 2010 : 11:29 a.m.
@Andrew Thomas, "It's been almost two years since MDOT arbitrarily (and unnecessarily) raised the speed limit on Washtenaw to 45 between Stadium and Austin, adjacent to Tappan." Sorry, they only followed State law. Not only should it have been, it is now safer than it was. Look up the accident rate....it has dropped. Just because you think your "special situation" should be taken as the exception doesn't make it right. Look at the losses in court for Ann Arbor so far on traffic tickets for failure to follow State laws.
Ryan J. Stanton
Tue, Apr 27, 2010 : 11:08 a.m.
I spoke today with city engineer Patrick Cawley, project manager for the city's traffic calming projects. He said he has checked out the site a couple of times and agrees the four-way stop would be a safer location for a crosswalk because there are less potential conflicts. "But we've never seen a great deal of concern at the driveway itself," he said. "Every time I'm out there, I don't see a large amount of pedestrian and vehicle conflicts at the time. Is it a pressing safety issue? It'd be an improvement, but it wouldn't be something that's high on the list." Cawley said the city is wiling to do the curb ramp improvements, but right now there's no funding mechanism for sidewalks. He said it might have to be special assessed to adjacent property owners. His said his early "back of envelope" estimate was $23,000 for all the improvements.
Thick Candy Shell
Tue, Apr 27, 2010 : 10:59 a.m.
@Andrew Thomas, "It's been almost two years since MDOT arbitrarily (and unnecessarily) raised the speed limit on Washtenaw to 45 between Stadium and Austin, adjacent to Tappan." Sorry, they only followed State law. Not only should it have been, it is now safer than it was. Look up the accident rate....it has dropped. Just because you think your "special situation" should be taken as the exception doesn't make it right. Look at the losses in court for Ann Arbor so far on traffic tickets for failure to follow State laws.
EngineeringMom
Tue, Apr 27, 2010 : 10:21 a.m.
@Rici - you are correct, there is an adult crossing guard at Liberty and Crest. However, this hasn't made the crosswalk entirely safe. My husband has reported several incidents where drivers have disregarded the crossing guard and drove through the crosswalk with children in it. If the mayor didn't see anything "overwhelmingly alarming about the current crosswalk" I suggest he spend a week at various crosswalks before and after school. I think he will become sufficiently alarmed. A police officer posted at these walkways could probably earn their keep writing tickets and keep our children safe in the process.
Rici
Tue, Apr 27, 2010 : 9:13 a.m.
Still not answered: why isn't there an adult crossing guard at that location? I know there is one on Liberty & Crest to help kids going to Eberwhite, and one at Miller & 7th for kids going to Ann Arbor Open @ Mack. Is this not standard practice?
Karen Sidney
Tue, Apr 27, 2010 : 8:09 a.m.
Thank you Kathy Griswold for your persistence. There is something wrong with city priorities when the budget includes hundreds of thousands of dollars for consultants to re-do our land use rules to make them more developer friendly but there are no resources to provide a sidewalk and safe crosswalk for our children.
Andrew Thomas
Tue, Apr 27, 2010 : 7:47 a.m.
This isn't the only dangerous school crossing. It's been almost two years since MDOT arbitrarily (and unnecessarily) raised the speed limit on Washtenaw to 45 between Stadium and Austin, adjacent to Tappan. There's a school cross-walk right there, but anyone attempting to use it is taking their life in their hands. (As we all know, the de facto speed limit is always at least 5 mph above what is posted). AAPS, the Tappan PTSO and the PTO Council have all been working through the Safety Committee to address this situation, but progress has been agonizingly slow. MDOT finally admitted that they violated their own guidelines by posting a 45-MPH speed limit adjacent to a school (their excuse: they didn't realize a school was there, like Tappan just popped up out of the ground overnight, like a mushroom). As of this morning, the 45 speed limit is still in place, with no warning lights to signal a school crossing. Why has MDOT been so unresponsive? Will it take a tragic accident to get them off the dime?
StopThink
Tue, Apr 27, 2010 : 7:40 a.m.
She's been complaining to council about this for, what seems like, forever. It's about time they finally listen. Pretty sad that it takes so much begging and pleading to get the mayor to at least visit the site where kids are put at risk.
URmaster
Tue, Apr 27, 2010 : 7:33 a.m.
No stop sign? No cross walk? What is this? The stone age?
krc
Tue, Apr 27, 2010 : 7:16 a.m.
Something definitely needs to be done there. A stop sign would be a good start. However, the kids would still have to be extra cautious because until drivers get used to it, they will drive through it. Or, what about hiring an adult Crossing Guard?
TreeTown
Tue, Apr 27, 2010 : 6:49 a.m.
I had a close call in the early spring. A lady was late to pick up her kid saw me crossing the street; not only she did not slow her Acura down, she sped up and swerved around me. I saw her in the hallway afterwards, I had to fight hard to my urge to drag her to the police.