by Mary Rice

Created on: March 17, 2010   Last Updated: February 20, 2011

Do this, don't do that, blah blah blah. I could write this article like that, but why? I'd rather hold up a mirror of behaviors and let you the reader decide. I've been a middle school crossing guard for the past three years, so I've seen how people drive in school zones, both the good and the bad. At work I wear a stop sign red full length coat with a safety vest over it and topped by a pink ball cap. I'm about being seen, not making a fashion statement. Now to be fair, even I do some of what I'm going to share with you, though rarely. 

The worst I've seen thus far is a woman, in the morning, who had just a moments inattention and ran over a students foot while the student was in the crosswalk. The driver was very remorseful, and thankfully the students foot was only bruised, however, it shouldn't have happened. Had the woman been aware of her surroundings and doing closer to the speed limit, she could have stopped well before the crosswalk. For the record, I wasn't working crossing that morning, but the sound of the screams of that student still echo in my mind.

I've seen drivers blow past me while I'm escorting students across the crosswalk like they didn't see me. Not all of them are on their cell phones either. Some apparently are so intent on getting where they are going that they see nothing but the road in front of them. They are the reason I do my best to keep the students behind me as I advance into the street. Then there are those that are so impatient that they pull around the lane of stopped cars and blow through the crosswalk. Yeah, really. That driver almost hit me, flag, coat and all. Just the other morning I watched a woman speed through the school zone, oblivious to anything save putting on her make-up.

I have also seen though, cars that do the speed limit, including my phone company! I have seen drivers that are aware enough of the surroundings to stop when they see students on the corner, even before I step into the road. These are usually the same drivers that will give the go to parents attempting to exit the school. I've had one person, who after witnessing someone blow through the crosswalk, jotted the license plate number and called it into the school for me to report. 

To be fair, it's not always the drivers though. Middle school students are in their own world and like many kids in that age range, believe they are invincible. They also aren't very patent, so many will go down to the other corner and dart across the road

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