There’s a common saying about small towns that states, “Blink and you’ll miss it.” However, that doesn’t mean that vehicle operators should speed through a small town and be from one side to the other in the time it takes your eyes to close and open again.
Apparently, some folks cruising around Bonduel didn’t get the memo. That’s why some careless driver hit a young child in the crosswalk on County Road BE. That’s why a dump truck narrowly missed turning two more children into street pizza. That’s why sheriff’s deputies clocked one driver going 47 miles per hour near the crosswalk, more than 20 miles over the regularly posted speed limit and more than 30 miles over the limit when children are present.
Thankfully, no one has died crossing the road in that spot, but it shouldn’t take near-misses and actual collisions for people to realize that speeding past schools is a stupid thing. It’s prompted action from school officials, who have asked the Shawano County Sheriff’s Department to do extra patrols and are looking at finding volunteers to be crossing guards, but there should be less need for those who obey the laws to step up and do something and more need for the leadfoots who don’t pay attention to the speedometers to pay better attention to the vehicles they’re operating.
While some might excuse an incident on a basic crosswalk, this one has flashing lights that come on when a pedestrian is ready to step off the sidewalk and into the road. Flashing lights were deemed a necessity in Shawano for the Mountain Bay Trail where it crosses at Green Bay Street and again at Main Street, not to mention the recent addition of lights at County Road B where it intersects Lincoln Street by Shawano Community High School. If the flashing lights couldn’t prevent the collision in Bonduel, does this mean Shawano pedestrians are taking their lives into their hands? Sure looks like it.
What will it take to get people to slow down? The crossing guards are a good idea, although if drivers ignore flashing yellow lights, it’s questionable if an adult in a yellow neon vest with a red stop sign will better catch their attention. It’ll certainly reduce the risk, but it won’t eliminate it.
We might need to take a cue from our friends in the railroad industry and consider some flashing red lights, not yellow, combined with gates going down. They certainly work when it comes to stopping traffic when trains are going by, as trying to mow down a crossing train is a one-way ticket to suicide. While there’s not a 100% guarantee drivers will pay attention to the gates, they’ll certainly do some spectacular damage to the vehicle.
The suggestion made by some about catching the license plates and reporting the incidents to law enforcement is a good one, too, but it will be dependent on deputies being able to track down the vehicles, obtain proof about who was driving the vehicle at the time, and getting the courts to prosecute. Courts are still playing catch-up since the coronavirus pandemic, so it might be months before justice is served, especially if someone is struck, so what do we do as an alternative?
Superintendent Joe Dawidziak has a good idea about educating students about proper things to do at a crosswalk as a pedestrian. Unfortunately, the students involved in the two incidents did everything right. It’s the adults who need a refresher course, and finding a way to get them to come out for it would not be an easy task.
In the end, it all comes down to common sense. As drivers, we’re always responsible for watching the road and making sure we drive at a safe speed. It shouldn’t take flashing lights or deputies on patrol or barriers to make us realize that we should slow our roll when we approach schools. Sadly, there are too many people paying too little attention.
It’ll be the children who pay the price.
Lee Pulaski is the city editor for NEW Media. Readers can contact him at lpulaski@newmedia-wi.com.
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