Drivers behaving badly

Almost every school day Gillian Schaefer Percy fears for her daughter's life.

The pair bike about four kilometres to Muriel Martin Elementary whenever the weather's fine, said Schaefer Percy, a St. Albert resident. Despite being cautious at intersections and being trussed up like a neon Christmas tree, she said there have been many near accidents.

"There's at least one close call per day," said the mother of two – although there had been none in the last two, she added, brightly.

"See how excited I am about the last two days?" she said, laughing.

Schaefer Percy was one of the many parents who came to Wild Rose Elementary last Thursday for an open house on the Safe Journeys to School initiative.

The project is meant to improve traffic safety at all St. Albert school sites. Open houses started earlier this summer, and 15 more are scheduled later this month.

About 350 people have replied to the project's online survey so far, said project chair and city councillor Tim Osborne.

"We're hearing a lot about intersections that are difficult for students to cross," he said, as well as high traffic volumes during drop-off times," he said. "Lots of the schools just weren't built to manage that volume of traffic."

Crosswalk safety

Karen Kerr said she's seen a lot of drivers slam on the brakes to avoid students at one crosswalk near Wild Rose school.

"We have a crosswalk that comes out from a forested area," she said, which makes it tough to see pedestrians.

That's compounded by the fact that people park illegally right next to the crosswalk despite the no-parking signs.

"You can't see the kids, and they have to actually come out in the crosswalk in order to see if any cars are coming," she said.

Leila Neri-Leebody's concerns dealt with people using her street as a turnabout when dropping off kids.

"They don't pay attention to the fact that it's also somebody's neighbourhood," she said, or to what's in front of them. One parent ran over and killed her pet cat.

Schaefer Percy said most of her problems related to inattentive drivers, some of whom were texting. Sometimes she has to stop and holler so they don't run her over. Other times, they try to skim her rear tire to finish their left turn faster – a move that puts them on a direct course for her daughter, who follows behind her. She's had to play crossing guard on more than one occasion as a result.

Others don't seem to understand the rules of the road, such as stopping at a crosswalk if other cars are stopped.

Schaefer Percy recalls how she watched in horror as, after one car stopped at a marked crosswalk to let her daughter cross the street, a second car sped up to pass it. When her daughter paused just before stepping past the first car, the second one slammed on the brakes.

"That one stopped my heart for a little while," she recalled.

The open houses also ask parents to share suggestions on how to fix the safety problems they see.

Parent Rachel Gannon said one quick fix for Wild Rose would be to extend the school zone farther so that drivers no longer try to accelerate up the nearby hill.

Schaefer Percy suggested pedestrian-activated traffic lights and more zebra-stripe crosswalk, as well as some public education about basic rules such as yielding to pedestrians.

She also suggested contests to promote walking and biking to school.

"If there were less cars on the road, I can only imagine that it would be safer," she said.

Engineering staffers will look at the concerns raised at the open houses and table a report by December, Osborne said. The goal is to have a custom safety improvement plan for each school.

Osborne encouraged residents to either take the project's online survey or to attend an open house in their area to share their experiences.

"We need to know about what's happening at each school," he said.

Schaefer Percy said she gets that close calls will happen on the way to school, but wishes they didn't happen so often.

"Less than one a month would make me feel good," she said.