Tuesday, March 6, 2007
No parents wait to pick up their children, no crossing guards carry stop signs and few “children” cross the street who aren’t old enough to purchase tobacco. But a sign at the intersection of 15th Street and Engel Road still shows a mother and daughter holding hands and crossing the road, and the speed limit sign nearby proclaims “School” across the top in yellow.
Soon, though, the school zone signs will likely change to reflect their campus location.
The city traffic safety commission recommended Monday night to change the “School” speed limit sign to say “pedestrian crossing” and to change the intersection sign to show a single person crossing the road.
Robin Smith, Lawrence resident, brought the issue before the commission. He said the signs were out of place because the city’s other school zones protected elementary-age children, not college students.
“I don’t think the KU students are really children needing their own special little crossing up there,” he said.
Smith said he frequently drove by the signs while he took his grandchildren to school, and the “school zone” designation irritated him.
“If a school zone is a school zone, mark it,” Smith said.
Changing the sign to a “pedestrian crossing” isn’t meant to downplay the danger of the intersection. Smith said he knew the intersection was dangerous, but didn’t want people to be looking for children walking across the street when there wouldn’t be any.
“Don’t diminish the existing school zones,” David Woosley, city transportation and traffic engineer, said the school zone signs appeared in 2000 when the city and the University joined to make the 15th and Engel intersection safer. He said several cars had crashed into pedestrians and bicyclists at that corner in the past.
pullquote
I don’t think the KU students are really children needing their own special little crossing up there.
-Robin Smith
Lea Baker, Merriam senior, lives in Hashinger Hall and goes through the intersection often, in her car and on foot. She said she thought the intersection was unsafe.
“I’ve been walking across the street and seriously had somebody’s car stop, like, six inches from me,” Baker said.
She said she thought motorists’ speed along 15th Street didn’t matter as long as they kept control over their vehicles.
The sign changes on 15th Street will now go to the city commission for approval.
Kansan staff writer Matt Erickson can be contacted at merickson@kansan.com.
— Edited by Sharla Shivers
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