Drivers urged to slow down near school zones

RICHMOND, Va. (WWBT) - Most kids are back in school, which means you’ve probably started to see more school buses on the road. Transportation officials say that they continue to see drivers who are speeding through school zones and not stopping when a school bus is dropping off or picking up kids.

People who live near school zones are noticing it too. Genesis Chapman has been living near Linwood Holton Elementary School for about 15 years. He says he used to walk his daughter to school and remembers seeing the same thing every morning.

“Multiple cars that were speeding, driving fast, ignoring the stopping guard even when little kids were crossing,” Chapman said.

Even though he’s not walking his daughter to school anymore, he says he still sees dangerous drivers on a regular basis.

“We have accidents. Our neighbors moved here from Brooklyn and within a few months they had someone get run off the road into their yard,” Chapman stated.

Transportation officials in Richmond say the start of the school year is an especially chaotic time when it comes to seeing bad drivers on the roads.

“You may have new building administrators at your school who have changed the process. There could be infrastructure changes at the school, and then it’s also important to consider that you have an entire kindergarten class who is not accustomed to the way things kind of ran before,” explained Tara FitzPatrick, who serves as the Richmond Safe Routes to School coordinator.

Officials are trying to fix the problem by adding new safety measures like the new traffic beacon that was installed at Linwood Holton Elementary School. Those officials say that the biggest thing to know is that if you don’t stop, you’re breaking the law.

“It is state law that they stop when this pedestrian highway beacon is triggered in addition to stopping because there are pedestrians in or approaching the crosswalk in addition to stopping because the crossing guard is telling them to cross,” FitzPatrick said.

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