Towamencin police report on Walton Farm crosswalk
No speeding found during March, chief says
TOWAMENCIN » The numbers are in and might not be as bad as parents suspect.
Towamencin Police Chief Tim Troxel reported Wednesday on a recent traffic study of the crosswalk near Walton Farm Elementary School, and steps the township could take to make it safer.
“We conducted a week’s worth of analysis, from March 21st through March 25th, Monday through Friday. Specifically, they collected (data) from 8 to 9 a.m. and 2 to 3 p.m., eastbound and westbound,” Troxel said.
“You always have a few outliers, but when you’re looking at the overall volume, it doesn’t indicate a speed issue, per se, during those school hours,” he said.
In February a resident voiced a concern during a board meeting about traffic on Allentown Road, specifically at Walton Farm just east of Forty Foot Road, where a large group of parents and students have been walking to school from a nearby neighborhood, but encounter trouble with drivers slowing or stopping at the crosswalk leading up to the school. Staff directed police and the traffic engineer to investigate, another resident said in April she still saw the same problems at the crossing, and Troxel reported Wednesday night on his department’s findings so far.
“The average speeds in the morning, eastbound, out of 1,353 vehicles that were timed, the average speed was 15.44 miles per hour,” he said.
In the same eastbound direction during the afternoon hour measured, a total of 1,077 cars were timed over the week at an average speed of 17.3 miles per hour. Heading westbound, police and the traffic engineer counted less volume: a total of 705 vehicles averaging 16.7 miles per hour during the morning window, and 978 vehicles averaging 16.43 miles per hour during the afternoon.
“There isn’t really an indication that we have a speed problem. Obviously you still have those outliers, and that’s any time, any road, any speed limit, you’re always going to have those cars that are speeding,” he said.
Those trying to cross should be aware that under the state’s vehicle code, Troxel told the board, signage says drivers must yield to pedestrians while in a crosswalk, but not before.
“The problem is, a lot of people think ‘When I’m standing on the side of the road, on the curb or sidewalk, waiting to cross, and a car sees me, they have to stop.’ They don’t. That’s not the way the law is written, that’s not what is required,” he said.
“Additionally, some of the complaints were that the students were then starting to, on their own, flag down cars, wave at them, yell at them to stop. That actually is illegal too, whether the students or the parents are doing it,” unless they’re a person trained and certified in directing traffic and endorsed by police or the school district, he said.
Police and the engineer are working on developing speeding reduction strategies they can implement, and have already begun deploying a sign warning of the crossing — and found, Troxel said, that while the school zone is required by law because of the proximity to the school, a crossing guard to staff that crossing is not required.
“One resolution is that you put a crossing guard there, and you control traffic during the school crossings.
The other resolution is that you don’t allow children to cross there, and you bus them to school. So the school district’s resolution was, that we are going to bus these kids to school,” he said.
“The entire neighborhood, that’s decided on their own that they’re going to begin walking to school here, there’s never been a crossing guard there because it’s a dangerous road, and they were bused. That was the school district’s choice,” he said.
State laws let school districts require any student within 1.5 miles of a school walk, but the district can also choose to provide bus transportation, in this case “to make sure they can safely get across Allentown Road.”
“They decided that, during the nice weather, it was a cool thing to do, and they wanted to keep doing it. Unfortunately, they kind of created their own problem that they’re now looking for a solution for. I know they’re not going to like to hear that, but the solution is, put your kids back on the bus,” he said.
If that crossing guard is added by the district, the chief continued, the district could then have the right to end the bus route, but doing so could also have consequences.
“Guess what, you’re now a walker, all school year long. Good weather, bad weather, rain, snow, sleet, that whole neighborhood’s gonna be walking to school, because you’re not going to pay for a guard and to continue the bus service,” Troxel said.
Police and the engineer are looking into whether the location of the crosswalk can be moved, signage can be added, or an island can be built in the center of the roadway to provide a safe place for walkers to stop halfway instead of trying to cross the entire road at once.
“I certainly wouldn’t want to try to cross it myself most times. But they do have the option, that they have elected to disregard at this point, of putting their children back on the bus. And for now, that’s the most viable way, if there is a concern for the safety of the children,” he said.
Towamencin’s supervisors next meet at 7 p.m. on May 25 at Walton Farm Elementary School, 1610 Allentown Road. For more information or meeting agendas and materials visit www. Towamencin.org.