ByMichelle HackneyContributor
Elementary school children and speeding college students don’tmix, local residents and school officials say.
The intersection in front of Hardy Elementary School, located at5420 Montezuma Road, is a 25 mph school zone. Drivers ignore this lawdaily as they dash by the campus at speeds of up to 45 mph.
The speeders, local residents say, are mostly San Diego Statestudents, and elementary school officials are worried for theirstudents’ safety.
Parents say that nothing is being done about the matter, althoughspokespeople from Hardy and the surrounding area are fighting to getthe drivers stopped.
Ray Fletcher, parent and member of the PTA at Hardy Elementary,said that a community council holds meetings regularly with the SanDiego Police Department, but he feels as if nothing is getting done.
“We are continually told not to worry, that things are gettinglooked into, but we’re just left wondering,” Fletcher said. “Atraffic study is being done to perhaps offer phased lights to helpwith the traffic going into SDSU, but right now we don’t know wherewe stand.”
Mark Marshall, principal at Hardy Elementary, said the problem hasbecome so severe that they have turned to the school board for help.They are still coming up short of a solution, he said.
“We approached the school board four years ago and it was decidedthat desperate measures had to be taken in order to keep our studentssafe,” Marshall said. “We voted five-to-none on a package that was toinclude officers with radars at the intersection and radar trucksthat monitor the speed and number of cars passing by.
“Those officers are long gone.”
The school board and parents have also launched a campaign forclasses at Hardy to begin at 7:45 a.m. so that students might avoidheavier traffic after 8 a.m.
Last week, a car belonging to a daughter of a Hardy Elementaryteacher was hit as she approached oncoming traffic from 54th Street.The car was totaled and the driver suffered injuries.
Perry Grossman, motor sergeant at the San Diego Mid-City TrafficDivision, said that complaints about speed violations are usuallycared for as they are brought in. In this case, he wasn’t aware ofany demand for police interference around Hardy Elementary.
“We need someone to make a request before we can work on asituation such as this one,” Grossman said. “Understand that thereare only 33 to 34 officers for several million people in the area andthey are spread out accordingly.”
Grossman did not comment on the lack of the officers provided forin the school board package.
Residents in the community are fearful of what message this sendsto children in the area.
“For officers to say that they are too busy to get involved insomething that could make life safer for the community is reallyscary to some of us who live in the area, raising little childrenhere,” Lisa Kaftner, a local resident, said.
“I know what it’s like to have a demanding schedule, but theattitude that these officers and college students are taking is thesame in showing the kids that it’s OK to break the law.”
Hardy Elementary School officials and the school board councilhope to begin another study on the intersection soon.
“With the amount of help we’re getting now, I can only hope thatmore action is taken in the future,” Marshall said. “I just wish fora safer intersection and a greater degree of police visibility in thearea so that not only the children, but the community, feel safe.”
