Some drivers apparently are ignoring adult crossing guards at the crosswalk (pictured) at Harrison Elementary School on Husky Trail in Warsaw. Photo by David Slone, Times-Union.

By David Slone
Times-Union

WARSAW — A video played at the Warsaw Traffic Commission meeting on Wednesday, March 5, showed a minivan driving on Husky Trail ignoring an adult crossing guard holding up a stop sign at the crosswalk to Harrison Elementary School.

Warsaw Police Department Capt. Joel Beam told the commission, “We received a complaint from Harrison Elementary in reference to cars not paying attention to the adults trying to stop traffic to get kids safely taken across.”

The adults are wearing brightly colored vests, along with holding up the hand-held stop sign, but are still being ignored by drivers. The speed limit through there on Husky Trail is 25 mph, Traffic Administrator Lance Grubbs commented.

Beam said the school provided big orange cones not to slow down the traffic but to “narrow it down a little bit to help provide more awareness to the situation that kids are crossing and there might be kids in the crosswalk.”

Gidieon Cook, then just an 8-year-old second-grader, was killed at the crosswalk on June 10, 2019, after being hit by a vehicle. Since then, Grubbs said, there have been concerns about the safety there. Along with the orange cones out, Beam said they also made sure the flashing speed limit sign was reset to be more accurate as to the times when the children are walking to and from school. The police department also increased its patrol out there, and a squad car has been parking out there to help with kids crossing the street.

“It’s not a permanent fix. People just need to pay attention when they’re driving,” Beam stated. The incident involving the minivan ignoring the adult crossing guard was not a unique situation. Unfortunately, police were not able to identify the driver of the minivan in the video.

Nick Hauck, Village at Winona managing director, said at Jefferson Elementary they have a battery-powered portable dolly with a red-and-blue light on it that they put in the four-way stop intersection every single school day when kids will be crossing the road. There’s also a crossing guard who walks kids across the street.

Warsaw Community Schools Transportation Director Mark Fick said the dolly is stored at the school, and Harrison has one, too. Grubbs asked if Harrison ever uses the dolly.

“I think the difference is that Jefferson’s is tied to a stop sign right there at the crosswalk, it highlights that. We could bring that out there to highlight more, but it’s not an actual stop that is going to stop traffic. That’s the difference there — that there is an actual stop at Jefferson to support that,” said Tracy Horrell, WCS assistant superintendent of secondary education.

Grubbs said the flashing red-and-blue lighted dolly could serve as a warning to motorists out on Husky Trail.

City engineer Aaron Ott said there’s several things that could be tried to bring motorists’ attention to the school crosswalk, but they’d have different cost tiers.

Fick said the incident with the minivan ignoring the adult crossing guard happened after Husky Trail opened back up after construction work had closed it for a time.

Council President Jack Wilhite asked, for clarification purposes, “When that person goes out with a sign, people should stop?”

Beam said yes. “Just like a police officer directing traffic.”

Warsaw Public Works and Street Superintendent Dustin Dillon reminded the public that with the weather changing and spring coming, more people are going to be outside and active. Drivers need to be more vigilant in school zones about walking traffic.

Wilhite said the crosswalk and traffic at Harrison is something they want to keep their eye on. Hauck brought up the signs with a flashing yellow light on them that Grace College has on Wooster Road and Kings Highway. The signs say, “Cross traffic must stop when pedestrians are in crosswalk.” He suggested that could be an option, too, at Harrison Elementary.

Having just returned from Florida, Wilhite said their heavily-traveled crosswalks on A1A have the diamond sign that says traffic must stop when people are in the crosswalk. They also have a little bar of flashing lights that — when people want to cross a street and push a button — flash for a certain amount of time. That might be something the city may want to look at later if the situation can’t get under control, Wilhite said.

WPD Capt. Brad Kellar said a beach town in Florida has the lights that flash like Warsaw does, but they also have reflectors for the center line on the ground that flash yellow as well for a short period of time. He said they’re extremely eye-catching, but he didn’t know the cost for them. The reflectors on the ground are activated by a button the pedestrian pushes when they want to use the crosswalk.

After some further discussion, Grubbs asked, “Is there a consensus then that we look into something like that, but in the meantime have a police presence out there as much as we can?”

Kellar said that’s going to continue on WPD’s part. “As much as we can, we intend to have officers in that area, but I’ll say that to you today and then there will be an accident and they can’t be there today. So that’s the difficulty with that,” he said.

Fick said he didn’t think there were any more precautionary measures that they could take.

“So the biggest thing is the safety and we’ll take a look at that as we’re going along here and looking into different options as far as manufactured stuff out there,” Grubbs summarized in concluding that discussion.