In the past few years, students have seen an increase in traffic congestion outside of Westview during arrival and departure times. 

According to Principal Ernest Remillard, the addition of new housing developments may be the cause of some of this congestion on the streets in front of Westview. New houses built for the Merge56 project are close enough that students living there attend Westview, but not close enough for students to walk to school, increasing the number of cars and adding to traffic. 

Darwin Villaruz, District 9 Rancho Peñasquitos Town Council member and Westview parent, said that he’s seen an increase in the number of student drivers and new drivers in the area due to an influx of high-schoolers getting their licenses after the pandemic. He said he believes that this, in combination with the expansion of Del Sur neighborhoods, is causing the excess traffic.

“Now, there are more teenagers driving instead of delaying getting their license,” Villaruz said. “You have student drivers and then you have parents still dropping off their kids. There’s also an increase in population in the area, plus the new construction, and the connection back to Park Village.”

Villaruz said that there’s a variety of possible solutions to make sure that safety is prioritized in the area such as adding more signage, speed bumps, or more lights to slow down drivers approaching the school zone, but it’s hard to determine the right solution before looking at the intricacies of the problem.

“It would have to be analyzed,” Villaruz said. “Are people speeding through red lights? Are kids crossing when it’s not allowed? Is it the drivers or people in general not paying attention to the longer time frame you need to cross? There’s a lot of factors.”

Remillard said that his main worry when it comes to more cars on the road is the number of students crossing Camino Del Sur at the crosswalk in front of the school after either parking on the hill across the street or walking from their houses. These large groups of students crossing the street can create a safety concern when they are not alert to their surroundings. 

“I have a great concern for their safety,” Remillard said. “I’ve talked to our school bus drivers who have shared that when they are trying to make the turn, kids are on their phones, they’re not paying attention, or they’re trying to beat the light because they’re running late for school. I know that our campus security, who are out there in the morning, are looking out for kids, but they’re also looking out for drivers coming into the parking lot.”

According to Villaruz, the process for getting something such as a traffic concern looked at starts with a community member alerting the Town Council, at which point they will then assess the situation and decide on the best next step.

“If we don’t hear anything from the community, we assume that nothing’s going on,” Villaruz said. “If someone is concerned and says, ‘This needs to be looked at,’ that would start a conversation of what’s the impact and what’s the issue. We would do an analysis and if it’s something we need to bring to the city council to look at, then we would contact them. We have our district representatives from the city of San Diego come to our meetings. We discuss what’s going to be fixed and what’s in the budget. We work with them to put together a solution that works for the community.”

For Remillard, the solution is increasing awareness and ensuring that all students and drivers know that the decisions they make have an impact. 

“It comes down to mindfulness,” Remillard said. “We all—staff, students, and parents—need to be a little bit more mindful about the actions we are taking.”