Whether on foot or by car, students arriving at Westview’s campus around the prime time of 8:30 a.m. are bound to experience crowds of their peers all trying to get to the same place at the same time. This influx of students crossing the streets and driving on the roads surrounding Westview poses a serious safety concern. 

There are large groups of students who cross Camino Del Sur in front of the school each morning, and while most obey the walk signal, some students who are not paying attention or are running late begin crossing the street with only a few seconds left on the walk signal or after the walk signal has ended. This means that they are not able to cross the entirety of the road before the walk signal stops and cars begin making U-turns. While it’s usually just a few students who initially run across the street when it is not their turn, these students encourage others to follow. This creates a safety hazard since cars making the U-turn are not expecting students to be crossing out of turn. 

Inefficient and unsafe pedestrian behaviors like these don’t seem to be getting any better. The Nexus is concerned with the safety of both pedestrians and drivers in the area, and would therefore like to propose a variety of solutions that would limit these dangers. 

The first solution, while more commonly used in elementary and middle schools, is creating a student crossing guard or safety patrol program at Westview. These students, driven to make a positive impact in their community, are an effective way to manage large groups of students crossing the street. Unlike an adult crossing guard, student safety patrols would not be an extra cost to the school. The job would entail standing on the street opposite Westview and directing students when the walk signal turns on. They would also try to prevent students from using the crosswalk when it is unsafe to do so. 

While implementing a safety patrol is a decision that could be made by Westview, there is also an additional solution that would need to be made by the city of San Diego but is still relatively low-cost. Restricting the crosswalk to only one side of the intersection would allow for the safety of students crossing the street while drivers make the U-turn on Camino Del Sur. Currently, students can travel on both sides of the intersection, the south side with the long line of cars waiting to U-turn, and the north side which tends to have fewer U-turning cars. By removing the crosswalk on the south side of the intersection, students will be able to more safely cross the street without worrying about the high density of cars both turning left onto Wolverine Way and making a U-turn on Camino Del Sur. While this is a city decision, and not one made by Westview, by separating those who are driving from those who are walking, the safety of all students will be prioritized. 

Seemingly the most straightforward solution is a simple PSA: a message to the student body and their families through homeroom announcements, Canvas, or other means of communication to remind us that with the high density of cars and walking students before and after school, it’s important to be mindful of our surroundings. Even just influencing a few more students to obey traffic laws or get to school earlier to avoid the crowds could make a huge impact. It takes just one tragic accident to affect the whole community, but when each student pitches in, we can prevent this before it happens. 

The Nexus welcomes the implementation of any of the above solutions, as well as other helpful measures, as a first step in making students’ travel to school safer.