SALT LAKE CITY — SALT LAKE CITY — This school year will be Marcia Archer’s first as a crossing guard at Washington Elementary.
“When they get out of school, they've been in school for seven hours, and so they get impulsive, and they don't think, 'Oh, I got to stop, I've got to look,'" she said. "They're small, and there's cars that just aren't going to see these little, small kids.”
During the last legislative session, Utah state Rep. Robert Spendlove sponsored a bill that was passed into law, raising the fine for speeding in a school zone from $50 to $250 and for running a school bus stop sign from $250 to $1,000.
“When those school bus stop signs are flashing, it means that right now, kids are in danger, because kids are getting off a school bus, they're walking to school, they're on the streets, and we want to make sure that people are thinking about that, thinking about kids' safety, and being a lot more careful," said Spendlove. "This is essentially just updating those for inflation, but also to send the message that we need to be watching out for kids.”
It’s important to remember there are different laws for school zone crosswalks. In a standard crosswalk with parallel lines, you can drive through it once everyone has crossed halfway through the road. In a school zone crosswalk with zebra lines, you have to wait until all pedestrians have finished crossing from one side to the other.
“When we're going through a construction zone, we slow down because we see a sign saying fines will be double in a construction zone, so this is just saying when we've got kids that are out on the street, that are walking across the street, that are in danger," said Spendlove. "We want to make sure that people are really thinking about that.”
Neighbors like John Powers are hoping the higher penalties will make drivers slow down and look out for kids.
“One kid dying should probably make an impact on community, and if that's the case, then I think people should be thinking about it," he said.
