(For a number of years, Councilman Joe McElroy has been working on the issue of speeding and distracted driving near schools. With the increased popularity of texting, this story is even more serious than three years ago, when first published in Positively Naperville.)
Jake had trouble finding his trumpet, Emma took waaay too long to dry her hair, and you have to be at work on time for a meeting with the Big Cheese.
You pile the kids into the minivan, figuring you can get them to school on time if you make that stoplight on Naper Blvd. But Mr. Cheese calls on your cell phone just as Jake clobbers Emma with his trumpet case, so you don’t notice that you’re driving 37 in a 20 mph school zone or that kid on her bike who loses her balance for a second and accidentally swerves in front of you and…
OK. That’s enough. Of course, hitting a kid is a nightmare, but driving while frazzled is a part of the Naperville experience. I’ve been there, done that, and I bet you have, too.
What to do? At Naper School, faculty stand in front of the building before school, helping kids move along. Sometimes concerned parents write down speeders’ license plates numbers, which they pass along to the Police Department.
The parents also created Suzy Safety, a straw doll who bravely stands in the middle of Eagle Street, doing what any good scarecrow does: discouraging inappropriate behavior.
Suzy has been nicked by vehicles several times, but she’s still smiling.
One Naper School parent said the traffic situation is improving because of better cooperation between school, kids, parents and the City.
“It takes all of us,” she said. “We all can do our part to help keep everybody safe.”
And when common sense does not prevail, Naperville’s finest are ready, willing and able to write tickets for using a cell phone while driving in a school zone.
The City is also conducting neighborhood traffic studies, which is good, because no two schools face the same traffic issues.
Perhaps the rest of us could make our lives less stressful, and our streets safer, by leaving home five minutes earlier; thus, providing a bit a breathing room.
In fact, there’s even a classic jazz song, Dave Brubeck’s “Take Five,” that we can use as a memory cue. Take us out, Dave.
RELATED POST: Wireless providers urge you to Take the Pledge to Never Text & Drive / It Can Wait!
