Parents demand crossing guard at dangerous intersection
By: Beth Winegarner
Examiner Staff Writer
January 20, 2009
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| Parents are demanding a crossing guard at Prague Street and South Hill Boulevard in Visitacion Valley after a kindergartener was hit by a car in the intersection. (Cindy Chew/The Examiner) |
SAN FRANCISCO — Parents at an Excelsior district elementary school are renewing pleas for a crossing guard at an intersection where a kindergartener was recently hit by a car.
On Jan. 12, a Guadalupe Elementary School student was struck by a car while in the crosswalk, suffering minor injuries, according to Terri Factora, whose child attends the school.
“We’re very lucky the student only had minor injuries, because we’re living on borrowed time at that crosswalk,” Factora said. “There are near misses all the time.”
Three years ago, a crossing guard was stationed at Prague Street and South Hill Boulevard, two blocks from Guadalupe Elementary and one block from busy Geneva Avenue, but without explanation, he stopped monitoring the intersection.
Since then, parents have petitioned the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, which trains and supplies The City’s crossing guards, to bring someone back.
In response to last week’s incident, parents said they’ll attend a meeting at the Ingleside Police Station tonight and ask for an officer to man the intersection until a guard returns.
Local neighborhood group Outer Mission Residential Association has also petitioned for a crossing guard. In response, police operated multiple stings at the intersection in October and cited more than 50 drivers for violating pedestrians’ right of way in the crosswalk, according to Capt. Denis O’Leary. Another pedestrian sting last week yielded 10 more citations and two impounded cars, he said.
The transit agency provides 135 crossing guards at 85 elementary and middle schools throughout San Francisco. The majority — 76 percent — work near public schools, according to an annual report on youth safety from the Public Defender’s Office.
A crossing guard is provided at Prague Street and Geneva Avenue, where there is a four-way traffic light and pedestrian signals.
Meanwhile, the crosswalk at South Hill is at a four-way intersection with stop signs on just two sides, according to Factora. “It doesn’t make any sense,” she said.
Transit agency officials have told parents they will study traffic patterns and consider their request, according to Factora. Officials could not be reached for comment Monday.
Parents also plan to speak out at a Feb. 3 transit agency meeting, according to Factora.
