I support Councilmember Baker's proposal to "get the conversation started" regarding the safety of children walking and biking to school. To enrich this topic, I would like to highlight five documented collisions in the past seven weeks (between 8/14 and 9/19) in which a minor child (ages 13 to 17) incurred a collision with a motor vehicle in Lakewood while walking or biking during typical school commute times. I believe the collaboration Councilmember Baker proposed between the Lakewood Police Department and Lakewood City Schools should also include the Planning and Development Department with a stated intent to facilitate plans to reduce vehicle Level Of Service (LOS) at intersections of interest. The average vehicle weight in these collisions was 3,800 lbs and it seems logical to me that safety improvements for the protection of 100 lbs children from these devices would involve additional concrete. Further, the collaboration with Lakewood Police should quantify and regularly report these types of collisions in the Lakewood City School’s newsletter. I hope this SRTS-type conversation does not end with the addition of more crossing guards because it is my belief that even one child vs. motor vehicle collision is too many and this school year has only just begun.
For reference and in the interest of privacy, I have emailed the police report numbers to Councilmember Baker and the Council Clerk in a private communication.
I support Councilmember Baker's proposal to "get the conversation started" regarding the safety of children walking and biking to school. To enrich this topic, I would like to highlight five documented collisions in the past seven weeks (between 8/14 and 9/19) in which a minor child (ages 13 to 17) incurred a collision with a motor vehicle in Lakewood while walking or biking during typical school commute times. I believe the collaboration Councilmember Baker proposed between the Lakewood Police Department and Lakewood City Schools should also include the Planning and Development Department with a stated intent to facilitate plans to reduce vehicle Level Of Service (LOS) at intersections of interest. The average vehicle weight in these collisions was 3,800 lbs and it seems logical to me that safety improvements for the protection of 100 lbs children from these devices would involve additional concrete. Further, the collaboration with Lakewood Police should quantify and regularly report these types of collisions in the Lakewood City School’s newsletter. I hope this SRTS-type conversation does not end with the addition of more crossing guards because it is my belief that even one child vs. motor vehicle collision is too many and this school year has only just begun.
For reference and in the interest of privacy, I have emailed the police report numbers to Councilmember Baker and the Council Clerk in a private communication.