“Car just crashed into Garrison Elementary School…the city needs to take immediate action to fix the S Street speedway”

Thanks to a parent, Andrew, for sending:

“Around 8:30 am this morning, while scores of children were walking into school, a car jumped the curb and crashed into the side of Garrison Elementary on S Street between 12th and 13th. (The driver apparently had a seizure and was taken away by ambulance.)

Nobody was injured, and there doesn’t appear to be any structural damage to the newly-renovated school, but the incident highlighted how risky S Street is and why the city needs to take fast action to protect kids going to and from school. (Parents have taken to calling it the S Street speedway.)

Currently there are no speed bumps and no flashing lights for the school zone, and there is a blind turn at 12th and S without a light or safety guard in front of TCB coffee where drivers routinely blow through without looking. (Just a couple weeks ago, a cyclist was hit during the same school arrival time at that intersection by a distracted driver making a turn.)

Worse, the lights for S Street on both ends of the school – 13th and 11th – have blink-and-you-miss-it cycles of 13 and 17 seconds respectively, so drivers engage in a NASCAR race past the school to try to make the light.

Parents are concerned and upset, and kids are at risk, and the city needs to take immediate action to fix the S Street speedway before someone is hurt or killed.”