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Brandon Gampel, 9, safely crosses the street with Myrtle Lambert. Natasha Fillion, The Gazette
Police, crossing guards ready for school year
increased presence as students head back
Anne Sutherland
The Gazette
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Brandon Gampel, 9, safely crosses the street with Myrtle Lambert. Natasha Fillion, The Gazette
With hundreds of thousands of youngsters heading back to class this week and next, the police will be out in full force making sure motorists respect posted speed limits and signage, in particular around schools.
And it’s back to work for the crossing guards who work busy intersections keeping children safe from traffic.
The crossing guards will be meeting with the local police this week to go over their rules of comportment and to update their skills, said Station 5 traffic officer François Lachapelle.
“All crossing guards have a background check, training sessions and an exam,” he said. “We also evaluate them over the year and make recommendations in the spring as to who is hired for the next year.”
Not every corner near a school gets a crossing guard.
The criteria are: the number of children who cross there, the speed limit on the street, whether the area is strictly residential or a mix of residential and commercial, the visibility of the intersection from afar and the percentage of cars that turn at that intersection.
During the back-to-school period, Lachapelle said, police will be watching for people who roll through stops or ignore stop signs altogether. They will also be setting up speed traps.
“Let’s just say our tolerance will be less during back to school,” the officer said. “We’re not handing out tickets to make any quota, we’re trying to save lives and prevent accidents.”
Myrtle Lambert works as a crossing guard at the corner of Hyman Blvd. and Spring Garden Rd. in Dollard des Ormeaux.
She’s been at the same corner for 31 years and has been hit by a car once, when a driver figured he could go around her and whacked her arm with his side-view mirror.
“Mostly the motorists are respectful, everyone knows me by now,” Lambert said.“When people go through the stop, I shout at them, but I’ve never reported anyone.”
Lambert shepherds between 75 and 80 kids through the busy intersection every day.
Speeders and people who run stop signs are not the only ones police will be watching. Parents who pick up and drive their kids to school can be more of a problem, Lachapelle said.
“I’ve seen parents who park right over a school crossing grid, never thinking about anyone else,” he said.
Respect the entry and exit areas for school buses around the school, reduce your speed and don’t double park when you pick up your kids. Excited children often dart out between parked cars and that can be disastrous.
And remember, when a school bus has its flashing lights on and the stop sign out, under no circumstances can you pass the bus in either direction.
That’s a fine of $274 and nine demerit points, Lachapelle pointed out.
The police will be upping patrols in all sectors for several weeks to safeguard the children.
In St. Laurent, there are 23,000 elementary, high school and CEGEP students, Constable Pierre Fauchier said.
“There’s also a lot of road work and sidewalk repairs which could be a problem for the school corridors,” Fauchier said, highlighting the major work being done on Marcel Laurin Blvd.
Police in St. Laurent will be launching radar and other traffic-calming means to check speeds, in particular on Côte Vertu Blvd. starting today, Fauchier said.