The morning rush and the stress that
coincides with it may be a feeling experienced by many residents of Lakewood
and Bellflower. From sitting in traffic on the way to work to dropping children
off at school for the day – the morning rush has become a part of everyday
routines. The constant honking, bumper to bumper traffic and trying to find a
parking space at school or work are just a few steps in the dance of everyone
getting to their respective destinations on time each morning. One of the most
stressful aspects of a morning routine can be attributed to heavy traffic at
and around the total of 16 elementary, middle and high schools in the Lakewood
and Bellflower area.
Recent Lakewood and current
Bellflower resident Clarissa Tashiro said,
“ The school
traffic in the morning in Bellflower and parts of Lakewood definitely make you
aware of a morning time schedule and driving routes to avoid certain streets in
the morning. The elementary schools near my home like Thomas Jefferson and Las
Flores start around eight-thirty in the morning so I’ll take side streets to
avoid the Bellflower Boulevard traffic on my way to school.”
The heavy school traffic near the
Intensive Learning Center in Lakewood mixed with mall traffic can also prove to
be a headache for drivers in that area in the morning. Lakewood resident, Laura
Angle lives on the corner between the Lakewood Center Mall and the Intensive
Learning Center elementary school two of her children currently attend.
“We are lucky to live within walking
distance to the Lakewood Mall and my children’s school, so that saves me some gas money,” said Angle. “I have to be so careful just walking my boys to school
because parents roll though the stop signs at the four-way intersection in
front of the school, as well as people trying to get to the mall. I’ve let my
children know that we live in a busy area and they need to look both ways
before walking across the intersection to get to school.”
Besides the issue of morning school
traffic in Lakewood and Bellflower is safety. With new teenage drivers
distracted by friends and phones, loud music or in car morning grooming
regimens, there is no surprise what the culprit is when it comes to fender benders
as well as pedestrian and car accidents. Lakewood resident Samantha Wall was
just fifteen years old when she witnessed her thirteen-year-old sister get
struck by a moving vehicle at Mayfair High School.
“My sister was walking a few feet in
front of me when another student driving into the student parking lot just
barreled right into her,” said Wall. “I could barely call out to her to ‘STOP!’
before the truck ran into her. Thankfully she was okay, but her leg got pretty
mangled from being broken so badly.”
Accidents like this had many parents
wanting the school and the city of Bellflower and Lakewood to step up security
and police measures on and near the 16 campuses in the area.
“There are parents cussing each
other out trying to get through traffic to drop their children off, students
riding bikes and skateboards in undesignated pedestrian areas, jaywalkers and
distracted teenagers getting into avoidable accidents,” said concerned parent
Novella Campos. “If more crossing guards were available at the busy major
intersections near the schools, I would feel safer about my daughter walking to
school. It would also bring more piece of mind if more campus security guards
and police officers would stay near the schools and in the parking lots in the
morning to dissuade students and drivers from maneuvers that put themselves and
others at risk.”
Mayfair, Bellflower and Saint
Joseph’s Middle and High School have since improved their security each year to
bring down the number of pedestrian and automobile accidents as well as
truancies.
Mayfair High School Assistant
Principal Marcia Burford said,
“We now have
security guards posted at all entrances of the three parking lots on campus in
the morning to help students across the pedestrian cross-ways in the lots. Our
security guards also help to slow down rushing drivers to avoid accidents as
they enter the parking lots to drop of students or park their vehicles,” said
Burford.
“As for the
Allington Street and Woodruff Avenue on front of the school, we have a security
guard on the corner who may give students who cross against the light,
citations to increase safety near our campus.”
With more security measures taken to
ensure the safe travel of students to their schools, the issue of the morning
traffic has still to be resolved. As for now, Lakewood and Bellflower residents
may have to revise their morning schedules in order to avoid the heavy school
traffic in their area.
Photo credit: Valerie Graham
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