At Spring Valley, there has been an increase in campus police by catching those who are speeding in the school zone. 

Since the start of the school year campus police have been patrolling the school zone in the mornings and after school to help the safety of students. According to the campus police there have been over 210 tickets given out since August 8th of this year, mostly given to parents.

“We try to be as visible as possible during those times,” Campus Police Officer Terry McAninch said. “The goal is to keep the kids safe and avoid accidents. So we try to be out there Monday through Friday. If we aren’t there it’s because other things are happening, so we can’t be out there.”

It is important that parents recognize the zone in order to prevent accidents. In doing so, this will help students crossing the street on the crosswalk near the school. Back in 2019, to add safety measures, there was a file appointed to have crosswalk buttons put in place to prevent near misses or potential hits. As of this year, there was an acceptance of the safety precaution. 

“Tons of emails, tons of meetings with the county and the county commissioners, they just approved of push button flashers so that should help,” Officer McAninch said.

Campus Police also suggest students to group together when walking across the street in order to get more attention. When parents or people driving by see a large group, they will be more likely to slow down and stop. Also they suggest looking both ways before crossing the street instead of just assuming everyone will stop. This will prevent any possible hits or near hits.

“Students don’t look before they cross, they just step out so when one person gets to be about half way and these cars want to go another person steps off the sidewalk and goes rather than grouping up and going across as a group,” Campus Police Officer Jason Martin said. “So that’s an education process that needs to take place at home or school.”