Payson Roundup

patrandall (Pat Randall) says…

I could not believe the reasons given for not putting in a crosswalk with some kind of light for the kids to cross Longhorn at Forest St. to go to school.
1. It only served one subdivision
2. It would cause a traffic jam and maybe a car wreck if someone pushed the button to activate the stop light.
3. There is a crosswalk at McLane and Longhorn.
4. High schools aren't required to have crosswalks.
5. When the kids get out of school is high traffic time.

Well duh. Yes it high traffic time, the parents are picking up thier kids from the middle school so they won't get run over on Longhorn.

A child's life should not be played with by politicians.

Hello out there council and Dept. Heads.
There is also a middle school near the high school. It is a long way for the kids to walk from Forest Park west to McLane cross the street and walk back east up to Forest to get to the middle school.

Get off your rear and drive around. There are more kids living north of Longhorn than just in Forest Park.
After you do that get a band instrument, start at Forest and Longhorn go west to McLane cross Longhorn and then walk back east to Forest and south to the middle school.

patrandall (Pat Randall) says…

No response? Haven't any of you been by the high school and middle school?
Tim Fruth is assissant principal or something at the high school and he jaywalks every day or at least he did a few yeasr ago. Why isn't someone out there handing out citations for jaywalking?

patrandall (Pat Randall) says…

Glad to see Pete Aleshire wrote an article on the school crossing after the council meeting. Third edition of the paper since it happened.

fred_franz (frederick franz) says…

I need to disagree with you on this one Pat. Our roads were built for vehicular traffic. Every time we put up lights, we disrupt vehicular movement. A solution would be to put up a pedestrian over-crossing. I've seen that used when I lived in California, and it works very well.
-Fred

patrandall (Pat Randall) says…

Fred,
Tempe built an over crossing at the university many years ago and the only people that used it were on skate boards with jay walkers underneath on the street blocking traffic.
If our roads were built for vehicular traffic, why do we give up space for the bicycles?
They don't have to buy license plates, have a drivers license or pay any tax.

fred_franz (frederick franz) says…

Sorry Ruby, the issue of excess speed never came up. That seems to be no problem. The issue is drivers being stopped where there is no logical reason. As you say, there are no sidewalks, so why build a crosswalk of painted lines when the kids would still be walking on the street on either side of the crosswalk?
-Fred

Ruby_Finney (Ruby Finney) says…

Fred,

Unless things have changed recently, let me explain: I lived on Longhorn for 9 years about 2 blocks from the high school. I can vouch for the fact that there is a speeding problem by the schools and can also vouch for the fact that the biggest effort at speed control while I lived there was to park the speed monitor trailer by the high school occasionally to remind you how fast you were going. I was under the impression that the speed limit is 15 miles per hour while school is in session, but apparently Payson Police Department does not have a traffic unit for enforcement or doesn't think it's important enough to assign units to do that. I'm not sure that any car parked in the high school parking will actually go that slow!

Fred, if you drive along Longhorn by the schools, you'll see that there are sidewalks along the residential side so the kids don't have to walk in the streets - other than to cross Longhorn !

Ruby_Finney (Ruby Finney) says…

I guess the council thinks traffic moving at excess speeds is a lot more important than the safety of a child. Sounds like a real no brainer. Especially after the traffic engineer and the schools both recommend the crosswalk.

What in the world is the big rush to get anywhere in Payson that would keep anyone from waiting at a crosswalk for a little kid to get across the street? How long does it take? Maybe a whole minute ?

How about some common sense candidates for council?

Ruby_Finney (Ruby Finney) says…

Why does the town build streets for vehicular traffic but no sidewalks for foot traffic? And why is the council so blind to the fact that pedestrians are supposed to cross streets where there are crosswalks, but if there aren't any crosswalks the pedestrians will have to learn to fly. It only takes some paint and a couple men two or three hours to possibly save a life.

patrandall (Pat Randall) says…

Fred,
There would be a crosswalk with a light that would only stop traffic if someone pushed the button to cross longhorn. Stay with us on this.
The reason there is a high rate of traffic that time of day is because parents are picking up kids from the Middle School so they won't get run over on Longhorn.

Ruby,
In Mesa the speed limit at the high schools are 35 mph but they do have crosswalks and signs in the street.

fred_franz (frederick franz) says…

The signs which work best for my attention are the ones reading: “School Zone, speed limit 15 mph when children are visible”
-Fred.

patrandall (Pat Randall) says…

The town will not put a 15 MPH hour sign on Longhorn because it runs by the high school.
Wonderful reasoning. If you go way back on the posts this was argued quite a while ago.

Ruby_Finney (Ruby Finney) says…

Maybe the school should go back to the old method of putting students on duty as crossing guards. Since we have a police presence on campus these days, maybe he could start an ROTC unit for future policemen. They could man the crosswalk at the times when the crossing would be used and this would serve the same purpose as a flashing light.

Of course it would also hold up traffic so would probably offend a motorist or something.

I guess that wouldn't be considered politically correct. Letting the safety concept die by tabling it is probably a better way not to offend any motorist who uses Longhorn.

Oh well.

Shovelhead (Mike McLaughlin) says…

Why can't the high school and middle school students cross at the corner? I know, I know, it's a half block away. Well, that may be the most exercise some of those kids get all day!
By the time you are in middle school you should know how to cross the street!

Refresher; cross at the corner and look both ways!

patrandall (Pat Randall) says…

Shovelhead,
Do what I said for the council and dept. heads to do. Start at Forest and Lonhorn, walk west to McLane, cross there walk back east on the other side of Longhorn then up the hill to the middle school.
Be sure you have a 40 lb back pack and maybe a musical instrument to carry.
Some of the kids would already have walked maybe two or three blocks before they get to Longhorn. Uphill.
I am not talking about the high school kids. They are part of the problem riding in cars.