Zoned for danger

Flashing yellow lights warning drivers to reduce their speed to 15 mph seem to be a hot commodity on Saliman Road - except in front of Carson High School.

Fremont Elementary School's two school zone signs with flashers are posted for traffic traveling both ways. At Seeliger Elementary School, overhead lights on Saliman again tell drivers to slow when the signals flash.

Carson High School is the only school on the street without a school zone. The school is also the only one in the Carson City School District where the speed limit does not drop to 15 mph at some time during school hours.

This concerns Carson High School parent Robin Browne.

"I've been driving there for the past three years," she said. "There are no flashing lights for the crosswalk on Saliman. And my concern is the speed limit. It should be 15."

She is meeting with the director of operations for the school district, Mike Mitchell, and the deputy city engineer, John Flansberg, on Monday.

"Nothing is going to happen until a kid gets killed," she said. "And I don't want to see that."

According to state law, Carson City is in charge of school zone designations and signs. No guidelines exist in Nevada Revised Statute outlining where and when school zones must be designated. However, the statute prohibits school zones in areas where a drop in speed creates danger because of higher speeds nearby.

Flansberg said Carson High has no school zone because high school students know how to cross the street safely.

"With older students you have the opportunity for them to better comprehend the situation," he said. "They have more life experiences and would understand how to cross a crosswalk. With elementary schools, you're really concerned about children darting out."

He said any changes to a zoning area at Carson High School would need approval by the city's Regional Transportation Commission.

"We've had interest in the community to raise the traffic to 35 mph and in the school zones to put of flashing flights during the time period when the school is in session."

Several schools in the district use flashing lights. The school district, however, has no authority to designate school zones.

"The city apparently has its guidelines," Mitchell said. "We try to influence that by recognizing where we have kids crossing the streets and where we seem to have areas of high risk and bring those to the city's attention."

Do older students need help crossing?

Darting, as Flansberg calls it, is not limited to young students. Two deputies who responded to a recent pedestrian-vehicle incident at Carson High and Principal Fred Perdomo say high school students don't pay as much attention as they could.

"We've received information about students jaywalking and crossing the street improperly," Perdomo said. "Rudy Hindelang, (the school resource officer), went out and (talked with) about 20 of the students. It's always an ongoing thing where you're trying to train the new students every year."

Students cross in front of the high school four times a day: morning, for the mid-morning nutrition break, lunchtime and at the end of the school day. That's twice the number of times students are crossing at elementary schools, which all have school zones.

The teenage girl struck crossing Saliman mid-morning in January darted into the road and the driver didn't see her in time, according to a Carson City sheriff's deputy. She left with a broken arm.

"Most of the times, the kids don't even look," he said. "She ended up lucky. A 15 mph sign wouldn't hurt, in my opinion. It would increase reaction time of the drivers. But the kids need to pay attention. They do dart out."

Complaints about students crossing Saliman include students not looking before they cross, students not using the crosswalks and students crossing too slowly.

"We have a lot of kids that do cross the street there," Mitchell said. "You like to think that high school kids are more careful, but they can be less careful because they're more blasé about it, where elementary kids are less careful because they don't know the risk."

He said a lower speed limit would be appropriate at Carson High.

"I think it would be effective and help at certain times of day. I don't think it needs to be a 15 mph school zone all the time."

What about the size of the school?

Browne said there are a multitude of traffic issues at the high school. Students enter and exit the campus at three locations. Across the street, drivers pull in and out of apartment parking lots. Auto traffic and foot traffic are heavy.

Students can't make left turns out of the school. Parents pick up students at Subway and Walgreens to avoid the conditions. Drivers speed down the street.

"As far as the students, there is nothing for them saying when to cross the street," she said. "Saliman has gotten very busy over the past few years."

She thinks the sheer size of the student body is enough for a school zone. Carson High has 2,426 student, quadruple the number of students at Fremont, with 648, and Seeliger, with 698. Yet, those schools have safety zones.

"The funny thing is that everybody knows about (this) and nobody's doing anything about it," she said. "Why they are not making the initiative?"

n Contact reporter Maggie O'Neill at moneill@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1219.