In brief
A comprehensive report by AP and Cox Media Group uncovers alarming safety issues surrounding school crossing guards, highlighting that at least 230 of them were injured or killed by vehicles over the past decade. Despite their crucial role in child safety, many crossing guards face a lack of data tracking injuries and a criminal justice system that seldom penalizes drivers. The report calls attention to the dangerous working conditions, including inadequate traffic safety measures and the increasing presence of large vehicles with blind spots.
In the hustle and bustle of daily school runs, school crossing guards play a crucial yet overlooked role in ensuring children's safety as they navigate roads to and from school. However, a new investigation by AP and Cox Media Group reveals a darker side to this rewarding job—one fraught with danger.
Data sourced from nearly 200 police departments indicates that over the past decade, at least 230 school crossing guards have been struck by vehicles, with nearly three dozen fatalities reported. Despite the gravity of these incidents, there remains no systematic means to track injuries or deaths in this profession, leaving many cases unrecognized.
Compounding the issue, drivers who hit crossing guards are rarely held accountable. Among the analyzed incidents, police found that nearly half resulted in mere traffic citations such as failure to yield to a pedestrian, while a significant portion of drivers faced no penalties at all.
Further analysis from the Bureau of Labor Statistics placed crossing guarding among the top categories for workplace danger. Surprisingly, only New Jersey and Massachusetts have taken steps to improve crossing guard safety, implementing measures such as mandatory reporting of injuries in Massachusetts and heightened safety inspections in New Jersey.
The investigation attributes many of the injuries and deaths to increased instances of distracted driving and the rise of larger vehicles that obscure visibility. Additionally, the design of many school zones lacks essential safety features like speed bumps, enforcement cameras, and adequate sight lines, prioritizing vehicle flow instead of pedestrian safety.
This job is often filled by senior citizens, who represent more than half of crossing guards documented in the report to be over 65 years old, bringing additional concerns about their vulnerability on the roads.
The investigation serves as a call to action, highlighting the critical need for more rigorous safety measures and accountability to protect these key figures in child safety as they perform their daily duties in school zones.
