The intersection of Fog Light Way and Placid Lake Court is down the street from Chris Yung Elementary School.Parents of students at Chris Yung Elementary are asking for crosswalk at the intersection of Placid Lake Court, Night Watch Court and Fog Light Way in Bristow. It is the intersection just next to Devlin Road and one block away from the school.
Prince William County Schools only opened Monday, but already pedestrians are seeing some traffic problems around the new Chris Yung Elementary School. According to parents, speed is a problem. As one parent described it, motorists are entering and exiting the community, “like a bat out of hell,” even when children are present.
Brentsville School Board Representative, Gil Trenum told Bristow Beat that he is addressing the issue.
I have already asked the staff to look into options that we could pursue to help reduce traffic speed in the Devlin Rd/Fog Light Way intersection area during school drop off and pick up times, and that would include the Night Watch Ct/Placid Lake Ct. intersections with Fog Light Way. VDOT (Virginia Department of Transportation) has already turned down our request for a traffic light at the Devlin Rd. intersection but we are continuing to look at other options.
Trenum encourages parents to continue to speak out on the issue.
“Parents are certainly welcome to share their concerns and email is probably the best way to communicate those concerns.”
At 4 p.m. Tuesday, Bristow Beat visited the intersection to talk with parents who were walking their children home from school. We did not witness any speeding, but neither were cars going particularly slow through the intersection on Fog Light Way that has no light, crosswalk, nor stop sign except on the residential cross streets. The street also has no crossing guard, nor sign indicating that motorists should reduce their speeds.
Local mother Sana Itayem wants something done about speeding at the intersection.
“Yes, 100 percent [I agree something needs to be done.] Cars go really quick, coming and going. I live right here, but I’m afraid [to let me children walk home without me]; they may get hit by a car,” Itayem said.
According to Itayem, the school is already trying to mitigate the problem. Walkers were released from class before students taking the bus and those being picked up by their parents or sitters. The idea is they could beat the traffic.
Tuesday afternoon, this seemed to have made the walk from school safer. However, it also exposed the fact that the majority of traffic problems had been the result of parents picking up their children.
Itayem believes hiring a crossing guard would be an ideal solution.
“A crossing guard would be great. I think that would be very helpful,” Itayem said, explaining that cars would have to slow down and walkers would feel safer.
The bell times at Chris Yung Elementary are 9:10 a.m. and 3:50 p.m. Motorists should be extra cautious in driving down Fog Light Way during those times.
The school’s name sake, Officer Chris Yung, died when a motorist collided with his motorcycle while he was responding to a police call. Hopefully, the name Chris Yung inspires residents to follow traffic laws and to slow down at intersections.
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