Parents Worry About Lack of School Crossing Guards

If you've ever driven on East Lake Road, you know how busy it can be when residents of the community's many subdivisions hit the road to go to work, school and other destinations.

There are about 31,000 residents who live in more than 100 subdivisions along the East Lake Corridor, according to Don Ewing, President of the Council of North County Neighborhoods.

Traffic can quickly back up on East Lake Road, especially just before school begins and after school lets out. That has some local parents worried about getting their kids to and from school safely.

Rebecca Mungo, 36, and her husband Michael Mungo, 37, live in the Pine Ridge subdivision near . On the first day of school Monday, they walked to the school to pick up their daughter Sophia, 6, who is in the first grade.

Just before 3 p.m., the family stood at the intersection of East Lake Road and Cypress Woods Boulevard and waited to cross Cypress Woods Boulevard to walk home. They stood and watched as a logjam of cars blocked the crosswalk while trying to turn off East Lake Road.

"Some days, I don't know if I'm better off walking or driving," said Rebecca Mungo.

Mungo also said some drivers are so aggressive, that instead of waiting for the car ahead of them to turn right onto Cypress Woods Boulevard, they drive around the car that is turning and form a second, illegal turn lane onto the street. Mungo is concerned that there are no school crossing guards to help people cross the street safely.

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So what's a concerned parent to do?

Tell someone about it, suggests the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office.

"If parents have a concern about school crossing guards, they need to make their concerns known," said Marianne Pasha, Public Information Coordinator for the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office.

Pasha says the sheriff's office staffs the school crosswalks. But, the sheriff's office, the school district and Pinellas County's Traffic Engineering Department all work together when deciding the location of staffed school crosswalks.

"When a request is made, the need is reviewed and a decision is made. These things are very flexible," she said, referring to the process in which new school crossing locations are decided.

We've provided some helpful links below, in case you have a safety concern about a crosswalk near a school-

• Pinellas County School Crossing Guard Information 
• Travel-to-School Safety Concerns Form 

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