Sheriff's Office Beefs Up Patrols Near Knox Elementary School

CANTON, GA -- A year after a serious accident paralyzed a Joseph Knox Elementary School kindergarten student, the Cherokee Sheriff's Office's Traffic Enforcement Unit has announced it will be out in full force to monitor movement along another dangerous stretch of Highway 20.

This time, the agency will be along Knox Bridge Highway/S.R. 20 at its intersection with River Bend Way, which takes motorists to the school.

Deputies will be in place starting Friday, April 28, and units will primarily be at the location during student drop-off and pick-up times, which are 7:15 a.m. to 7:45 a.m. and 2:15 p.m. to 2:45 p.m.

The move is needed in "order to reduce reckless driving and speeding on Knox Bridge Highway as students are exiting and entering the school zone," the agency, noting the coverage will continue when possible until the end of the school year.

"This is an extremely busy intersection and there has been many inquiries about the installation of a traffic control device at the location," the sheriff's office said. "Sheriff (Frank) Reynolds will be contacting local officials to discuss the matter."'

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Parents and others who regularly utilize the location have been campaigning for Georgia DOT to improve safety at the intersection following a serious collision involving a mother and her children in March 2016.

A Facebook group -- Cherokee County Unite -- was created for parents and others to share ideas on how they could get traffic safety measures implemented at the intersection.

A family, consisting of then-Knox third-grade student Melina Lunn, kindergarten student Monica Lunn and their mother, was in an SUV attempting to turn left from Knox Bridge Highway/S.R. 20 on Riverbend Way when it was struck by a Ford pick-up truck, the Georgia State Patrol previously told Patch.

Monica spent the first three weeks in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta at Egleston, which is where the family learned Monica would be paralyzed from the neck down and require the use of a respirator to breathe.

Doctors performed surgery to fuse a rib with her C1 and C2 vertebra in an effort to provide stability and prevent further damage and gave the student breathing and feeding tubes. Monica was moved to Children's Healthcare of Atlanta at Scottish Rite and and subsequently discharged.

Roswell-based Sunshine on a Ranney Day led a campaign to complete a makeover of the Lunn home to accommodate the child's special needs.

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