The corner is dangerous for one simple reason. When the guard halts traffic flow to let kids cross the east side of Glen, cars headed east on Glen as well as cars trying to turn east from Van Dien onto Glen (many after dropping their kids off) stop.
When the kids are done, cars already on Glen gets priority as they have no stop sign. Meanwhile traffic keeps piling up on Van Dien. This leads to visibly frustrated people who try to desperately look for an opening (between traffic on Glen) to dart in.
The solution to this problem is either to 1) Have stop signs for traffic on Glen as well, at least during school hours, or 2) Have a more mobile and active crossing guard who can direct traffic as well as kids, stopping cars on Glen to allow traffic from Van Dien to blend in periodically.
Once again, it seems like people are confused between ‘nice and caring’ and ‘effective.’ EVERYONE likes someone who is nice and caring. However, a crossing guard needs to be effective before being the former.
The point of having a crossing guard is to help school children cross the road safely, in the midst of traffic flow. But it involves more than just holding up a stop sign and lowering it once kids are through. If traffic keeps building up on Van Dien and people keep getting frustrated, it will not lead to safer outcomes for anyone.
Once again, I do not know who this person is and from all comments, it appears that she is a lovely person. I am sure that is true.
But my comments are simply based on what I have seen driving past that spot a few times. The last time I was there, I was at the head of the line of cars waiting on Glen as kids crossed. There was a lady trying to creep in from Van Dien trying to turn onto Glen east. Once the kids were through, the crossing guard lowered the sign. She could have easily asked me to stop, pointed at a few cars from Van Dien to make their turn, and then asked me to continue on. But she just stood there looking semi-bewildered by the situation.
