Ridgewood officials seeking solutions to traffic woes near Ridge School
Thursday April 4, 2013, 4:03 PM
BY DARIUS AMOS
STAFF WRITER
The Ridgewood News
A shift in behavioral trends and the upward swing in student population and programming are contributing to difficult traffic conditions at Ridge School, which has been plagued recently with logistical and safety concerns during peak drop-off and dismissal hours.
MARION BROWN/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Two rows of cars line up on West Ridgewood Avenue to enter the Ridge School circle on March 26, forcing passing vehicles to move into an oncoming traffic lane.
Parents have lodged complaints with village and school district officials, pleading for changes to improve the flow of traffic while creating a safe environment for motorists, particularly parents and other adults who park and line up along West Ridgewood Avenue to drop off and pick up students.
From the law enforcement perspective, police officers are often compelled to issue summonses to vehicle operators who violate street regulations, such as double parking and crossing the double yellow line and driving in the opposite lane of traffic.
Solution= let the kids walk to school. Problem solved. When I grew up we walked to school. We did not need ‘helicopter parents’.
Have police start giving tickets to these parents and it will change.
I’ve got a great idea — lets build another 500 housing units in the middle of town so that we have more traffic past Ridge and all our schools every morning. Could someone suggest this please to the planning board and Village council. I bet no one has thought of that idea yet.
#3- If they build new housing units, the taxpaying new residents will have just as much right to attend the school as your children. Chances are, since you have children in school you are also a new resident. So the last person to move here wants the door shut to others. So typical. Here’s a unique idea, let the kid WALK to school.
Same thing at the preschools, First Pres and the school in the church by stop and shop. The cars line up with no regard for the motorists who need to drive on the double yellow line to pass them.
It is the parents who create the safety problems. Their convenience is more important than the safety of the adults & children who travel these roads.
Well put #5. The parents, from the ‘me me me’ generation do not want to inconvenience themselves. They could care less how their actions affect others.
There was a report done several years ago by the cops might have been ptl. Butler it suggested passing an ordinance prohibiting parking on the north side of w. rwd. ave making it a tow away zone. There were other suggestions but it was never implemented. That would have eliminated alot of congestion by not having parked vehicles along the curbline.
#5, do you really expect a 4 year old to walk to preschool? Or for a parent to walk their kid there, 15 minutes each way, before getting on a train or driving to work? Cut them some slack for Christ’s sake. It’s common knowledge to avoid schools / bus routs certain times of the day. Take a different route! If you simply must go to S&S at that time of the day, go in the back way.
After 2nd grade, my kid’s walking. Maybe she’ll get a ride to a few blocks away as my wife heads out to work, but I can’t see getting dropped off at school…for the reason mentioned above.