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news
Drivers beware:
children crossing
By Ayako Ando
On-line Forty-Niner
As Long Beach Unified
School District started its new term Wednesday, police officers
were on hand as a tremendous amount of cars with parents picking
up and dropping off their children.
Cal State Long
Beach students travelling on these routes on the way to or
from campus should be wary of driving safely as well.
The Long Beach
Police Department sent officers to school areas to regulate
traffic and ease confusion on the streets, said Sgt. Rich
Meyer of the LBPD.
"Every time
schools open their new terms, we set special operations and
send officers to regulate the traffic," Meyer said. "I
think the numbers of the cars around the schools are increasing
each time."
Meyer and his squad
are doing their best to patrol the areas.
"I went to
Florence Bixby Elementary School with eight other officers,
and gave some tickets for speeding and parking violations,"
Meyer said. "But the purpose for us is to keep the children
safe, not giving tickets for drivers around the school."
Florence Bixby
Elementary School is located in the high-traffic area of Stearns
Avenue between Clark and Bellflower Boulevard.
Officers were sent
to four other elementary school areas in Long Beach, Meyer
said. The numbers of the officers sent depended on the scale
and location of the school, Meyer said.
To help prevent
traffic confusion beforehand, the police informed drivers,
pedestrians and parents of safe driving methods around the
school in a press release issued in August.
Parents said they
worried about their children's safety around traffic.
"The first
day of the school is always horrible," said Sandra Neald,
the mother of a six-year-old girl who attends Lincoln Elementary
School in Long Beach. "I think it is because new students
and new parents don't know where to go and where to park."
Neald also complained
of parents parking in the middle of particularly busy areas.
Traffic regulation
around elementary schools continues for a few days, according
to officials.
However, Meyer
said police officers will go to the sight whenever they hear
complaints from schools.
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