I drive by Joplin High School nearly every day on my way to work. I can change my route; I don't have children to drop at the school. But driving the full distance of Indiana Ave. is the easiest and closest route between my home and my workplace.
I made the decision last school year (2006-2007) to drive Connecticut Ave., out of my way, because of the idiocy of the parent/drivers and ignorance of the students, whom I address in this letter.
Since a new school year just began, I decided to continue my more convenient route on Indiana and hadn't been too upset with the idiotic drivers until today. Now I am fed up once again. But this time I am not just changing my route: I am changing my tactic.
They teach that the pen is mightier than the sword, so I will give that a try, although I truly doubt that my letter to Joplin High School, and the police department, and the local newspapers will have any effect.
My complaint is about the way that the students are dropped off at school. A few years ago a nice drop-off area was built on the west side of Indiana Ave. Some use it; most don't. Some pull over to the curb on the east side of the street - and let the kids out to cross two lanes of traffic. (And few of the kids bother to look for oncoming traffic.)
Every morning there are cars that stop in the driving lanes to drop off the kids. (Yes, with traffic backed up behind them; they do not pull aside.) Almost invariably these kids walk behind the car that they exit into the traffic in the oncoming lane...just like this morning (Friday, October 05, 2007, at 7:39 a.m.) when the Chevrolet SUV, MO license plate 513-GNW, dropped off the blonde boy.
Someday some kid is going to get hit by a motor vehicle; not intentionally, but it'll hurt just the same. If a blockade can't be erected to keep kids from crossing both lanes of traffic, if drop-off only areas cannot be designated, if traffic cannot be police monitored, what can be done? Anyone who drives Indiana at that time is hyper-vigilant, but something needs to be done.
Thank you for your concern.
J.M. Fonseca
Joplin, MO
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