Dear editor,
With the completion of the first week of school at the Culver City Unified School District quad-campus mentioned in the Culver City News’ front page article “School drop-off process turns a corner” [Sept. 8], I can say there are still many corners to turn.
Perhaps asking the motoring public to observe the rules is an undue hardship. Vehicles turn off of Overland Avenue and roar down Farragut Drive just like they were still on a major street. Some vehicle front-ends dip coming up to the stop sign at Farragut and Coombs Avenue and continue to roll through. Most don’t even bother a token slowdown.
Culver City staff and CCUSD put the new turn restrictions in place in answer to complaints from many stakeholders about the unsafe traffic conditions around the complex that houses Culver City High School/Adult School, Culver Middle School, Farragut Elementary School and the Center for Early Education – some 4,000 students, faculty and support staff, located in the middle of residential neighborhoods.
Without CCPD to force observation of traffic regulations, most are ignored. Saturday there was a fund-raising car wash in the parking lot, which is the subject of your story. Children were flagging down vehicles on the corner of Farragut and Overland. As I went to a famous Culver City eatery, which has a security guard in its parking lot to keep out other business parking, I got stuck behind a sport utility vehicle turning left at Farragut and Elenda Street into the carwash. As I have said before, I will not quietly watch emergency vehicles roll down Farragut to tend to anymore school children injured in pedestrian versus vehicle accidents. The first was heart-rending; the second brought the blood pressure up. The third was buffered by a couple of neighborhood blocks. Enough is enough – don’t let the next one be a fatal one.
It is so simple. You don’t want the Culver City Police Department around the schools? Slow down. Observe the traffic regulations. If there isn’t enough room to get your children to and from school, work with CCUSD and the Culver City Council.
This afternoon there is still a wrecked car left over from an accident Friday night on Overland between Franklin Avenue and Farragut. If they want Culver City to be a “destination” for tourists or out-of-district students, there have to be resources and a mandate for police to keep the roads safe for residents and visitors alike.
John Heyl,
Culver City
