Squealing tires and engines revving fill the Lemay streets the minute the bell rings at HHS. Every time I walk home from school, at least one car zips past, way too fast. They often blow through the stop signs and barely have enough reaction time to slow down and stop for other cars that are not racing.
Most of the time, it’s students. Students enjoy the thrill of driving fast down a one-way street with little enforcement, as it’s one of the few times they really can get away with it. However, the problem is that students do this reckless fun right after school, when they get in their cars to go home. This is the same time parents come to pick their kids up, and the same time that other students walk and bike home.
This poses a highly dangerous risk that kids or others in cars could get hurt. I have seen, and have been in myself, some scenes where cars missed pedestrians by inches. Thankfully, no one has been hurt, but that risk is still there.
As reported by Fox 2 News, on February 19th, around 7:45, a two-car crash happened less than a mile away from the school on Kingston Drive that claimed the life of a neighbor and injured two more. This would be right after students were commuting to school.
Unfortunately, incidents like this are not unheard of. Many car accidents have killed drivers and pedestrians alike in Lemay over the past few years.
Most students (and adults) drive to get where they need to go faster. However, with more speed, there is more risk. According to a graph in an article by Nimmi Candappa, a pedestrian’s risk of death goes over 50% at roughly 45 miles per hour. That would take a full 200 feet to stop before hitting someone. That’s nearly 4 and a half school buses’ worth of length. If a student stepped out into the road, a driver would not have time to react and stop.
While we all like to feel the thrill of being in control and going fast, it has consequences. According to the Missouri State Highway Patrol, over 120 fatal accidents have happened around St. Louis and the surrounding area in the past year. Juveniles accounted for 12% of those deaths.
These are problems not spoken about a lot, because nothing catastrophic has happened to any of our students. Hopefully, nothing does. This is an issue that we need to act on now, before anyone gets hurt. We need to spread awareness of these dangers and install safety devices, such as speed bumps or patrols, before someone gets hurt. Drive safe, be safe.
