Increased traffic, citations and distracted driving lead to dangerous conditions for students

Four years after her son suffered injuries when he was hit by a car in the Blackman school zone, Jayme Stevens isn’t too surprised that it happened again.

On the second full day of the 2022-23 school year, a driver plowed into two students as they made their right of way through a crosswalk at Fortress Boulevard and Blaze Drive in the Blackman zone.

The city of Murfreesboro released a public service announcement the day before the pedestrian accident reminding motorists that traffic has increased now that school is back in session.

“You have these hundreds of cars and all these kids coming in from neighborhoods, and you have these (inexperienced) teenage drivers,” said Stevens, an elementary school teacher.

Stevens’ teenager stepped off into the roadway and was hit by an oncoming vehicle as he walked to Blackman High School Oct. 29, 2018.

“He flew up onto the windshield and broke a bone in his foot,” Stevens said. “The poor person that hit him was just a parent trying to get their child to school, and they weren’t speeding.”

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300 citations in first week of school

Stevens’ believes the lack of traffic control in the Blackman zone — which includes elementary, middle and high schools — is a huge issue that contributed to her son’s accident.

“With the crazy amount traffic there is around that area in the morning, they should have crossing guards every 50 feet over there,” said Stevens, an elementary teacher.

But it’s not just Blackman. There are dangers throughout Rutherford County school zones.

“People are in a hurry,” said Murfreesboro Police Lt. Greg Walker, who heads up traffic patrol in the city.

During the first two weeks of the semester, teams of officers from the Rutherford County Traffic Safety Task Force ran checkpoints at each school in area municipalities. All law enforcement agencies represented by the RCTS Task Force participated in the school zone monitoring, including the Tennessee Highway Patrol, Eagleville, Smyrna and La Vergne police departments.

In the first week, Murfreesboro Police Department officers handed out more than 300 citations as part of the checkpoints at eight different school zones within the city.

Drivers on cell phones, others exceeding the speed limit, seatbelt violations, unrestrained children — even accidents involving pedestrians — together make up the chaos on these Rutherford County roadways surrounding schools.

Using a cell phone in a school zone has been illegal since early 2018, but it's now illegal to hold or support a cell phone with any part of your body while driving anywhere. This means your cell phone can't be in your hand or resting on your leg or against any part of your body.

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In total, officers cited 28 speeders — half of them in the John Pittard Elementary zone — as well as 58 drivers using cell phones, a dozen unrestrained children and 141 seatbelt violations. Data is not yet available for the second week of traffic checks.

“People need to say focused on the road. That means staying off their phone and being aware of what’s going on around them,” Walker said.

When the yellow lights are flashing and the school zone is active, the speed limit reduces to 15 mph.

Under Tennessee law, if drivers speed in a school zone, that constitutes reckless driving and the driver can be arrested, lose driving privileges and have the vehicle towed and impounded.

Yellow means caution

Walker said he’s amazed at how many people are distracted — even outside of phone usage.

“When you see people standing in the road wearing high-vis yellow and you’ve got flashing lights, you’d think that would be the time to slow down,” Walker said during a traffic check around 7:05 a.m. in front of Hobgood Elementary Aug. 11.

In the area around Hobgood, as with most public schools within neighborhoods, there are children walking and bicycling to school that are surrounded by vehicles traversing roadways. Driving 15 mph gives drivers a couple of seconds to stop in an emergency.

But even at 15 mph, the impact of a car vs. pedestrian can be devastating.

“I’ve seen people get really hurt and seen broken bones from people barely moving in a parking lot,” Walker said. “That’s a heavy piece of equipment, even if you’re going 5 mph.”

More on child safety

Here are more safe driving tips in school zones, and beyond:

• School bus: It's illegal to pass a stopped school bus, with the stop signal arm extended and children boarding or disembarking. Unless on a divided highway with a physical barrier — like a concrete median — traffic on both sides must stop when a school bus with red flashing lights and the stop signal arm extended is stopped. You also get a fine and points on your license if ticketed with failure to do so.

• Child restraint: Tennessee law mandates children between 4-8 years old who are shorter than 4 feet, 9 inches must at least be in a belt-positioning booster seat, if not a car seat with a five-point harness. Children ages 9-12 who are at least 4 feet, 9 inches tall must be bucked in with a seat belt, preferably in the back seat. Old children can legally ride in the front seat (although the back seat is recommended) but must wear a seat belt. You can be fined $50 if children in your car are not correctly restrained.

• Cell phones: You can make calls with a hands-free Bluetooth device if you need to, and if you're using GPS navigation, you must have the phone in a mount-type holder that won't obstruct your view. If the phone falls to the floor or between the seats, you can't retrieve it while driving if you'd have to unfasten your seat belt or get out of a seated position. It's illegal for drivers younger than 18 to use a phone even with Bluetooth, and it's illegal for everyone to text, message or email while driving.

Reach reporter Nancy DeGennaro at degennaro@dnj.com.

This article originally appeared on Murfreesboro Daily News Journal: Rutherford County schools dealing with dangerous driving habits