LANSING, Mich. (WLNS) – Parents and residents on the eastside of Lansing say a new school speed zone for portions of Saginaw St. and Grand River Ave. isn’t enough.
The new zone was introduced last month. It drops the speed in the area to 25 m.p.h near Pattengill Elementary, Eastern High School and Lansing Catholic High School. The move by the Michigan Department of Transportation, with encouragement from Lansing Chief of Police Ellery Sosebee, was initiated last autumn after school started.
“We have to cross a four lane, 40 mile an hour highway to get to her school,” says Jill Dombrowski, whose child attends Pattengill Elementary
Both Bridget Coe and Nancy Mahlow say the traffic is moving much faster than the posted speed limit of 40.
“People are traveling well above 45 miles per hour,” says Coe. Coe has a child attending Pattengill Elementary School as well.
Mahlow, who is president of the Eastside Neighborhood Organization, was part of the original group of locals who advocated for the change in speed limits.
“You can clock 60, easily – easily! – going down Saginaw,” says Mahlow.
The women concede the new speed zones are a move in the right direction to protect the safety of students in the area, but those zones are too shot.
“Nobody is actually following these rules and it’s very dangerous,” says Coe. “Because it’s literally a block or two of people going 50 to 25.”
Dombrowski notes the school speed zone starts “in the middle of the three schools.”
Both Coe and Dombrowski have children who walk to and from Pattengill Elementary School everyday. They want to see a stop light added at Fairview and Saginaw, as well as an additional crossing guard.
“The crossing guard at Fairview said that they used to work at this intersection, and they were afraid for their life every day that they came in to work,” says Dombrowski.
Coe cays there is “no supervision” as the children are arriving or leaving the school.
M-DOT officials confirm with 6 News a traffic light will be added next year. But the length of the speed zones? That’s as big as they can be.
“It’s only a matter of time before someone could get seriously injured, and I don’t feel safe having my child here walking,” says Coe.
“Can we take it another step?” asks Mahlow. “Sooner than later?”
