TROUTMAN, N.C. — For weeks, parents say that every day their children walked to South Iredell High School, they're worried about them as they cross Old Mountain Road because of the number of cars going above the speed limit.
“People fly up and down that road," Jack Shoemaker said. "Speed limit's 35 by the school, people got to be running 50, 55 sometimes 60 miles an hour."
Jack and his wife, Cathy Shoemaker, live three minutes from the school. Their grandson attends South Iredell, and the couple say it's impossible to stand at the crosswalk that's less than a few hundred yards from the campus. There are warning signs painted on the ground and posted that notify drivers of the upcoming school zone.
Despite the obvious signs, drivers aren't slowing down enough.
“We see it all the time when we drop off or pick up our grandson," Jack said. "People need to slow down."
Because of those complaints to the Troutman Police Department, Chief Josh Watson said his department has taken extra steps to alert everyone about the dangers of not adhering to the posted speed limit which is 20 miles per hour in this case.
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“Our public enforcement department put a sign up to draw attention to the crosswalk and we’ve also used education through social media," Watson said.
Watson said that the department has also alerted the school to remind students and parents to make sure students also walk in the designed crosswalk and pay attention to oncoming traffic even though there are crossing guards monitoring traffic in that area. But Watson emphasized that it is important for drivers to always be alert.
“People need to slow down and pay attention whenever they are behind the wheel," he said.
Watson added that he wants to remind everyone that officers will be in the area whenever school is in session conducting enforcement actions for violations and ensuring that students are able to cross safety including citing any driver who violates posted speed limits.
“If people would just take the time to think about what if my child was crossing the road,” Watson said.
“People really need to slow down," Cathy Shoemaker added. "Like my husband says, think like it's your own children there."
Contact Richard DeVayne at rdevayne@wcnc.com and follow him on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
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