As we all know, traffic safety has been a huge issue for a long time all around the world. Many people have died from accidents and or using the crosswalk incorrectly, but we know today in Colorado Springs we have a high rate of many pedestrians that have been hit and passed away in 2023 according to Pedestrian Fatalities in Colorado Hit ‘All-Time High’ in 2023. The rate was 85% but compared to last year’s percentage rate the number has increased 12% which is no good at all because that means as the years go on more and more accidents are tending to happen, and more people are passing away due to this. We also know that many schools have had kids get hit because of them not using the crosswalks correctly and want to jaywalk instead of being safe and cautious.

Here around Doherty High School, we have had many crashes, and kids here get hit and some even have passed away due to serious injuries from the crashes. I can say that it has been a crazy experience around our school with car accidents, so bad to where we are at the point to where we do not know what we can do anymore to prevent things like this from happening. Last year we tried to add school zones around the school to alert the drivers. They flash before school, during lunch, and after school.

Even though we have these around the school, we still are having issues with speeding and people not caring about the signs flashing to tell them school is in possession, we could prevent these even more ways if we had police officers patrol the area during school hours to catch those who are speeding and going past the speed limit. If we had police around, I say it would prevent fewer accidents from happening and dreadful things turning out to happen. This would even make kids feel safer to want to leave campus whether they are driving or walking because even drivers are scared sometimes to drive because of how dangerous it is during school hours.

The issue is so common now and has not gotten worse throughout the months, but it needs to be spoken on more to see if any recent changes have been made or are going to be made. So, I went around Doherty High School today and I interviewed many kids asking them about the changes we have made by using the crosswalks and what new effects it has had around the school. So many of the kids here have so many thoughts about this and spoke their minds about it all, to me as I was interviewing, I noticed that there has been a major change with this issue and more kids are being more aware and taking precautions with this action. I feel that since there have been many kids that have been hit around the school area that kind of triggered them to want to use the crosswalk and be safer as they cross. This makes the school look 100 times better than it was a couple of months ago and makes all of us look at our school differently. With that, we will head into interviews and look at what everybody has had to say about this around Doherty High School.

I started by interviewing lower classmen to upperclassmen. Meleke Murray class of 2027 said, “It’s good it hasn’t improved much but we have made progress within these months and more kids want to use the crosswalks right.” Great feedback we can make sure even more kids are tending to the crosswalk and wanting to be safe when it comes to using it. Kenia Braud class of 2026 said, “I feel like it has gotten better more kids are taking precautions but at the same time we still need work around the school and more patrolling.” This caught my eye because just as we thought things were getting better people are seeing a way different outlook on this.

Dasan Vaughn class of 2026 said, “It is okay to me, but I also feel like more kids need to be safer when they are crossing and watch out for what direction cars are going.” Very descriptive and right because we know many people driving something want to go one way one time but then end up going a whole unusual way which might cause things to happen especially if blinkers are not being used.

Jason Davis class of 2024 said, “Personally using it has stayed the same though I do notice a lot more people drive than they do walk this year last year a lot of students used to walk which affected many students but many students’ rides have changed due to the bad traffic around here so many more get dropped off this year.” Massive impact and change because many kids have been driving or do drive which could be because of everything that goes on around here and they may feel safer driving than they do walking.

I was also able to get an interview from a security guard on the changes and outcomes and here is what Officer Mat had to say, “It is still kind of the same It just kind of goes back and forth with people being negative and some being on their phone just kind of like a normal thing and somethings you just can’t help.” This issue overall is still serious and common, but it has gotten a lot better, and more kids are taking precautions around the school.