Salinas Police crack down on school zone safety

You often hear about kids suffering from a summertime brain drain. And from a look at how things went at this first day back, so do some parents.

Drivers curb hopping, double parking and flat out stopping in traffic to let their children out was the scene a month ago outside of El Sausal Middle School in Salinas.

KION was with Salinas Police as they targeted a major trouble spot in central Salinas several weeks ago.

“There’s just a lot of schools in the same area, Mission Park, Salinas High, Notre Dame, all those schools crowded together so there’s a lot of traffic. Things back up, people get slowed down so they start getting in a hurry. So we’ve targeted that area,” said Salinas Police Sgt. Gerry Ross.

One of the most common traffic concerns are parents stopping in traffic to let their children out with kids darting into the streets.

School zone speed limits can vary from 15 to 25 miles per hour. And while it doesn’t seem fast, it can be deadly.

“20 miles an hour can clearly kill somebody if they’re hit at 20 miles an hour. And sometimes the school zones are 25 miles an hour or 15 but you’re still breaking the law if you’re going too fast for the conditions. So if there are a lot of kids around and you’re going 20 miles an hour, you’re still breaking the law and could get a ticket for that,” said Ross.

In 2011, an Everett Alvarez high school student was killed after he was hit by a car in the school’s parking lot.

Joel Vasquez’s son was almost hit at his high school when he was dropped off.

“He would walk and that’s where a car would just go in, and I got out my car and I explained to him, ‘hey can you slow down? There’s kids right here walking.’ And they still go, and they still go, and they still go. So I mean, I can’t really do nothing, I’m not a police officer or anything. So I can’t really do nothing about it.”

He says he just wants parents to treat other children how they would treat their own.

And police are out there cracking down.

“We move our targets around different areas, today that’s the targeted area just to try and make a presence so people realize we’re out there and slow down, be a little safer,” said Ross.