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Westchester Elementary Walk & Roll event raises awareness about Scott Boulevard safety

Decatur

Westchester Elementary Walk & Roll event raises awareness about Scott Boulevard safety

Pictures taken by Westchester parent Jennifer Belew of students walking to the school from Garden Lane.
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Westchester Elementary, which reopened in 2014, held its first Walk & Roll to School Event on Friday, Sept. 11.

The event, which has also been held at Oakhurst Elementary, emphasizes alternatives to driving to school. But Westchester’s event was also meant to highlight problems with traffic on Scott Boulevard, Decatur’s busiest and most-ticketed road.

Students and parents carried bright yellow caution flags.

“It is our hope that the flags will not only increase the visibility and safety of our students and parents, but also raise awareness about the dangerous traffic conditions along Scott,” Kimberly Head Amos, head of Westchester’s School Leadership Team Safety Committee, said in a press release.

Earlier this year, a Lakeside High School teacher was killed and her daughter was critically injured by a driver who was allegedly traveling over 100 miles per hour along Scott Boulevard.  Decatur Police officers wrote about 5,177 speeding tickets citywide between January 2013 and April 2015. Speeders on Scott Boulevard generated more than 3,000 of them, or about 60 percent.

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According to the press release, the school’s safety committee has been meeting to discuss ways to make Scott Boulevard and its surrounding streets safer for students walking to school and for residents.

“The officials with whom we have met—and there have been many—all want to help us achieve our goal,” Rachel Cogburn, a committee lead on inter-agency planning and cooperation, said in the press release. “Unfortunately, there is a lot of red tape and budget concerns around the issue. The flags are our way to provide an immediate impact while we continue to push for change.”

The Westchester parents sent along these photos of the Sept. 11 Walk & Roll event …

Pictures taken by Westchester parent Jennifer Belew of students walking to the school from Garden Lane.

Pictures taken by Westchester parent Jennifer Belew of students walking to the school from Garden Lane.

Pictures taken by Westchester parent Jennifer Belew of students walking to the school from Garden Lane.

Pictures taken by Westchester parent Jennifer Belew of students walking to the school from Garden Lane.

Pictures taken by Westchester parent Jennifer Belew of students walking to the school from Garden Lane.

Pictures taken by Westchester parent Jennifer Belew of students walking to the school from Garden Lane.

Pictures taken by Westchester parent Jennifer Belew of students walking to the school from Garden Lane.

Pictures taken by Westchester parent Jennifer Belew of students walking to the school from Garden Lane.

Pictures taken by Westchester parent Jennifer Belew of students walking to the school from Garden Lane.

Pictures taken by Westchester parent Jennifer Belew of students walking to the school from Garden Lane.

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