'They don't stop': Crossing guards on West Shore Parkway being repositioned due to safety concerns

Crossing guards at the roundabout on West Shore Parkway say they’ve seen and it all.

“We’ve had one of our crossing guards get bumped by a car,” said Kailey Sutherland, Crossing Guard with the Sooke School District. “We’ve had lots of close calls with kids, we’ve been sworn at.”

Hundreds of drivers pass through the roundabout daily on their morning commute, some not obeying the authority of the crossing guards.

“People go right through us, they don’t stop,” said Sutherland.

If this story sounds familiar, it is.

Last month the Sooke School District put out a public plea to drivers to slow down, pay attention to the guards and to be respectful. Unfortunately, that never happened.

The school district is now redrawing the map and repositioning its crossing guards before someone gets seriously hurt.

“We figure we’re not going to be able to change the behaviour of the drivers, so let's change the behaviour of our students,” said Scott Stinson, Superintendent of the Sooke School District.

Parents of students at the two schools were notified on Wednesday of the changes that will take effect this coming Monday.

The goal is to discourage students from crossing at a location that drivers have made unsafe.

Currently, the district utilizes three crossing guards, two at the roundabout and one at Constellation Avenue. All three will be repositioned.

One will move to the opposite side of the roundabout, crossing at a low trafficked service road. Two guards will be moved closer to the schools on West Shore Parkway where there is a pedestrian activists’ crosswalk.

One new guard has been added as well at Meridian Avenue in front of the two schools where currently there isn’t one.

“We’re putting our resources to where we believe the safest routes to and from will be,” said Stinson.

“There’s a lot of people, it’s high traffic,” said Sutherland.

As the district deals with drivers unwilling to change, it hopes their flexibility will result in a safer commute, for the students and the crossing guards.