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In wake of deadly school crossing guard accident, Lafayette officials to discuss safety improvements

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Updated  September 29, 2021 4:20pm PDT
Lafayette
KTVU FOX 2

As school resumes, crossing guards are dealing with increased dangers

KTVU FOX 2's Tom Vacar reports.

LAFAYETTE, Calif. - Tonight, in the wake of a deadly school crossing incident three weeks ago, Lafayette City council will hold a special meeting to discuss and ponder safety improvements for pedestrians and cyclists. 

With more people returning to work and more kids going back to classrooms, more attention has to be paid to those most vulnerable to inattentive, impolite or impaired drivers.

School crossing guard Ashley Dias was killed here September 8th when car struck him as school dismissed that day. He was lauded as a hero for pushing children, in a crosswalk, out of harms way just before he was run over.

Being a crossing guard is a dangerous job. 

"I don't know what I'm gonna be like after this, but I'm alive," said Theresa Corbett, a crossing guard at Colonial Acres Elementary in the San Lorenzo School District. 

Corbett says she was hit and injured on September 8th. A driver, who violated the crosswalk, struck her just after she had safely crossed some children. 

Corbett has been out for three weeks getting physical therapy.

Unfortunately, she sees disrespect for crossing guards all the time, including frequent one finger salutes. 

"The drivers, they don't, they're in too much of a hurry to get where they want to go. They deliberately break the rules and smile as they do it and put people in danger. A lot of the time we get a lot of mean things said to us," said Corbett.

Add in this: back to school in classrooms, relatively new after the pandemic, was suspended for a long time with most students at home. 

"I can honestly say the driving has, the craziness has gotten a lot worse after the pandemic. It was bad before but it had definitely increased since the pandemic," said Corbett.

Also attending tonight's Lafayette's council meeting, the City Manager, Police Chief, and engineering services manager, the Acalanes Union High School and the Lafayette School District governing boards and superintendents from both districts.