crossing guards

[anomie666.livejournal.com]

Does anyone know where I could find the regulations governing crossing guards? Is it something regulated by the State or the town? My google-fu isn't what it used to be.

This morning I was walking through Union Square and I saw a crossing guard dart out in front of traffic on a green light to hold up his "stop" sign to let adults cross the road. Cars had to quickly brake and I'm surprised there wasn't a traffic accident of some sort.

1) Crossing guards shouldn't stop the flow of traffic at green lights, right?

2) Where I grew up, crossing guards wouldn't even hold up their stop sign for adults. They were there to make sure that school age kids crossed the road safely. Only in Massachusetts have I routinely witnessed crossing guards concerned with adults crossing the intersection.

Hopefully it was just because today was brutally cold and he didn't want to wait for a red light.

Comments

[badseed1980.livejournal.com]

I believe that only cops can disrupt the flow of traffic against the lights, but I haven't checked that with regulations.

[somertricky.livejournal.com]

I'd like a price check on that, too. The crossing guard at Broadway and Main is guilty of the same B.S.

I try to put off driving up that way until school's well in session; she can back traffic up halfway to Magoun Square if she's really workin' it.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_mattt/]

I agree, in that only a police officer (or emergency personnel) would have the right to override the traffic signal in this instance*. The question is: can crossing guards take the same right as emergency personnel? I'm guessing the answer is most certainly no.

Crossing guards are meant to assist people in crossing the street legally; such as at crosswalks and on walk signals. Children can be so small that they can be missed by high profile vehicles, plus they lack the judgment to safely cross.

I have never heard of an instance where a crossing guard would be encouraged to let people cross illegally, and it doesn't make sense that they would.

Crossing a street illegally, even with a crossing guard, represents a very dangerous situation for the crossing guard, the pedestrians they are trying to help, and the motorists.

* The right of way in Massachusetts goes: train > emergency vehicles > funeral > traffic signals > pedestrians > bicyclists > motor vehicles.

[ron_newman]

If he's helping people get across the street quickly in frigid weather, that seems to me all to the good.

[jimmyfergus.livejournal.com]

I sympathize with the sentiment, but if there's one thing that's hit home to me again and again after moving to Boston (by negative example): in aggregate, everything goes smoother and faster if everyone just follows the $!@#@$! rules.

[anomie666.livejournal.com]

Not stopping the flow of traffic and potentially killing himself or others in the process. Pedestrians need to wait for a red light in any weather. A few seconds of cold is better than being dead.

[belladonna.livejournal.com]

That's what you think. I legitimately had a moment of "Right now, I think death would be preferable to standing out here on this corner waiting for a bus" during the last cold snap. :(

[somertricky.livejournal.com]

You keep leaving the house dressed like *that* in weather like this, and you're going to catch cold one of these days...

[lac.livejournal.com]

I always get crossed by Crossing Guards around here. I always thought it was a bit odd but I see it all the time. But, I am always at a light or crosswalk.

[badseed1980.livejournal.com]

Same here. The guy who crosses people at the corner of Temple and Mystic where I catch the bus crosses adults as well as kids, but only on a walk signal.

[anomie666.livejournal.com]

It seems weird to me too, but I've been "assisted" by them as well. I don't mind that as much as long as they are not distracted assisting an adult when a kid walks up behind them or tries to cross the opposite facing street.

[anomie666.livejournal.com]

That I don't have a problem at all with (if it is an adult crossing with kids, etc.). I just don't think a single adult needs to have someone walk out with a sign when they are crossing legally at a red light. It seems like that is not only unecessary, but could distract them if a kid try to cross the oppossite facing street.

[daft.livejournal.com]

Possibly this? The crossing guard at the RR bridge on Webster above Union Square has always held traffic for me, something I really appreciate since there's a crosswalk there but no light and a steady flow of traffic during rush hour.
I've never seen her *leap* in front of traffic though.

[dianamp04.livejournal.com]

I've almost run over one of the previous crossing guards on Willow by the school several times because she's jumped in front of my car way before the kids/adults are anywhere NEAR the crosswalk. She'd walk in front of my car after I made the stop and was starting to cross the intersection. It really made me appreciate the nice old man who started after her. (during last year's school year, I haven't driven to work this school year)

[thebostonreader.livejournal.com]

I like that guy; he always waves to me. I'm always on the other side, so I don't know if he would help me cross or not. The dude down by the convenience store sometimes does, though.

[jenskot.livejournal.com]

A crossing guard in Cambridge did actually hold up his sign to let me pass (although it was at a red light), and that was pretty disconcerting. I've been jaywalking in the city since I was 12, give me some credit!

Stay sober, slow down, stop for cows, otherwise you can hit those pedestrians as much as you want

[turil.livejournal.com]

State law offers the not terribly helpful when it comes to what to do about pedestrians in the roadway when driving a car:

"Upon approaching a pedestrian who is upon the traveled part of any way and not upon a sidewalk, every person operating a motor vehicle shall slow down."
~ MGL Chapter 90: Section 14.

And then:

"When traffic control signals are not in place or not in operation the driver of a vehicle shall yield the right of way, slowing down or stopping if need be so to yield, to a pedestrian crossing the roadway within a crosswalk marked in accordance with standards established by the department of highways if the pedestrian is on that half of the traveled part of the way on which the vehicle is traveling or if the pedestrian approaches from the opposite half of the traveled part of the way to within 10 feet of that half of the traveled part of the way on which said vehicle is traveling."

So, according to my take on this, if someone is crossing the street in a crosswalk where there are signals being used, you legally have to slow down, but can legally hit them if you want.

But... according to MGL Chapter 90: Section 24G if you kill them while under the influence of any drugs or alchohol, it's automatically considered vehicular homicide, no matter where the pedestrian is in the roadway. And if you just seriously injure them while under the influence, you automatically get at least 2.5 years in jail (state) or 6 months in jail (local).

And if the pedestrian is a cow, horse, or "other draft animal" you legally have to stop immediately! and be nice to them, if they seem scared. (Again, from CH90, S14.)

[jamiesquared.livejournal.com]

I live near the school on Powder House and the crossing guard there always does this as does the other crossing guard 2 blocks down. In the mornings the guy used to stop traffic to let someone turn illegally on red...the no turn on red sign has been gone for awhile now though.

[curiositykt.livejournal.com]

purely out of curiosity was this the guy at powderhouse sq. at broadway? Cause he does that all the time and it's really annoying.

[anomie666.livejournal.com]

No, it was in Union Square.

[closetalker11.livejournal.com]

I've had that happen to me, and I was equally uncomfortable with the situation.

cedar and highland

[by-lime.livejournal.com]

The guard who stands on the corner of cedar and highland, just plain refuses to walk into the street at all, but that doesn't stop him from waving his stop sign indiscriminately. He caused more annoyance than good this morning when neither the kids trying to cross nor the driver knew who was being signaled. Um, hint: don't wave your stop sign from the opposite street corner.

[sammka.livejournal.com]

I don't know why it would be illegal as long as the state or municipality has authorized the crossing guard to do it. If there were a law it would most likely be a municipal ordinance.

Sometimes traffic patterns (or your priorities about traffic patterns) are different from what they usually are. It's a lot easier to put out a crossing guard in those cases than to keep using the light: the crossing guard is right there, on the ground, and can therefore adjust to what's actually going on at the intersection.

I used to work in DC and every day there were crossing guards at this busy intersection in the business district during rush hour, managing traffic and pedestrians. No schools or children anywhere around, so it's clear that the city intentionally put the crossing guards there to help adults cross the street. An authorized crossing guard could stop cars at a green light because that's the exact reason they were there: to override the traffic light system in light of actual traffic patterns at that moment in time. Disobeying the traffic guard was a moving violation (or jaywalking, if you were a pedestrian), regardless of what the light said. Those guards were not to be messed with. And I'm pretty sure it was the best system they could have had to manage that kind of volume of traffic/pedestrians.

If I were you I'd be annoyed at how the guard darted out, which is dangerous, but not at the guard's existence.