SC lawmaker wants emergency measures to handle Fort Mill school traffic
State Rep. David Martin wants a better solution to the Fort Mill School District’s loss of traffic guards, which could include state troopers or other law enforcement groups helping when school starts Monday.
The district announced Wednesday there won’t be guards directing traffic in front of schools, after a third-party vendor informed the district itcouldn’t provide them. Martin, a Republican whose Dist. 26 covers Fort Mill east of Interstate 77, issued a formal objection Thursday to district plans for right-turn-only traffic patterns at several schools.
There will be guards to guide pedestrian traffic, but they won’t go into roadways to direct vehicular traffic.
Martin sent a letter Thursday to the heads of the South Carolina Department of Transportation, South Carolina Department of Public Safety, Fort Mill School District and town of Fort Mill. Relying only on right-turn access at schools, with no guards to direct traffic, “introduces serious public safety risks” and is a “dangerous decision,” he wrote.
Changing patterns without stakeholder input and this close to a new school year “creates more risk than it resolves,” Martin wrote.
When the district posted about the issue on Facebook, irate parents lit up the comments section. “It seems disastrous planning is becoming a troubling trend,” oner person wrote.
Another added, “I pray for the children that live in the developments across from the schools on these busy highways. I truly hope it’s not going to progress from a crossing guard being hit and killed to a child losing their life next.”
Martin’s letter asks the state transportation department for an emergency safety pilot designation for the area around Catawba Ridge High, Fort Mill Middle and Fort Mill, River Trail, Riverview and Tega Cay elementary schools.
And it asks for portable traffic signal trailers, flashing beacons, temporary signage or painted crosswalks at school exits until long-term traffic control measures are there “to ensure safety and legal compliance.”
The letter asks state highway patrol to provide troopers or officers from mutual aid law enforcement agencies during school drop-off and pick-up. Martin references a section of state law authorizing interagency law enforcement aid in times of public safety need.
The letter also asks the school district to suspend its right-turn-only plans until the requested safety measures are in place.
Martin runs a law office in Fort Mill. He has a daughter who drives to school, and sending teen drivers on unfamiliar detours with no one to direct busy traffic can create unsafe conditions, he told The Herald on Thursday morning.
“I’m definitely concerned,” he said. “I’ve got some solutions that I’ve proposed. I believe the statutes allow them to make emergency actions when public safety is involved.”
This is a developing story
