In wake of crossing guard death, Fort Mill plans new traffic signals at schools
New traffic signals will be installed near some Fort Mill schools to help improve safety, more than a year after a crossing guard was fatally struck by a car while working near a school.
A temporary signal will go in front of Catawba Ridge High School at Fort Mill Parkway and Nims Village Drive. It will be in place for two years, the town announced Monday. Another signal, which will be permanent, will be installed at Dudley Drive and South Dobys Bridge Road in front of Doby’s Bridge Elementary School.
State legislators, road planners, town officials, police and the Fort Mill School District worked to get the new signals. The school district will pay for the one at Catawba Ridge, while the South Carolina Department of Transportation will fund the one at Doby’s Bridge Elementary. The town didn’t provide a cost for the signals.
“Our collective efforts will help ensure that our children, families and all who travel Fort Mill’s roadways remain safe,” Mayor Guynn Savage said in a news release Monday.
Improved traffic safety near schools has been a heated topic in town for more than a year. In March of last year, traffic guard Stanley Brucker, 61, was struck by a car and killed while working in front of the Fort Mill Middle and Fort Mill Elementary school complex.
A week later, citing video of the incident showing Brucker step into a lane of traffic he hadn’t yet stopped, authorities announced charges would not be filed against the driver.
Brucker’s estate later filed a lawsuit against the school district and the driver. The parties have been considering mediation or arbitration options, court records show.
The school district called for safety improvements on roads in front of schools immediately after Brucker’s death, with many of those changes involving state highways. The town of Fort Mill and city of Tega Cay did, too.
All three of those groups noted changes like speed limit reductions would have to come from the state.
Another traffic guard was hit by a vehicle in front of the same school complex in 2018. A guard was struck in 2021 in front of River Trail Elementary School. Last October, only months after Brucker was hit, a traffic guard was struck by a vehicle at Catawba Ridge High School.
Fort Mill loses traffic guards at schools
Days before school started in August, the Fort Mill district announced that it would not have crossing guards on roads in front of schools to direct vehicles. But the district still planned to have guards to help pedestrians get to schools.
School officials warned parents to expect significant traffic changes and asked them to consider having students ride buses.
The Charlotte-based company that the district had been using, Cross Safe, notified school officials that crossing guards wouldn’t be available, according to the district. The announcement angered many parents, who said traffic was already difficult and highways in front of schools already dangerous, even with traffic guards.
“We suffered last year all the days the crossing guards weren’t there,” Nicole Christine posted on a district Facebook message detailing the traffic changes. District posts on the issue drew hundreds of comments.
Fort Mill had lapses in traffic guard coverage the prior school year, including no guards on duty the day after it was announced charges would not be filed in Brucker’s death.
State Rep. David Martin, a Republican in House Dist. 26, took exception to district plans to compensate with the loss of traffic guards largely by eliminating left turns out of some schools.
Martin asked for emergency measures from the state transportation department and law enforcement to include anything from state troopers assisting with traffic to portable traffic signals, beacons and painted crosswalks.
The school district and the municipalities it serves reached an agreement that they announced two days before school started. Police officers would direct traffic at schools for the first two weeks, a timeframe since extended through the end of the calendar year.
Several schools would eliminate left turns exiting the campuses. The district still recommended parents consider having students use buses.
More road safety changes for schools
State issues, from standardized school zone speed limits by road type to legal questions of who has authority to step into public roadways to direct traffic, have created challenges for the Fort Mill school district.
Filing for an emergency measure right before school started was an immediate effort to protect students and families, Martin said. Traffic signals are part of longer-term work.
State legislators from York County are working on legislation that would allow uniformed crossing guards to direct traffic at schools, regardless of whether pedestrians are present. “This project shows what can happen when local and state partners come together to solve real challenges in our community,” Martin said.
He’d like to see another traffic light at some point in front of Fort Mill Middle, but the Catawba Ridge and Doby’s Bridge Elementary sites were quicker solutions that the transportation department presented, Martin said.
Other options like reduced speed limits could work in places, but weren’t as feasible in some problem spots. Fort Mill Parkway, for instance, is a high-volume road where changing the speed limit could create more traffic throughout the day, Martin said.
And while the Catawba Ridge signal is listed as temporary, Martin wants future road widening or extensions with the roads department to keep the signal up beyond two years.
“I’m hoping that that light never goes away,” he said. “That’s the goal. There’s still things to work on.”
This story was originally published October 27, 2025 at 1:23 PM.
