Yorba Linda : Guard Eliminated at School Crossing

Students who cross an intersection near Van Buren Elementary School will no longer be helped across by a crossing guard.

On Tuesday, the City Council voted to eliminate the guard at Richfield Road and Buena Vista Avenue and instead paint crosswalks on all four sides of the intersection.

City engineer Roy Stephenson made the recommendation to remove the crossing guard after a survey one morning and one afternoon last December showed the number of students crossing the streets before and after school was below city guidelines.

“We review all intersections to see if they still warrant crossing guards,” Stephenson said. “There has been a reduction in pedestrian traffic at the intersection as a result of new busing.”

The city’s guideline calls for a crossing guard whenever at least 40 elementary school children use a crossing going to or from school, and the number of cars that pass through the intersection exceeds 350 during the time children are walking to or from school.

At Richfield and Van Buren, six students and 646 cars were counted from 7:30 to 7:55 a.m. on Dec. 8. That same afternoon, 16 students crossed those streets and 704 vehicles used the intersection, according to the survey.

Parents of several students who cross those streets to get to school were upset about the city’s plan to eliminate the crossing guard. They pointed out that the speed limit is 45 miles per hour on Richfield and 40 miles per hour on Buena Vista. They also said drivers on Buena Vista cannot see the intersection until they are nearly upon it because the street curves and rises on either side of Richfield.

But city officials said students can cross with the guard at Van Buren Street and Buena Vista, one block west of the Richfield intersection.

The Richfield crossing guard will be reassigned on Monday to an intersection near Fairmont Elementary School.