PACIFIC GROVE, Calif- It's been almost three years since Joel Woods was killed outside of Pacific Grove Middle School. Woods had just picked up his son and was about to get into his pickup on Forrest Avenue, when Deborah King slammed into him with her car. King was eventually convicted of driving under the influence of several prescription drugs, but despite that, some parents feel the accident could have been avoided.
Judy Smith's children attend Pacific Grove Middle School, and she says Forrest Avenue is simply too narrow, and busy for drop-off zones. Standing outside of the school, looking at a parade of cars drive by, Smith says, "This just makes no sense having it here on a busy street like this."
The Center for Investigative Action wanted to know just how dangerous Forrest Avenue is, so we looked at the accident rates for the past ten years. Out of the 440 accidents on the roadway, only five were in front of the school. Pacific Grove Police Chief Darius Engles says, "The road is really no less safe than any of the roads in pacific grove."
Engles remembers the day Joel Woods died vividly, and understands why some parents want change, but he says there was almost nothing anyone could have done. "When we have accidents of that magnitude and that tragedy, you want to rush to fix it. Unfortunately there is no engineering that will prevent a DUI driver."
Regardless, Parents like Judy Smith think Forest Avenue in front of the school should not have drop-off zones, and they should be moved to the back of the school, to a road that's been closed off to traffic since 1993. The city shut it down to keep kids safe while crossing the street to athletic fields, and they don't plan on opening it again anytime soon. Chief Engles says it could make matters worse, "We always want to be careful about making modifications to roadways because as we place traffic from the front to the back, we very well could create a worse situation in another location."
As far as the School District is concerned, Assistant Superintendent Robin Blakley says there's not much that can be done about the traffic, but the District is trying to improve the situation. "We've even lowered the price of our bus transportation as a way to encourage people to ride the bus, and that way, relieve congestion."
And believe it or not, the congestion could actually be a good thing. Chief Engles says it helps slow down traffic through the school zone, and prevents high speed accidents.
As far as what other safety measures have been taken. The school has drop-off zones on each side of the school, off Forrest Avenue. The city also posted signs banning drop-offs across from the school to prevent kids from crossing through traffic that—according to Chief Engles, the original city engineers never planned for. "We're dealing with streets that really didn't probably intend to have this type of load and arrival of cars every morning, so it becomes incumbent on the driver to be as safe as they possibly can."
