The department continues to ensure routes near schools are safe for students, and the department’s leadership team met with Mt. Juliet High School leadership on Monday, March 13 to discuss the concern of dismissal traffic and parking near the school.
The concern stems from motorists and students not following the school’s designated traffic plan to properly pick up a student from school safely and/or not properly parking on school grounds. Motorists are parking in nearby neighborhoods to circumvent the school’s traffic plan, and students are parking on nearby streets and business parking lots to avoid parking on school grounds. The additional, unnecessary pedestrian traffic leads to additional road delays and potential unsafe situations, and nearby neighborhood residents are also frustrated with the additional vehicular traffic.
For afternoon pick up, students have the following safe options:
- A car rider who is picked up in an authorized, safe location that follows the school traffic plan
- A bus rider who loads the bus in an authorized, safe bus loading zone
- A student driver who parks in an authorized parking space at the school and follows the school’s dismissal plan
- A walker who walks to their residence within a safe walking distance from the school, using appropriate crosswalks and sidewalks
For afternoon pick up, motorists should not:
- Impede the flow of traffic by picking up a student while stopped in a travel lane
- Park on unauthorized private or business property to wait and pick up a student
- Park unlawfully on any public street that impedes the flow of traffic, blocks a driveway, or fire hydrant
Extra police officers will be deployed on roadways around the school to ensure motorists are driving safely. Officers will be enforcing any unsafe, unlawful driving behavior or illegal parking. The ultimate goal of everyone is to ensure students have safe routes to and from school. To ensure such, motorists and parents are strongly encouraged to follow the school’s traffic plan and further information provided by school leadership.
