Drivers will see more control in problem areas

NORTH CANAAN — Two traffic and safety issues are being addressed. One is at North Canaan Elementary School, where new rules went into effect Jan. 7; and one is on New High Street, where issues that were once resolved are again a problem.

Resident State Trooper Jason St. John said new drop-off, pick-up and parking procedures at the school will be monitored by himself or other troopers. He was planning to be there on the first day, but the launch date was unexpectedly changed from Jan. 5. 

St. John said he would be away for training on the new date, but requested another trooper be there to help drivers learn and follow the new procedures.  

The new approach follows efforts over the past couple of years to reinforce existing procedures and laws, such as the temporary one-way street designations near the school, which continues to be ignored by some parents and staff. 

More signage has been added and yellow stripes have been painted along a block of Pease Street, to designate where cars can be stopped (with drivers remaining inside) to drop off and pick up. Students will be escorted by school personnel to these areas at dismissal.

While initial plans called for no cars allowed in the bus circle, parents will be allowed to use it for drop-off before buses arrive. St. John said he does not agree with that, but the school safety committee (on which he serves) decided to allow drop-off there.

In a letter to parents detailing the new procedures, Principal Rosemary Keilty wrote, “Technically, the circle is a fire lane, and over the years it has become parking. That was the first big change that was made. The new year will bring other modifications that are common in other schools.”

St. John said traffic safety is one goal, but the major goal is school security. The large number of parents who come into the school to escort their children in the morning and afternoon means the doors are essentially left open to anyone at a time when it is most difficult to monitor activity. 

“Even though the doors are supposed to be locked and everyone buzzed in,” St. John said, “parents hold the doors open for each other, so school security is totally compromised during those times.”

As for the New High Street issue, St. John is seeking to resolve a problem that had been addressed a number of years ago, before he was the town’s resident trooper. He is seeking to make at least part of the block where it intersects with Route 44 a “no parking” zone. 

Cars parked by some residents cause a bottleneck on the steep road that carries much of the traffic for the Green Acres neighborhood and a day care facility. It is also a bus stop for numerous children. The problem was a serious one when parents drove their children to or parked and waited for them at the bus stop.

The school tried to address it by establishing a second bus stop, but New High Street is the only one with sufficient line-of-sight. 

A solution was for parents taking their children to or meeting them at the bus to park on the side street a block up the hill. But that practice has apparently been abandoned. 

St. John said, as with parking at the school, it is much more than a bus stop issue.