Solar-Powered Crossing Signs Part Of $1M School Safety Makeover
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FORT WORTH (CBSDFW.COM) - A dozen schools in Fort Worth will have upgraded school zone safety signs to start the new school year in a program that could quickly grow to impact a large number of the 200,000 students in the city.
"With the crossing guard, right?" Emily Arreola quizzed her four kids as they reviewed safety rules next to a South Fort Worth school crossing. "All together, right?"
Arreola understands the perils of school zones in area streets.
"People on cell phones, speeding, people busting U-turns. It's horrible," she said. "It makes me very,very angry."
Fort Worth spent $1 million during the summer trying to make first-day-of-school chaos safer.
"We upgraded signs so that they are now the new fluorescent green color," said Fort Worth spokesperson Janice Thompson-Burgess. "And, we'll also put in some flashing signs to alert people that children are in the area walking to school," said Fort Worth Spokesperson, Janice Thompson-Burgess.
The schools received the safety zone makeovers as part of the pilot program.
Solar-powered crosswalk signs flash brightly to warn drivers to stop for kids crossing. Other signs flash the driver's speed. Solar-powered school zone signs will flash for longer periods of time after school.
And all of these school zones are smaller, compacting all the signs in a tighter area to grab and hold driver's attention.
It's a plan Arreola likes.
"Yes, very good," she said. "Anything they can do to help people slow down I think is great."
And it's a plan Fort Worth hopes to expand in a big way.
"We serve 16 school districts and over 200,000 students," Thompson-Burgess said. "So this will continue to be a priority on this."
The signs were mostly payed for with bonds approved by voters. The city could ask voters for even more money to expand the program within the next couple of years.
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