Dangerous driving near Lakeside school leads to safety proposal – NBC 7 San Diego

A terrifying scene that unfolded during a school drop-off in August near a Lakeside school has lead to a safety proposal from a school board member.

On the morning of Aug. 20, with parents lined-up in cars and children filling the sidewalk toward Tierra del Sol Middle School, a Dodge Durango hopped the curb on Petite Lane and drove onto the sidewalk, nearly hitting students.

The car drove on the sidewalk towards the school, then just a few minutes later, back on the sidewalk, away from the school. The car nearly hit a boy on a bicycle, clipped a Ford Explorer, made a dangerous right turn on Julian Avenue and sped off.

Numerous parents captured video of the incident on their phones and dashboard cameras.

Andrew Hayes, a Lakeside Union School Board Member and former student at Tierra Del Sol, had a hard time watching video of the incident.

“I was dumbfounded, I couldn’t believe what I was watching, it was out of a horror movie in my mind,” Hayes said.

Hayes used to walk to school on that same Petite Lane sidewalk where the car narrowly missed hitting kids. In an effort to keep this from happening again, Hayes came up with a safety proposal.

In an interview with NBC 7 at the exact spot where the car hopped onto the sidewalk, Hayes explained the key part of his proposal.

“We want to put in some metal barriers that could go right here along the way. So kids can still walk to school, but the barriers could resist or stop a car from jumping up onto the sidewalk,” Hayes said.

The proposal to but barriers on the sidewalk at Petite Line just a few yards from the school is tricky because Lakeside Union School District does not own the land the sidewalk is on. The school property ends just a few feet away and San Diego County owns the sidewalk. So, the school district and the county would have to work together to install any protective barriers.

“Safety for our kids matters, but we just need permission to do the work here, so we need to have those conversations with the County,” Hayes said.

As for a timeframe when Lakeside residents might expect to see barriers installed, Hayes said, “For me? Yesterday is when we should get it done, but I think by end of the year we should be able to get something done here.”

Part of Hayes’ plan is not just to increase traffic safety measures at Tierra del Sol, but at all schools across the Lakeside Union School District, so Hayes reached out to the California Highway Patrol for additional help.

“The CHP was more than happy to help. They increased patrols in the area and are also doing site visits to each of our school sites to let us know how we can improve our sites traffic flow, so that we may be able to prevent something like this in the future,” Hayes said.

The safety proposal, which still needs to be approved by the school district, has received positive feedback from parents, said Hayes.

“Parents are happy that we are taking action. They were scared for the lives of their kids and scared for other parents’ kids. They’re fearful about how are we are going to prevent this from happening again. They’re excited we’re doing something and taking action. We want to see something good happen,” Hayes said.