A dangerous situation: Car horns sound as children “are playing ‘Frogger” outside Lake Ridge Elementary School

LAKE RIDGE — For about 15 minutes prior to the start of the school day, it’s a frenzy outside Lake Ridge Elementary School.

Mornings at any school can be hectic, but here at Lake Ridge on Hedges Run Drive, children and parents are dropping off children at a side entrance to the school, resulting in children and their parents darting out in front of oncoming vehicles, drivers slamming on brakes and stopping in the middle of the street, car horns blowing, and drivers making illegal u-turns.

Instead of driving to the school’s main entrance as school officials would like them to do, parents, on a daily basis, drop off their children at the entrance meant only for children who walk to school. Children and their parents dart across traffic, with no crosswalk, in plain view of a uniformed crossing guard posted about 500 feet away at the school’s main entrance.

“It’s just easier to drop off here than to drive into the entrance,” said Alexandra Marks, whose husband stopped the family’s Prius on the street allowing she and her 6-year-old son to get out of the car. She helped him put on his jacket and then walked him to the school building.

Once her son is inside, Marks returns to the street to find her husband waiting in the car. By now, he’s made an illegal U-turn, crossing a double yellow line on Hedges Run Drive. She gets in and the car pulls off.

It’s those illegal U-turns that got the attention of State Delegate Hala Alaya, who stood at the walker’s entrance Tuesday morning, alongside officials from the county school division and the Virginia Department of Transportation to call attention to what she says is a safety concern.

“These children are playing ‘Frogger’ out here on the street, dodging cars, and we don’t want anyone to get hurt,” said Alaya, referencing a video game from 1981. Alaya lives nearby, and who once had children attend Lake Ridge Elementary School.

There have been calls for VDOT to post a no U-turn sign to discourage drivers from turning around on the double yellow line. There’s been one suggestion to erect a fence, closing the walkers’ entrance altogether.

By drawing attention to the issue, the delegate hopes the schools and transportation officials can work together to find a solution. Occoquan District Supervisor Ruth Anderson is also aware of the problem, a senior aide told Potomac Local and is working on a solution.

Barbara Larrimore is the PTO president at Lake Ridge Elementary School. She says a solution to the problem should come in three forms:

1. A new sidewalk across the street from the walkers’ entrance (a row of houses sit across from the entrance but there is no sidewalk)
2. A new crosswalk painted on Hedges Run linking a new sidewalk to the walkers’ entrance.
3. A no U-turn sign

Larrimore knows that a new sidewalk would be expensive and its construction could be years off, if ever. And, without the new sidewalk, well, there’s no need for a new painted crosswalk to nowhere.

She’s bullish, however, on that no U-turn sign.

Police have patrolled the area and write tickets to those who make illegal U-turns. Most, she says, get off in court with a warning.

“The police can’t be here every day, and a judge who’s never been here has no idea about the problems we face,” said Larrimore.

A solution to the problem, it seems, is up to parents who appear to be at the root of the cause.

“Unfortunately, drivers make U-turns there, causing an unsafe situation. We have sent multiple communications to parents to remind them of the potential safety issues caused by U-turns, and encouraged them not to make U-turns there,” said Prince William County Public Schools spokeswoman Diana Gulotta.