Neosho School Zone Speeding Crackdown
By: Eric Crosswhite
Updated: January 30, 2013
"It's scary. For a person that's a parent, it's very scary," states Rosemary Frederick, Parent.
Rosemary Frederick has a 9-year-old daughter attending Central Elementary School in Neosho.
"She wants to walk to school and it's really hard to let her walk to school when you see so many cars going by when they don't see any police cars around," says Frederick.
Frederick's concern is shared by many Neosho parents, school officials, and police officers who all say speeding near schools is becoming a serious issue.
"We have a responsibility and we need to take precautions to safe guard our children," states Dave McCracken, Neosho Police Chief.
Parents can now expect to see patrolman at every school when they drop their kids off in the morning and pick them up in the afternoon. In a recent one week period, 18 drivers received tickets for speeding through one school zone.
"It's generally all over town. We're checking all the school zones and trying to get a balance on what we need to do to rectify the situation," says Chief McCracken.
Officers say there is good reason why streets near schools have 15 mile per hour speed limits.
"The children don't always use all of the precautions that they should when crossing the streets and walking back and forth to school. We as adults, are going to have to watch out for them," says Chief McCracken.
As for Frederick, she has a message for anyone who drives irresponsibly near where her kids go to school.
"Slow down! If you're a parent, you would know how it feels seeing cars going by real fast. You drop your kid off knowing that they're going to be safe but then you see all of these cars going by real fast," says Frederick.
By state law, people caught driving recklessly through school zones will receive heavier fines and could even face jail time. Chief McCracken believes most speeders are aware of the school areas but they just aren't paying attention while behind the wheel.


