You are correct in stating that there are significant problems with the traffic flow at the Malcom White school. Unfortunately, the traffic issues are infrastructure issues, wherein the current roadway design is incapable of managing the traffic volume during drop-off and pick-up times at the school. The Police Department has no control over the infrastructure issues at the school, and as such, we are not capable of managing issues other than public safety.

Therefore, I will address your concerns related to those areas that we can control. In addressing your first point, you are correct. Parents should not be parking in the middle lot and allowing their children to cross the flow of traffic in the main drop off line. I spoke with the school today and they informed me that they have begun blocking the middle lot again today. We will follow up in person by having police officers monitor to ensure compliance.

As you stated, "traffic in the main lane backs out onto Bow Street". Without question, this occurs and there is nothing that can be done to resolve that issue given the current infrastructure of the school. For approximately fifteen minutes, traffic is extremely congested on Bow Street. This is occurring because the drop off area which is along the school requires that parents bring their vehicles to a complete stop and allow their children to exit and move up onto the sidewalk. The Police Department spent the first two weeks at the school working with parents to make certain that this is an orderly and safe process. Frantic and hurried parents who are late for work or other commitments are a serious safety concern in drop off areas, so the process will remain exactly as it is now to ensure safety of the children. If this results in a backup of traffic during the process, the police department will accept this as a necessary evil to keep the children safe. Parents need to approach this process with a complete focus on safety. Unfortunately, that slows down the process, but is necessary to avoid a tragedy.

I would like to address your second concern as well. I am not certain what you mean by detail officers, but neither police officers, nor the crossing guard park along the curb on the right side? The crossing guard parks her vehicle in the cut out on Bow Street and the Police Officers park in the middle section when they are at the building. Last week, an officer was sent on several occasions to the school to cover a post for a crossing guard. He parked in the continuation of the fire lane in an area marked as No Parking. He/she is an on duty police officer, in a marked police cruiser, who is conducting a temporary assignment during their shift and could be called away for an emergency in a moments notice. That is precisely one of the functions of a fire lane, which is to allow emergency vehicles to park in order to provide public safety in the most expedient manner. I was at the school personally twice last week to monitor drop off and observed no vehicles parked along the curb. In addition, and more to the point, this is NOT a lane as you stated. In fact, that is a continuation of the fire lane and is marked as a No Parking area and vehicles should not be traveling there either. Any vehicles that form a second lane and drive up along the curb would be in violation of "passing on the right" and subject to civil fines and liability should there be a motor vehicle crash. Thus, your complaint on this aspect is unfounded as driving in that fashion would be illegal.

We can and will review and study the idea of a "Right Turn Only" and determine if this will safely aid the flow of traffic, however, there are not two lanes as it currently stands.

We will review the Right Turn Only aspect and work in concert with the school department to determine feasibility of this concept.

If you have any further questions, please feel free to email me directly at rmooney@woburnpd.com

Sergeant Raymond Mooney
Traffic Unit Supervisor

Please don't mistake my original point: I have no concerns at all with the single file nature of drop-off. When it works well and the exit of the school is not obstructed, dropping the kids off in a single line is perfectly appropriate. Both the school administration and the police seem to be particularly touchy about this point. This was not at all a part of my original post and is not a concern.

I would respectfully suggest that the driveway exiting the school is excessively wide for a single lane, the fire lane isn't marked as a "lane" other than printing on the ground (which per state and local laws is an indication that there is no parking there). An officer parked in the guest parking spots, not 10 feet away, could exit for an emergency in a moment's notice as well. As in many parts of our region where roadways poorly marked seem to leave the driving rules to the driver's imagination, there is nothing about the driveway that would suggest that it is NOT appropriate to form a right turn and a left turn lane out of the parking lot, as has been done throughout the short history of this school and in every other similar driveway that exists, at least in this part of the country. Furthermore, if vehicles do not form two exit lanes as they exit the school, the traffic will daily reach complete gridlock, not 15 minutes of extreme congestion. Dropoff will be impossible, not just difficult. If you'd like to ask the school to properly mark the exit driveway with single lane markings, then that would help drivers to know the appropriate rules in this roadway. What you state is contrary to all driving conventions, and "educating" me and only others that view this forum isn't going to fix the problem. We may all wish that things were different, and that drivers in Massachusetts always know the rules and follow them without fail, but without appropriate road markings this will not happen. A person attempting to form a single lane in this area will create havoc with other drivers not understanding what is going on.

Please don't mistake my concern and desire to make things better for any disrespect. I think that some of the concerns mentioned in my original request are being misunderstood. So many traffic problems in our city and in other local cities could be corrected with appropriate road markings and signs, rather than just getting angry that people aren't following the rules that they don't know.

I thank you for considering the idea of right turn only. Certainly it may not happen, but your review of this idea is appreciated.