Crossing guards, police urge drivers to slow down near schools

A rubbish truck ran a stop sign.

“You’re supposed to stop!” yelled school crossing guard Beth Mulec.

“‘F’ you!” the driver replied.

“I have kids here!” Mulec said.

“I don’t give a f_ _ _!” the driver yelled back as his truck barreled away.

That’s one of the air-gasping memories for Mulec after nearly 10 years at the corner of Hilo’s Kapiolani and Haili streets.

Had she been in the crosswalk with keiki at the time, she’s certain a tragedy would have occurred.

The Hawaii Police Department has had so many reports of near-misses at school crossings that it has sent out a plea last week to drivers to please slow down and watch for students crossing streets, both in the morning and in the afternoon. Drivers should make the change now — before a kid, or a crossing guard, gets injured or killed, police say.

“Children and school crossing guards have encountered numerous ‘near misses’ in crosswalks fronting elementary schools island-wide,” police said in a written plea to the community.

Mulec said her nephew videotaped a typical day at her corner and it showed two drivers on phones, four not paying attention and nearly crashing, and three running a stop sign despite the presence of crossing guards — in the 45 minutes between 7:15 and 8 a.m.

Hawaii Police Traffic Services Sgt. Robert Pauole said he is worried.

Far too many drivers they plow through intersections without stopping, ignore traffic signals, focus on cellphones and act as if it’s OK to drive erratically.

“These are children. I just don’t understand,” Pauole said.

Kimberlynn Cabrera of Hilo is one of two crossing guards at Mulec’s corner.

“You see the traffic,” she said, nodding at cars all the way to Kinoole Street Friday morning. “It’s bad. Every year, it’s getting worse and worse and worse.”

She wonders if speed bumps at school crossings would help. Drivers get easily confused, especiallywhen some streets are one-way only before and after school.

New crossing guards get skills from police supervisors, by observing more-experienced guards and from personal experience.

They work a short morning shift and another afternoon one, using whistles and hand signals so drivers stop long enough for students to get to school. Guards literally put their lives at risk multiple times daily to protect students.

“Our concern is the children. The children come first,” Cabrera said. “I don’t care. I put my priority, my job, before myself.”

Chyane Kolish works a mid-street crossing on Kapiolani, nearest Hilo Union Elementary School, just a half block from Cabrera and Mulec.

She personally connects with parents, students and other community members who pass. She greets them with a word or two, a wave, a nod or a chat about daily life, family, work or play. She feels great responsibility for students.

“I always try to tell them, ‘Walk behind me,’” she said. “It’s all about their safety.”

When she first started as a crossing guard, the previous one had retired. Nobody filled his shoes for a while — and the kids needed someone.

That’s common, Pauole said.

There’s an unfilled Kohala post that’s been open more than eight years, he said.

The job requires a background check, has no health insurance and only pays for two hours daily without pay on spring break or holidays. Only one of Hilo’s three recent openings has been filled.

Online job posts say the job pays $11.57 per hour to start. When school is closed, like it was Thursday for teacher in-service, crossing guards don’t get paid.

So it takes a love of kids, commitment and an ability to earn less than $500 monthly to be a crossing guard.

“I love what I’m doing,” Cabrera said.

But she and her colleagues across the Big Island join police to ask drivers to slow down near schools, pay attention to the road and watch for crossing guards and the kids under their care.

Email Jeff Hansel at jhansel@hawaiitribune-herald.com.