ODESSA, Texas — Earlier this year, Ector County ISD sent out notifications to parents about its concerns over the safety of students who were being dropped off on busy roadways, such as 42nd St. near Permian High School.
The Odessa Police Department and ECISD Police have partnered to increase efforts on safety and traffic enforcement around school zones.
Both departments have transitioned from a warning period that started earlier this year, to now giving out citations to people who illegally drop-off students.
"It is illegal and [parents] shouldn't be parking or stopping on 42nd to unload their children," said Lieutenant Chancey Westfall, who currently oversees west-side patrol operations with ECISD Police. "A better solution would be to access one of the other parking lots at Permian High School or use an adjacent roadway, or road near the school to drop their student off and then let them walk to campus the rest of the way."
Both the ECISD PD and OPD said the biggest priority with this crackdown is not only the safety of drivers, but most importantly the safety of children.
Earlier this year, a student at Odessa High School was struck by a vehicle. This is just one of the accidents Lieutenant Westfall said played a role in this safety concern.
"There's an increased chance that while you pull over to the side of the road and it's clearly marked no parking, that a vehicle can rear in that vehicle or a student is exiting on the driver's side of the vehicle the student can be struck and we're trying to avoid any type of accidents," said Lieutenant Westfall.
According to Lieutenant Westfall, this is something that's being enforced not just on campus, but across the district. Westfall also shared that these are generally going to be Class C misdemeanors.
"We've always been enforcing it," said Steve Lesueur, a corporal with OPD. "Due to some more serious crashes and dozens of complaints in general we were already enforcing it. It's just that, I don't think we were seeing many citations up until now. So now we are zero tolerance."
In the future, there are going to be additional pylons and similar items set on 42nd St. to combat the concerns, according to Lieutenant Westfall.