Letters: Philadelphia school crossing guards vs. real danger

THANK you, Jennifer Cullen (

letters, June 20, "The True Value of Crossing Guards"

), for pointing out that saving tax dollars by eliminating school crossing guards on corners with traffic lights is dangerously misguided.

And it isn't only the traffic making illegal turns and racing on yellow to beat the light that our schoolkids need to fear.

As all pedestrians know, too many drivers stopped at red lights focus only on that round green starter pistol. Walkers who enter an intersection without the peripheral attention of drivers via eye contact are at risk.

It's so bad that Philly pedestrians are practically safer crossing on the red after scanning in all four directions. Now, sadly imagine a child too short to be seen above a pickup truck's grill running off the curb into an intersection unguarded by the outstretched arms of a Philadelphia school crossing guard.

Jim Capps, Philadelphia