Crossing guards at cross purposes

It’s really quite amusing to watch the new crossing guards on St. Armands Circle. As far as we can tell, they have added no value. 

Or maybe we just don’t understand what their purpose is.

From what we know of crossing guards, their purpose usually is primarily to improve safety for pedestrians in a potentially dangerous crossing area.

But, really, is St. Armands that dangerous for pedestrians? You would have to search far into the archives to find an incident, if any at all, of someone being mowed over in a St. Armands crosswalk. 

So it’s comical as you drive through the Circle to see two guards, standing in the same crosswalk, shepherding pedestrians — as if motorists are too stupid to see the pedestrians, and pedestrians are too stupid to wait for cars to stop.

Surely, many of you have visited other tourist destinations and observed how crossing guards serve a dual purpose — help provide pedestrian safety and expedite the flow of traffic. That often means synchronizing multiple crossing points so pedestrians are all walking at once with cars stopped, or cars are all moving at once with pedestrians stopped.

It seems our new guards could use some coaching. Or perhaps someone at the top needs to determine what their purpose is.

Nice idea. The effort is appreciated. But they’re not really helping much so far. Meanwhile, traffic remains bumper to bumper at both ends of Longboat Key.