Williamston Police Chief Tony Taylor said he met with Anderson School District One Assistant Superintendent Robbie Binnicker Wednesday morning to discuss recent complaints of traffic problems in the Palmetto schools area.
Taylor said he has had no complaints directly from the community regarding the traffic issue, however social media has been abuzz for the last two weeks, including discussions on The Journal’s facebook page.
Taylor said the Assistant Superintendent also said he also was not aware there was a problem.
Apparently some of the problem is parents and students arriving at the schools at the last minute, just before school starts.
“There are more than 2000 students arriving in that time span in the morning,” Taylor said. “Students are arriving by bus and cars at the last minute.”
One suggestion was for drivers to leave earlier to avoid the heavy traffic.
School doors open at 7:20 a.m. each morning, Taylor said. West Pelzer Elementary opens at 7:30 a.m..
Taylor said school resource officers are assisting at crossings to make sure students get across the road safely, but do not help with directing traffic.
“Our resource officers are not there for traffic control,” he said.
Taylor said SRO do help at crosswalks because “there are no crossing guards to assist kids getting across the streets.”
Some of the complaints are of police officers stopping vehicles which in turn creates more backup and delay.
Chief Taylor said the department has had complaints of speeding in the school area and his officers have been addressing that to make sure students are not run over by a vehicle.
“That is why we were working traffic in the school area,” he said. “To address the speeding.”
“I apologize for any inconvenience.,” the Chief said. “We are trying to make sure students can cross crosswalks in a safe manner.”
