Mother's video shows stop sign ignored

MIAMISBURG, Ohio (WDTN) - At a time when schools are talking about better protecting students from gun violence they might be missing a more obvious threat to children.

Emma Whiller has two children in Miamisburg Middle School at 8668 Miamisburg-Springboro Road.  When the school opened in 2011 it was considered  "state of the art."  Soon after she started sending her children there last fall she became concerned about the state of the parking lot. 

"They've witnessed an almost accident twice, and that's too much," Whiller told 2 NEWS Investigates.

Whiller has been recording videos of drivers failing to stop out in front of the school, particularly during dismissal.   

One video shows a driver actually turning around on the crosswalk, and another shows one who doesn't appear to slow down at all.

We decided to check out the parking lot ourselves.  From across the street we watched children getting out of the school on January 17.  It was difficult to see the stop sign at the crosswalk, but we did see drivers ignoring the stop signs closest to Miamisburg-Springboro Road.

On the road itself there was someone to stop traffic for the children to cross, but when that person was gone, we witnessed how quickly a driver left the lot, ignoring a stop sign.

While the buses were leaving, there appeared to be a continuous flow of traffic in the parking lot with little to no regard to the stop signs.

Whiller says she spoke with the principal, assistant principal, and superintendent of the district. She even recruited the help of the Miami Township Police department which has jurisdiction, but claims no state authority to enforce the stop signs.

Sergeant Jay Phares with the department told 2 NEWS Investigates, "It is a stop sign on private property. The Ohio Revised Code says we really can't enforce stop signs but what I'm saying is if it's dangerous we can write a reckless operation citation for it on private property."

Of course, police would have to witness a violation and Phares said, " We're not unless we're called there for some reason or something.  "We've got 27 other square miles to do."

2 NEWS Investigates got the police department's list of calls for service to the middle school since its opening. Not one call was related to traffic.

The Miami Township Police Department was reluctant to talk about the issue because officers didn't want to publicize that they can't enforce stop signs on private property, but after showing a couple of Whiller's videos to Sergeant  Phares he welcomed a change in law to allow officers to do more.

I asked him, " Would you like see the law changed so you would have more jurisdiction?" Phares responded, "In this case I would."

Ohio schools can erect stop signs on their property as long as they, as stated in Ohio Revised Code, "comply with the Ohio Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices,"  but only law enforcement officers can cite and arrest violators except, again,  when it comes to private property like a school.

Miamisburg School Superintendent David Vail sent me this statement:

"A concern was brought to us by a parent regarding the stop sign that is at our middle school where parents are able to drop off and pick up their students and  at a crosswalk where students, parents, and staff cross to go to a parking lot. The concern was that there were cars observed not coming to a complete stop at that sign. During those times when there is a majority of traffic, both automobile and pedestrian, at the start of the school day and at the end of the school day, there is a staff member there to assure the safe passage of pedestrians. When there are no pedestrians, the traffic is waved through to avoid any back-up that might occur and spill over to the public roadway. We have been using this process since we moved into the middle school and have not had any incidents, of any kind. We will be changing the sign at that juncture to a new sign similar to the ones at malls and other places that alert drivers to stop when pedestrians are present, allowing them to cross. We feel that this will alleviate the concerns of any parents and we will maintain our staff during those times of the day to continue to maintain the safety."

Before our report aired, Dr. Vail sent 2 NEWS Investigates an email indicating a change is in the works.  He wrote he plans to erect a sign within in a couple of days that tells drivers to stop while pedestrians are in the crosswalk.

The school district says there are more than 1300 students at MMS.