Responsibility begins with crossing street

If there is one certainty in life it is that there is no legislating personal responsibility. It is with this thought that we say raise the speed limit on Saliman Road to 35 mph, create a school zone in front of Carson High School and enforce all three school zones in front of Carson, Fremont and Seeliger elementary schools.

If by high school our children can't take enough responsibility for themselves to "look both ways before crossing the street," how do we dare allow them the privilege of a driver's license, commit them to following traffic laws and expect them to excel in college?

If by high school parents haven't found the words and the way to teach responsibility for one's actions - at the least to "look both ways before crossing the street" - we should hold both parent and student after school, at recess, at lunch and before school to serve as crossing guards.

The Carson City Sheriff's Deputies who are already on scene at each of the school's break times could issue a citation where the penalty for the offending student crosser, the offending parent who did not stop for students in the crosswalk, or the resident speeder is to act as a crossing guard for a week. Students would have to serve time with their parents and vice versa.

Thousands of dollars could be spent making a pedestrian bridge over Saliman, hundreds of thousands of dollars could be spent creating more ways into and out of the high school but $100 or so for a few orange vests and hand-held stop signs and time spent as a crossing guard would go further toward creating personal responsibility.

The threat of having to stand there attired in bright orange should act as a deterrent on its own.

This penalty would be better than the ultimate penalty - paying for that lack of responsibility with your life. Crossing the street is one of life's first lessons. It comes before deciding whether to catch a ride with a stranger, whether to drink and drive, whether to practice safe sex or not.

If we can't be there for all of those decisions, we can be there to help them cross one of life's streets.