As parents, staff and students leave school in a mass exodus each day, something is notably missing: left (Southbound) turns. Every day, until 4:00 p.m., traffic is restricted by cones placed in the left-turn lane.
“ Obviously, we’re always trying to make changes as far as to make the campus safer. We have a lot of young drivers here, obviously with less experience, trying to go onto a highway,” Officer Monte Keller said.
Although Keller is sometimes an enforcer of the cones, they weren’t his doing.
“I think it was 2019. Some of the former graduating classes made it a project to try to get a stoplight put out in front of the high school there on the highway,” Keller said. “So they had DOT engineers come here, there were representatives from the city, the police chief and the high school principal. It was a pretty big deal.”
After deliberation, DOT engineers returned. Although the students had pushed for one, the engineers decided that a stoplight was not the best option.
“Restricting left turns out of ADM high school during certain times of the day is a great idea,” an email from the DOT read. “[It] is widely practiced across the country.”
Although the cones have good intentions, some students — those who live South of the school — have perceived negative effects of restricted left turns. One student is senior Hailey Lensch.
“ I see a lot of people will either ignore the cones and turn left anyway or will take longer routes to get home. Kind of swerve around them and end up taking a left,” Lensch said. “ It’s there for a good reason, just it doesn’t have a good effect.”
Lensch explained that this additional commute time is fine for some, but can seriously delay plans or extracurriculars. Keller addressed concerns of inconvenience.
“ Obviously, we [The Adel Police Department] are in communication and we’re all here together to try to make a safer environment for schools, both inside and outside the building,” Keller said.
Keller also noted the potential consequences of disobeying the left turn rules.
“ Occasionally, I hear information from other staff members that people are going around and trying to make a left turn,” said Keller. “ And those individuals could face some consequences. Those cones can be considered traffic control devices. A person could potentially get stopped for cones as a traffic violation.”
Keller repeatedly emphasized the importance of safety, explaining that it always trumps speed or convenience.
“ Sometimes people think that these things are just in place, and they’re a hindrance, but it’s, like I said, the school and the police department,” Keller said. “ We try to make the environment as safe as possible, both in and out of the school. And we feel that this is one of those things.”
