The intersection at Lemon and Valencia, home to Maple Elementary School, is getting some much-needed safety improvements. For years, local residents have requested better safety features to protect children in and around the school, the intersection, Lemon Park, and the surrounding residential areas from speeding and careless drivers. Residents have expressed significant concern for the safety of students as well as the school crossing guard, who parents say has nearly been hit multiple times.

Center for Healthy Neighborhoods Liaison Egleth Nuncci recalls these discussions going back years. Traffic injuries and fatalities in the United States have risen since 2010 to over 40,000 per year, the highest in the world per the National Safety Council (NSC). Speed is known to be a major factor. In addition to unsafe driver behavior, the area around Lemon and Valencia could be more pedestrian-friendly. The sidewalks along Valencia are narrow and difficult to traverse for those using mobility aids like walkers, scooters, and wheelchairs.

Local advocate Yolanda Harrison reports that her scooter, which is her main mode of transportation, broke on uneven sidewalk pavement on Valencia Ave last summer, limiting her mobility. Lemon’s west sidewalks are narrowed due to utility poles and overgrowth from bushes and are barely wide enough for wheelchairs and scooters. The interior of the historic Lemon Street Overpass, whose beautiful exterior murals are being updated, is unsafe and is not ADA-accessible. Because there is no other safe way to cross Lemon, pedestrians are routed all the way to the Valencia intersection.

A June 2023 community walk through the area gathered community members and leaders, school officials, and members of the Fullerton Police Department to identify problems and advocate for improvements, which were echoed at a Coffee with Principal Abney event at Maple Elementary in October 2023. In response to these concerns, the City of Fullerton and the Fullerton School District are taking these problems seriously and are implementing several improvements.

• A Red Turn Arrow will be implemented for traffic turning southbound onto Lemon from eastbound Valencia to protect pedestrians from car drivers checking for traffic to their left instead of pedestrians to their right. This will replace the current No Turn on Red sign.
• Leading Pedestrian Intervals (LPIs) are a proven safety measure being implemented at all crossings that allow pedestrians to start crossing a few seconds before vehicular traffic gets a green light, improving visibility. LPIs are so effective that a new 2022 law requires all new CalTrans-controlled intersections to employ them.
• The pedestrian crossing interval is being extended to allot more time to cross the intersection.
• A speed limit monitor was added in front of the school.
• An All-Red Interval will hold all traffic lights at red for a couple of seconds before the next traffic cycle begins. This would allow red light runners to clear the intersection, reducing the risk of collisions that could ricochet cars into pedestrians or the school.

The uneven sidewalk on Valencia in front of the school has been replaced. Fullerton City Council unanimously supported a Permissive Protected Left Turn signal for traffic turning left from northbound Lemon. Left turns would be permitted only on a green arrow. The change fully separates car travel from pedestrian crossings to protect pedestrians.

Fullerton Traffic Bureau Commander Lt. Tony Bogart calls the change a “great idea,” as the three reported traffic collisions that have occurred at the intersection in the past year were all due to Failure to Yield. For driver convenience, this change is only in effect during school hours and upon request for special school events. Lt. Bogart has made it a priority to station officers at schools during morning dropoffs to deter unsafe driving and enforce safe driving.

Fullerton School District Trustee Ruthi Hanchett has led the effort to replace the existing fencing around Maple Elementary with taller, crash-rated fencing due to the risk of cars crashing into the school and potentially injuring children in the playground. Across the US, it is estimated that 100 cars crash into buildings every day. Ms. Hanchett explains that the school district has taken safety concerns very seriously and has expedited a review to consider further improvements. Because Lemon is a high-traffic-volume road, safety measures like additional pedestrian crossings at Ash, Rosslyn, and Elm, or a pedestrian “scramble” in which all directions of traffic stop to allow pedestrians to cross from all sides, are not currently being considered as they could cause traffic congestion.

The City of Fullerton has obtained grant funding through the federal Safe Streets for All program to improve the safety of pedestrians and bicyclists and is actively working on improving school zone safety. These positive and proactive changes are a step in the right direction for the Lemon and Valencia intersection and will improve the safety of pedestrians, bicyclists, those with mobility limitations, and most of all, the Maple Elementary children who cross the intersection every day to get to school.