BY TANYA ALBERT
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Edgewood Police Chief Steve Vollmar is extra vigilant when he's running radar in a school zone.
He's in the open, standing outside his car, radar gun clearly visable in his hand. It's a stance that means business and comes from the heart.
"One of the worst things I have to do is go to a scene where a kid is hurt," he said. "Because you can't stop thinking, "What if it were your kid?' "
This cool, crisp fall morning -- dressed in his dark blue uniform and stately police hat -- he's standing on a sidewalk along Dudley Road with Hinsdale Elementary School just across the street. Yellow school buses, with children's faces pressed against the window, and minivans full of grade-schoolers pass by. He returns a few waves.
A car approaches. He lifts the lightweight gray, hand-held radar gun, points it at the oncoming car and locks in the speed. No problem. This one is within the speed limit.
When someone is above the limit, Chief Vollmar steps out into traffic, locking eyes with the driver. Then he walks up to the driver, breaks the news and says, "Slow down."
Even with the shift to Eastern Standard Time over the weekend, many children still head to school before it is fully light. In most communities, the trip to school coincides with the morning rush hour. Commuters in hurry. Kids not paying attention.
But whether it's predawn darkness or afternoon light, ignoring school-zone speed limits is an invitation for disaster.
There are about 500 schools in the Tristate, each with posted speed limits of 20 or 25 mph. And each school has a population of kids, from young kindergartners to overconfident teens, who might step out into the road at the wrong moment. To hit a child while driving is probably everyone's worst nightmare. I know it's mine.
When Chief Vollmar or one of his officers nabs someone speeding in a school zone, the driver usually is apologetic.
In a hurry. Late for work. Lost in thought.
Many times the chief and his officers let people off with a warning. Other times, if its a day of "blitz enforcements" -- when the department just decides to write everyone up and offer no warnings -- some hefty tickets are written.
If drivers do not understand the importance of slowing to 20 or 25 mph in school zones, maybe a minimum $73.20 fine and a blemish on their driving record will help them remember.
Chief Vollmar wants to make an impression, because sometimes people "just don't realize how fast a bad accident can develop." Pat Schneider, 66, of Colerain Township, does. And she wishes more drivers would share that awareness.
The mother of seven worried about her children every day they went to school. Now a grandmother of 13, she is appalled at the dirty looks other drivers give her as they pass in a school zone -- well above the posted speed limit.
"I just can't believe how fast they go through school zones," she says. "If a paper flies out of a child's hand, it would be easy for them to run into the street."
Cheviot parent Jo Koch agrees. "I want to give myself a chance to stop. I know from my own kids, they don't look."
Chief Vollmar knows excuses don't matter if a child is run over by a car. He's seen the horror of it.
Edgewood police are out every day in school zones. Despite being the top cop in Edgewood, Chief Vollmar still pulls some shifts standing by the side of the road in a school zone.
Chief Vollmar flashed a boyish smile downward as he guided a small boy bogged down by a backpack across the busy intersection. He stands out in his formal uniform, but it's his compassion for kids that struck me the most.
Standing by his side, I asked why he took this kind of work so seriously; why make school zones such a high priority?
Pointing the radar gun at the next oncoming car, he replied: "The children are so full of life and zeal."
Tanya Albert's "Commuting" column appears each Monday in the Metro section. Contact her by e-mail at tmalbert@enquirer.com, phone 768-8389; FAX: 768-8340; or mail 312 Elm St., Cincinnati 45202 .
