When it comes to anything claimed or viewed as being “for the kids,” our society today can’t seem to do enough – even when “enough” is outright goofy.  So it should come as no surprise that somebody will use “for the kids” to justify fixing something even if it isn’t really broken.

Case in point: The new City ordinance which reduces the speed limit on the streets adjacent to four of the Park District’s parks – Centennial, Jaycee, Northwest and Woodland – to 20 mph “when children are present and within fifty (50) feet of motorized traffic.”  The fine for first-time offenders: a whopping $250!

Like most wrong-headed laws, this one has superficial appeal.  Who hasn’t experienced, while driving past one of our parks, the occasional soccer ball or baseball expelled from the field of play and into the street, sometimes with a child in hot pursuit?  Nobody wants to see any of these kids going one-on-one with an SUV, mini-van, or even a Cooper Mini.

But guess what?  That rarely happens, probably because most rational people know that driving near a park or anywhere that young children are playing requires extra caution – and they exercise it.  And most rational parents also train their kids, even the young ones, to stay away from the street when playing.  As a result, kids being struck by moving vehicles near our parks are, happily, few and far between. 

But apparently that’s not good enough for the Chicken Littles who see danger lurking around every corner; or for our weak-kneed public officials who govern by knee-jerk capitulation to the lowest common denominators – if enough of them show up at a meeting and make enough noise.

How many serious auto/pedestrian accidents have occurred around Park Ridge parks during the past decade?  Who knows?  Although this new ordinance got approval from both the Park Board and the City Council, it did so with virtually no evidence of how numerous and how serious those accidents have been.  But since the ordinance is “for the kids,” fear is an acceptable substitute for evidence.

From past experience with these Chicken Littles, we can already hear them howling: “Does a child have to die before we do something?”  Of course not!  But if a child’s death by vehicle impact is the standard for action, then the tragic death of young Sam Coberly a few months ago already should have caused the City to ban trucks from Aldine Avenue and ban kids from riding their bikes along Touhy Avenue.

And looking at the bigger picture, how is this ordinance going to be enforced in anything but an uneven and outright arbitrary manner?  How can we reasonably expect the average motorist – or even our police officers – to accurately calculate whether a moving kid is within 50 feet of a moving motor vehicle?

Goofier still, the ordinance as written would apply to kids within that 50-foot “buffer zone” no matter what they are doing.  So a kid sitting on the grass 48 feet from the street waiting for his ride home (and perhaps blocked from the view of the passing motorist by cars parked along the curb) can create a violation just as readily as a kid sprinting after a loose ball 5 feet from the street.  Where’s the common sense to that?

This ordinance will also apply to any person who shall “fail to come to a complete stop at a stop sign or red light…before turning right onto a park zone street.”  Isn’t there already a law dealing with these situations?  Maybe the City is looking for an excuse to bring back those little red signs that say “Stop Means Stop” – perhaps with the added legend “We Really Mean It This Time, Buster!” 

But if the Chicken Littles are really serious about making the streets around parks safer for kids who run out into the street without looking, then reduce the speed limit to 5 mph instead of 20 mph.  Not only will that give motorists a better chance of avoiding darting kids, but it will also reduce the force of any impact that might occur.  And best of all, most motorists who don’t want to drive 5 mph will simply avoid those streets entirely, substantially reducing the possibility of any accident occurring.

Safety – for ALL our residents – is an important issue.  But Chicken Little laws like this new City ordinance not only don’t make us appreciably safer, they make the job of our police officers unnecessarily more difficult.  And they reduce respect for the rule of law and the people who govern us, however goofy and misguided some of those folks might be.