Parents Report Several Close Calls at Olympic View Elementary Crosswalks

Parents at Olympic View Elementary in Oak Harbor say walking home from school has become fraught with near-misses as children negotiate crosswalks near busy roads. The original report of those concerns quoted a parent fragment, "'You need to be careful", and parents described "several close calls" between vehicles and students.

Local planning documents and site observations add broader context for those worries. A village planning excerpt includes a photo captioned, "A student crossing SR 163 close to Oak Harbor High School, October 2024." The same assessment identifies the SR 163 and Benton Street area as a safety concern because of speed, commuter traffic peaks that align with student arrival and dismissal, and a limited sidewalk network. The assessment notes a crosswalk across SR 163 with sidewalks on the south side opposite the high school property, but says there is not a crosswalk at the intersection of Benton Street and Oak Street. It also reports that "traveling southeast, SR 163 merges with the local north-south road of Benton Street and traffic does not stop," creating continuous flows that may endanger pedestrians.

On-site observations recorded students crossing SR 163, walking along the side of the road and then on school grounds, and described the grass path as a hazard: "the grass on the school grounds. This is an obvious safety issue, particularly at times of the year when arrival times are dark with limited visibility." Those conditions raise public health concerns for child pedestrian injuries, especially for families who depend on walking or biking rather than driving.

North Church Street and Park Street, about 0.25 miles from Oak Harbor High School and R.C. Waters Elementary/Oak Harbor Intermediate, was recently converted to a four-way stop. Village officials have identified that intersection as one that could warrant further evaluation and potential pedestrian crosswalk enhancements, naming raised crosswalks and flashing beacons as possible measures.

The planning document also flags school crossing resources and barriers to active transportation. It states that R.C. Waters Elementary School and Oak Harbor Intermediate have adult crossing guards at locations that predate the Intermediate School, listing Ottawa Street and Locust Street and East Main Street and Maple Street; a third location name is truncated in the excerpt. Survey fragments in the document name top barriers to biking as convenience of driving for parents, lack of sidewalks or pathways, distance, and lack of bicycle infrastructure. The excerpt contains inconsistent percentage figures for those barriers, and the methodology and sample size are not included, so the statistics require verification.

For Island County families, these reports underscore unequal access to safe routes to school and the potential for preventable harm. Village officials have signaled intersections for further review; parents and school advocates say more data, clearer crossings and timely infrastructure fixes are needed. Follow-up reporting will seek full planning documents, police and school incident records, and comment from school and village officials on concrete timelines for improvements.