Crowd control

Yesterday my route happened to take me past the junior high school just as it had let out. I was at position A on the map, wanting to turn right, and a crossing guard had stopped traffic in all three directions. I waited patiently as dozens and dozens and dozens of students crossed (orange arrow), three and four abreast.

The crossing guard finally interrupted the flow of students so traffic could move not only through this intersection but also at the traffic light controlled intersection a block away, where I wanted to turn left (B on the map).  A mass of children was crossing to the south, and another mass waited to cross eastward.

When my light turned green I had to wait for all the kids and oncoming cars to cross. I managed to make my way through on the yellow. So it goes sometimes.

But what impressed me as I waited was the calm orderliness of the children. No spreading into the street as they waited, no jaywalking, no dilly-dallying, no cluelessness, just deliberate, disciplined, densely-packed troop-like movements. Impressive.

One slightly peculiar thing I noticed: about 90% for the students were wearing black shirts of various styles. Some wore black pants or shorts. Or black hats. Was it the school color? Mourning attire for Pope Francis? Just the prevailing local early teen fashion trend? Something to ponder as I drove out of town.