Longmont crossing guard employs creative tactics to slow traffic

In his first couple of years working as a crossing guard for Mountain View Elementary and Longs Peak Middle School, Richard Showers began to get discouraged. His job is to keep kids safe, but too many drivers were speeding.

“It’s 20 miles per hour — I mean, it’s the length of a football field from when the light starts and the light stops — but people are so distracted and so busy,” he said. “And not everybody, obviously, but when you’ve been doing this for so long, you can go, ‘hmm that’s 40 mph, that’s 50,’ and I’ll even hold my sign up and step out into the street, and they’ll look at me and shoot right past.”

The dedicated crossing guard said he grew frustrated, and even began to accept that there wasn’t much he could do to stop cars from speeding through the 14th Avenue and Francis Street intersection where he worked. 

But then a 4th grader named Deshaun inspired Showers to feel empowered.

“Deshaun is walking across the street, and I go, ‘Hey Deshaun! Have a great day!’ and he goes, ‘I will,’” Showers said. “I thought, how many times do we have a chance in our lives when people say ‘hey have a great day’ and our response is, ‘thanks, you too,’ but not from elementary school kids — I go, ‘have a great day’ and they go, ‘OK, I will’ — it’s like, they already feel empowered as kids.”

The young student inspired the crossing guard to take action.

“I thought, ‘don’t ever underestimate the power of one,’ and so I get out there … I went to City Council and made a presentation there about it — about six weeks ago — and then they were so responsive,” Showers said.

Suddenly his intersection had a school resource officer helping ensure safety, a new traffic camera, and potholes on his crosswalk — which posed a safety problem for kids — were instantly patched up, he said.

“They’re so responsive, because you know, these are our kids — we need to take care of them,” Showers said.

But his action didn’t end there — he bought himself a new red light for his stop sign, and even wore a colorful wig last week to get drivers’ attention.

“The kids loved it, and the traffic — I mean, people are smiling and waving at me, and I thought, you know, I think I’m going to start hunting for different colored wigs,” he said.

His ploy worked — traffic slowed down, he said. But he also tried another successful, yet unlikely tactic.

“I did all of this stuff — got the police presence, the light and the camera — and the thing that got the most attention was a smile,” Showers explained. “So I’ll stand there and smile, and people dial right in, and I get so many drivers making eye contact and so many smiles.”

Showers spent nearly three decades running the city of Longmont’s printing and graphics division, and decided to become a life coach and crossing guard after he retired. It turns out his two retirement jobs pair well — he learned an important lesson about empowerment from a 4th grader, and another lesson about the importance of a smile.

“Kindness is pretty powerful,” he said.