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A week earlier, two of the McCaskey junior's friends were knocked off their bicycles after cars struck them in front of the school.
And just this week, Alvia said, two vehicles collided less than a block from McCaskey just before the start of school.
No one was seriously injured in the accidents, but Alvia wants them to stop.
"Traffic in and around the school is getting out of hand," she said. "It's only a matter of time before someone gets seriously injured."
By next school year, School District of Lancaster hopes to have changes in place to reduce traffic hazards around the school.
To improve traffic flow and increase student safety, the district wants to convert North Reservoir Street, which runs in front of McCaskey and Wickersham Elementary School, to a one-way street.
They also want two stop signs installed on North Franklin Street at Lehigh Avenue and new traffic patterns behind McCaskey.
In addition, SDL is considering building a new access road to link the McCaskey campus with Lehigh Avenue.
Officials plan to present their recommendations, along with the findings of a traffic study, at the Nov. 17 meeting of the Lancaster Traffic Commission.
The commission must approve any proposed changes to the streets.
For years, the combination of hundreds of vehicles and thousands of students leaving or approaching the schools has been a problem.
While most students walk to McCaskey, many drive or are dropped off and picked up on North Reservoir Street.
Double- and triple-parking is common in front of the school, and students crossing the street to and from McCaskey and Wickersham often must dodge cars jockeying for position.
Nearly 4,000 students attend schools in the area, including McCaskey, Wickersham, McCaskey East and Lincoln Middle.
Adding to the congestion is traffic from the nearby McDonald's restaurant and backups from a traffic signal at North Franklin and New Holland Avenue.
"It just causes a huge congestion problem," Lt. Todd Umstead, Lancaster city police department spokesman, said of the situation. "The resulting delays and flared tempers that come out of that are an issue."
A traffic study by ELA Group found that 976 vehicles passed through the North Reservoir/North Franklin intersection from 7:15 to 8:15 a.m., the peak morning hour.
From 2:45 to 3:45 p.m., the peak afternoon hour, 1,030 vehicles used the intersection.
Peak traffic volumes for the Lehigh Avenue/North Reservoir intersection were 588 vehicles in the morning and 752 in the afternoon, the study found.
The numbers were tabulated Sept. 29.
Converting North Reservoir to one-way from Lehigh to North Franklin wouldn't reduce traffic, the study found, but it would make the intersection safer by eliminating "conflicting traffic movements."
The switch also wouldn't add significantly to traffic volumes at North Franklin and Lehigh, the study found.
ELA recommends that North Reservoir become a three-lane street with the right lane restricted to bus traffic, the middle lane for student drop-offs from vehicles and the left lane for through traffic.
The study also recommends that a crossing guard be posted during peak hours at the North Reservoir/North Franklin corner to keep that intersection clear.
It also suggests the district link Lehigh Avenue to Tornado Alley at Broad Street to provide an alternate access route to and from McCaskey.
A curb cut is already in place on Lehigh, but district officials said they don't want to build a new access drive until they know what renovations, if any, will be proposed for Wickersham as part of a districtwide school upgrade program.
So far, no work has been planned for the school.
SDL officials also plan to request that stop signs be installed in both directions on North Franklin Street at Lehigh Avenue.
They also want to reverse the flow of traffic behind McCaskey to provide better access to parking lots.
The traffic commission could approve the recommendations, reject them or table a decision until it completes its own traffic study.
If the changes are approved, the city and school district would likely share the cost of the projects.
SDL officials said they're hoping to have the improvements in place by the start of the 2010-11 school year.
