ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. — Action News Jax is looking into serious safety concerns at one St. Johns County bus stop that parents say are putting elementary and middle school students at risk.
Parents reached out to us for help and they want the district to move the bus stop at the Waterford Lakes subdivision from the main road to back inside their community.
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Taking her 7th grader to the bus stop every day, Suzie Woodard can’t help but feel worried for her child’s safety.
“It scares me, it scares me to death,” Woodard said. “I hate putting my son out here on this street.”
The street she’s referring to is St. Johns Parkway, which is a busy roadway with a speed limit of 50 miles per hour.
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“The traffic is heavy,” Anji Medikonda, a parent of a 6th grader.
On that main road is where the school bus picks up elementary and middle school students who live in Waterford Lakes.
“It’s only going to take one person losing control or one person that is angry and just wants to take it out on someone and it is very scary that the kids are that close to the traffic,” Sara Stevens, whose granddaughter is in first grade, said.
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Action News Jax checked the crash data to determine just how many traffic accidents we’ve seen on St. Johns Parkway. Over the last 3 years, there have been 128. Two of those were at the intersection of Waterford Lakes Drive and St. Johns Parkway.
The grassy area where students wait for the bus is just steps away from the busy roadway.
“It’s too close for comfort,” Stevens said.
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Parents are on a mission to get their children’s bus stop moved back into their community at the roundabout. That’s where parents said the bus used to pick up kids last year.
Action News Jax’s Alexus Cleavenger reached out to St. Johns County Schools. The director of transportation sent this statement:
“The change this school year corrected an error by Mr. Bob Aponte last year, as moving the stop into the entranceway created a dangerous maneuver for the bus with children about the area and the stop was inconsistent with transportation services districtwide.”
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But parents said the bus for ESE students picks up at their roundabout with no issues.
However, the district said the bus service policy for ESE students is different. It requires ESE students to be picked up at their door not an assigned bus stop.
But parents said they can arrange to have their students picked up at other locations, like the roundabout in this case.
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The director of transportation said they’ve assessed this stop, for non-ESE students, multiple times this school year and conducted test runs into the area with a school bus.
But no changes will be made, which is not enough for parents, looking for peace of mind, and hoping each and every day their child makes it on the bus safely.
“I would just urge to think about what’s more dangerous, whether having the bus on the road is dangerous or having the bus on the roundabout is more dangerous,” Medikonda said.
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