JACKSOVNILLE, Fla. — Just six days into the new school year, three Duval County students have already been struck by cars — one fatally — prompting urgent calls for action from District 3 School Board Member Cindy Pearson.
The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office confirmed the most recent incident happened Monday morning near First Coast High School. Officers say the student was struck in a hit-and-run but was not injured. The crash marked the third student involved in a traffic accident in less than a week.
Last week, a middle school student was killed after being hit by a truck on Biscayne Boulevard, and another student was struck just days before.
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Pearson said the series of incidents underscores the concerns about student pedestrian safety that she’s had for years.
“We need to change our habits as pedestrians — that’s students and adults. Cross at the crosswalks, cross with the lights, cross where it’s safe. And then we need to change our habits as motorists, as drivers,” Pearson told Action News Jax.
On Facebook, Pearson outlined several measures she is pushing for, including:
- Requesting no parking signs during peak school travel hours near Julia Landon College Prep on Atlantic Boulevard.
- Advocating for more crossing guards, even at secondary schools, to assist with high-risk pedestrian areas.
- Partnering with the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office (JSO) and DCPS Police to ticket drivers who ignore flashing crosswalks.
- Expanding the district’s “Be Safe, Be Seen” campaign into a student and parent pledge program.
- Hosting a safety town hall with Councilman Joe Carlucci to hear directly from families and residents.
Neighbors in areas where students were struck say they share the concern. Bernard George, who lives near Biscayne Boulevard, where last week’s fatal crash occurred, told Action News Jax that increased adult supervision could make a difference.
“If they were to set up some sort of physical people standing outside monitoring the traffic and letting people slow down so kids could pass by, it’ll probably prevent some of this,” George said.
JSO has already announced it will add 16 more traffic officers and 13 more motor officers in response to the city surpassing 100 traffic deaths this year.
Pearson says that while law enforcement plays a role, parents, students, and drivers all share responsibility for making school routes safer.
“We’re a week and a day into the school year and we’ve had three students hit in the last three days. We need to do better, Duval,” Pearson said.
Details on Pearson and Carlucci’s planned safety town hall meeting are expected to be released in the coming weeks.
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