JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Three students were hit by vehicles and one killed already to start the school year in Duval County.
Now, southside Jacksonville neighbors are raising concerns about the safety of a bus stop right along the outside of a roundabout on Touchton Road - near Southside Boulevard.
“It’s not real safe, because two weeks ago, down Belfort Road and Touchton [Road] right here, this sign right over here, somebody came through with a truck or a car and knocked all those signs right down,” Robert Henning told Action News Jax Sunday morning.
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Now, neighbors in Jacksonville’s southside are asking the stop to be moved closer and onto the same side of the road as the Montreux at Deerwood Lake complex.
The current stop is located right next to two different roadside memorials for people who have lost their lives on the same stretch of Touchton Road.
“Not only is that depressing, it also speaks to how dangerous the circle is,” neighbor Felicia Thompkins said. “There’s been so many accidents [here] ... at least twice a month.”
Action News Jax reached out to Duval County Public Schools about neighbors’ concerns on Friday. While the district asked that Action News Jax have those neighbors contact the district so they can look into the concerns, Bob Henning says he has already in previous years, and that the district has moved the stop when asked, but only to move it back the very next school year. Now, neighbors are asking for a permanent solution.
“I just get tired of calling them when it gets corrected for one year and then we have to go through it again the next year,” Henning explained.
Meanwhile, district officials are reassuring that student pedestrian safety is an issue of the highest priority across the city this school year.
“This is not just an issue that’s affecting one district; it is affecting all seven board districts, and I’m not the only board member engaged,” Duval County School Board member Cindy Pearson told Action News Jax earlier in the week. “All seven board members are engaged.”
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