Florida Child Injury Law Blog

Kissimmee parents have expressed serious concerns for their children’s safety after a 13-year-old Neptune Middle School student was hit by a car while walking to get on her school bus on Tuesday. Florida law requires that traffic stop in both directions when a school bus is stopped with signs extended. The girl is expected to be okay, but parents complain that cars passing stopped school buses is a common occurrence. We have reported before on the number of children seriously injured or killed in school bus stop accidents because  drivers show such blatant disrespect for the law and the safety of children.

This accident happened at the intersection of Wellington Woods Circle and Hoagland Boulevard, an area that does not appear on Kissimmee’s list of areas where cars passing stopped school buses has been a problem. The road is patrolled, however, and police have been monitoring the area since the start of the school year. The Kissimmee Traffic Enforcement Unit has issued 98 citations to drivers for passing stopped school buses, but the problem persists.

Kissimmee and Orlando have been designated the nation’s most dangerous region for pedestrians by advocacy group Transportation for America’s Dangerous by Design study. Children should not have to be fearful when they walk to their school buses.

Jim Dodson Law recently obtained a settlement for a Pinellas County student who was seriously injured under almost identical circumstances to the Kissimmee school bus accident. While crossing the road in front of her stopped school bus, the child was hit by a car that was passing the bus from behind. The driver of the car was simply too impatient to wait. Irresponsible drivers who injure children must be held accountable!