Central Florida nonprofit Bike Walk Central Florida is working with police and sheriff departments to patrol busy intersections ahead of the new school year with the goal of reducing pedestrian fatalities.
Best Foot Forward Program Director Vince Dyer said during these operations, undercover officers and deputies will cross the street at crosswalks.
If drivers don’t stop, they’ll be given a minimum $164 citation and three points on their driver’s license.
Dyer said he hopes by giving people tickets now, they’ll think first, before blowing through a crosswalk with a student in it.
“We want to bring awareness to drivers that they have to stop for pedestrians in crosswalks. And with the school year coming up in just a few weeks, we wanted to get that message out early. So that way people have plenty of time to be able to react,” Dyer said.
Best Foot Forward data show only about 45% of drivers yield for pedestrians at crosswalks, which is against Florida law.
Just last year, an elementary student in Port Orange was struck and killed by a car on their way to school.
ShaoLan "Lana" Kamaly was a fourth grader at Sugar Mill Elementary.
“We're really hoping that with the enforcement, we won't have to hear as many of these stories that are really just sad and unfortunate to hear,” Dyer said.
These patrols will continue throughout August 2 in Brevard, Marion, Orange, Osceola, Seminole, and Volusia Counties.
The American Academy of Pediatrics released a report in 2023 that showed that, “child pedestrian mortality rates have shown an increase of 11% since 2013, driven by increases among 10- to 14-year-olds and 15- to 19-year-olds.”
Some Central Florida schools have taken pedestrian safety into their own hands, by equipping buses with special censors and installing speeding cameras near busy crosswalks.
Smart Growth America’s Dangerous by Design report again found the Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford metropolitan area was one of the deadliest in the nation for pedestrian fatalities and accidents this year.
Read the full report here: