Last week we highlighted the tragic story of a 16-year-old boy who was killed while walking to school in Volusia County in early February. In accordance with their plan, school officials and law enforcement held a community meeting, and now the Volusia County sheriff is requesting that a school zone be implemented in the area. The action seems to have been prompted by the alarming number of car accidents involving students that have taken place in Orange City within the last year.

According to a news report in the Orlando Sentinel, 40 percent of the pedestrian accidents involving students walking to and from school took place in Orange City -- the same city where the aforementioned 16-year-old boy died earlier this month from the injuries he sustained after being struck by a car. The sheriff wrote a letter to the state transportation secretary indicating that the stretch of road between Aspen Avenue and Ohio Avenue is particularly unsafe for pedestrians. He believes that implementing a school zone to help enforce the protection of pedestrians, including students, "would far outweigh any minor convenience to the motoring public."

The implementation of a school zone would include the addition of schools zone signs and a reduced speed limit of 25 miles per hour. The speed reduction would be enforced during school dismissal and arrival times. In addition to these things, the Florida Department of Transportation may also be called on to widen sidewalks and improve lighting in the area.

Hopefully the Department of Transportation will take these suggestions into consideration. It could go a long way toward keeping area students safe from motor vehicle accidents.

Source: Orlando Sentinel, "Volusia Sheriff requests school zone after latest student death," Arelis R. Hernández, Feb. 11, 2012