Group plans more than 600 plastic benches at school bus stops

A small bench now sits on a northeast Cape Coral corner. But it was not there the day a driver hit and killed Layla Aiken, 8, while she sat in the same spot reading a book and waiting for her bus.

Elmer Tabor, a member of the Cape Coral Rotary Club, is the latest group pushing for change at city bus stops.

“We want to be a part of the solution,” Tabor said, “instead of part of the problem.”

The group plans to put more than 600 six-foot-long plastic benches at bus stops.

It is working to get businesses and groups in Cape Coral together to fund the benches, with a projected cost of $300,000.

With overwhelming support, Tabor said, the group plans to start implementing these benches as soon as May.

“There’s an educational factor about it,” Tabor said. “The school busing needs to be looked at the school choice needs to be looked at the benches is the beginning.”

Along with benches and better lighting, last week’s deadly hit-and-run incident has left some parents questioning the start times for school while pushing for better lighting, so their kids are not forced to wait in the dark.

Tabor said the idea for plastic benches came from a member who said action needed to be done to “save our kids.”

Tabor hopes a small place to sit will be the beginning of a bigger battle to keep kids safe while they wait.

“It’s not the solution to the problem by any means,” Tabor said. “But it’s getting it started that does.”