Parents want bus stop changes after 9-year-old hit by car in Lehigh Acres

After a 9-year-old boy was hit by a car while trying to get to school, parents say there’s an issue with the bus stop.

With no sidewalk, parents and kids say it is an accident waiting to happen. The worst part is that other stops are set up in the same way.

There are two bus stops only a block apart on Southwest 40th Street in Lehigh Acres, but parents feel only one is safe for their children.

“There’s a whole bunch of us who have actually been trying to get this stop changed in particular,” said Tiffany Byron, a concerned parent.

Byron is a mother of seven. Her middle schoolers use the bus stop on 40th Street and Vera Avenue.

“There is a bus stop with a streetlight, picnic table, for the most part. It’s never flooded, and everyone lives in this subdivision here,” said Byron.

The perfect place to wait for the school bus but down the street is another stop. One that’s not as safe.

“You can’t see anything, and the cars, they fly around these corners, and they’ve gone past the buses,” said Byron. “There’s no street lights. There’s no place for the parents even to park most of the time, let alone for them to get out and get around the water without standing right in the street.”

Kids have to walk through flooded roads to get to their stops, and parents worry their children won’t be seen by cars driving by.

“Everybody is coming from this side. Nobody has to be crossing the street. It’s safer for them,” said Mario Suarez, a concerned parent.

The Lee County School District said it’s the parents’ responsibility to keep their kids safe while waiting for the bus and that the district meets or exceeds state requirements for bus stop safety.

The district also said a transportation review committee will be formed to hear parent concerns.

To change a bus stop, parents have to submit a bus stop or change request form to their child’s school.