NEPTUNE BEACH, Fla. – School leaders are working to make the walk and bike ride to school safer for students at Fletcher High.
Recently, a classmate was hit by a car and now changes could be coming to an intersection near campus. That student who was struck was not badly hurt. It happened while he was crossing Seagate Avenue on his way to school. That’s the road that runs directly between the high school and Fletcher Middle from Penman Road to 3rd Street.
"He was on a bike and my friend was pulling out of the senior lot and he went across the street and it was the kid on the bike's fault, just ran in front of a car got hit but he didn't get hurt that bad," Fletcher student Matt Jarvis said.
It may not have been an accident with serious injuries, but this isn’t the first time a student here was hit while biking or walking to school.
"I got hit by a scooter once," sophomore Billy Paulteo said. "I don't like when they park their cars and go around and it's dangerous. I was riding home and the car stopped so someone went around it’s easy to get hit like that."
Students say the most dangerous time is after school, when parents park their cars to pick up their child but then block traffic, making other cars dart around without seeing a student coming around the corner.
"Sometimes this turn on this corner it's pretty sketchy," sophomore Lee Huhn said. "People are parking out and you have to go out into the road go around the cars."
Wednesday night, Fletcher’s Parent Teacher Student Association will discuss possible traffic solutions for Seagate Avenue. The meeting is open to everyone in the community and begins at 6:30 p.m. in the school’s administration conference room.