Monday is the first day to school for many Hillsborough County students, and county leaders are making it clear: Do not park on sidewalks or medians when waiting to pick up your kids.
Bob Campbell is a transportation engineer manager for the county. He says he's seen some parents wait on medians and sidewalks up to 90 minutes before school lets out.
And, he says, the impacts can be dangerous.
"If you can't see around the parked car, there's a short person — say, 3 feet high, a kid — walks out in front of you. The driver approaching has no time to react to a small child walking across the road,” Campbell said. “If you're parked in a place you're not supposed to park and limit that sight distance, it could be deadly — really deadly — for a young child."
Officials also say parking in businesses near schools can affect their sales, which could have a negative impact on the community.
Campbell also has a message for kids who walk or bike to school.
"Most kids think adults look out for them. The reality is, no,” Campbell said. “Because they've been raised by their parents, they think, 'Yeah, that's enough.' But that's not the way the drivers think sometimes."
Campbell says the county is working on putting in delineators and other measures to prevent people from parking in those spaces, but he says larger changes to the road infrastructure around schools can take years and be costly.
An example is the entrance of Bryant Elementary School, next to Farnell Middle School. Both are on Nine Eagles Drive in Westchase.
To clear up some of the congestion and create safer walking conditions, transportation leaders in the county extended a right-turn lane and put up “no right turn” signs at intersections near Bryant's exit so people can be more aware of walking and biking students.
Campbell says while the county is doing its part in creating infrastructure around schools to prevent accidents, it is ultimately up to drivers to be careful.
He says on the first day of school, many kids are anxious and not paying attention.
"They don't sleep well the night before, and when they get there, they're pumped up and excited,” Campbell said. “So they're not going to be looking for driver behavior and other things going on. So we ask drivers and other people riding bicycles, look out for these kids, and that's the biggest issue, is to provide for the safety of the children."
Campbell says his office receives a ton of complaints during the first couple of days of school, and it follows up on issues that constantly pop up after the first couple of weeks as congestion around schools settles down.
Overall, Campbell says it is important to remember that driving and owning a driver's license is a privilege.
"A car is a large object weighing 5,000 pounds," Campbell said. "A small kid may weigh 60 pounds. Once you mix those two together or force a kid to do something facing that kind of car, it's usually a very, very significant event with a very undesirable result."
