ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. — Liberty Pines Academy parents are calling for change after a car crash on St. Johns Parkway Friday sent one person to the hospital in critical condition.
The crash happened right around the time kindergarten through eighth grade students were walking and biking back home.
“I actually had just picked him up from school, his preschool," said Elaine Samaan.
Samaan is used to battling school traffic when she goes to get her son from preschool, but Friday, she saw something wasn’t expecting.
A helicopter in the middle of St. Johns Parkway.
“The life flight was there, they were loading somebody in," said Samaan. "It was incredibly backed up and they had the north lanes closed off.”
St. Johns County Fire Rescue said it was a single-vehicle crash, with one person flown to the hospital in serious condition.
The crash was just two trees down from where a cross stands – memorializing a 20-year-old passenger killed in a crash in 2015.
A neighbor sent First Coast News video of another crash in March, right across the street at the entrance to St. Johns Forest.
“It makes me cringe when I see accidents like this and think about the potential of what could happen," said Jack Frost, who lives in St. Johns Forest.
Frost says he sees hundreds of kids walk from St. Johns Forest to Liberty Pines Academy on a daily basis.
Part of the neighborhood is within two miles, which means by Florida law, the St. Johns County Schools District is not required to provide a bus.
The district temporarily provided a bus for the 2022-2023 school year while county crews improved the sidewalk and moved it further from the roadway.
However, with the new sidewalk open, this is the second school year to start without a bus.
“Some type of barrier or something needs to be put up here," said Frost. "It’s a shame this is what was done because this is not going to save these kids' lives and something seriously is going to happen.”
Samaan is hoping something changes before her son starts at Liberty Pines Academy.
“Right now, he’s 16 months, so just a couple years away, and it’s scary to think he’s going to be walking this roadway," said Samaan. "Can you imagine a five-year-old walking this roadway? It’s crazy and it’s unsafe.”
The St. Johns County School District superintendent requested a hazardous designation in 2021 so the state would pay for a bus, but a study determined it didn’t meet the criteria in the state law.