Many students who live in the surrounding neighborhoods walk across Jeff Road to get home. Many drivers exceed the speed limit and usually don’t pay attention to their surroundings, especially at the top of the hill that blocks the view of oncoming pedestrians and cars on this particular portion of Jeff Road. Over 90+ speeding tickets were given out last year and this just isn’t safe for students.

According to the Department of Transportation, sidewalks provide many benefits including safety, mobility and a healthier community. In addition to reducing walking along roadway crashes, sidewalks reduce other pedestrian crashes. Sidewalks installed along this portion of Jeff Road would provide a safe and effective route to get to and from school.

According to clickorlando, About 100 students get killed each year walking to and from school and nearly 25,000 are injured. Adding sidewalks and crosswalks will allow students to get home safely and having these sidewalks can have a positive response from students and parents who are waiting for their children to come home every day. There are many consequences if one is to get hurt, this could backfire on the school and cause a lawsuit or worse.

There are many other ways sidewalks help us other than keep us safe. It can prevent flooding and keep students from walking in ditches and waterways. They are low maintenance, durable, they’re easily accessible and not to mention they are easy to build. They don’t take up much land to build and they last a long time. 

With sidewalks, students can walk home without having to look over their shoulders to watch for cars and people not paying attention. Having them would have a positive impact on the SHS community.

These sidewalks can be a little pricey, but there are a variety of ways we can help fund them. We can host a community yard sale, sell school merchandise, host a car wash event and more. If everyone comes together we can help raise money for sidewalks to help keep SHS students safe.