Orange County and school leaders addressing safety concerns at troubled intersection
Drivers are raising concerns about a “troubled intersection,” which brings attention to the safety of students as they walk and bike to school.
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This is where Seidel Road meets State Road 429 in West Orange County near Horizon High School.
Drivers told us they are blind when they try to merge onto 429 South, which runs the risk of hitting students in the crosswalk. We’re told improvements have already started there, with a freshly painted crosswalk for increased visibility and new lighting.
“We have several brand-new neighborhoods, and we have students coming to school early, early, in the morning,” Nicole Wilson, Orange County Commissioner for District 1, said. “They are not sometimes paying attention to traffic. Sometimes traffic isn’t paying attention to them.”
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Residents like Maureen Janetta said she has watched the problems worsen in the growing community.
“Our first concern is safety of course, with a lot of kids crossing Seidel,” Janetta said. “A lot of congestion, traffic, safety, lots of kids being dropped off and picked up crossing Seidel.”
Commissioner Wilson and other county and school leaders met Tuesday morning to discuss possible safety improvements to the intersection.
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“Does that mean making a sidewalk wider, adding a light over a crosswalk?” Commissioner Wilson asked. “Those things we can do, and we need to do. The priority is getting that done before school gets back in the fall.”
Commissioner Wilson said teams are currently working on issues they can immediately fix and on a long-term comprehensive plan to improve roadway safety in the area.
“We just need to keep our eye out for all road users in order to keep everybody safe,” Commissioner Wilson said.
We have requested records from the Florida Highway Patrol on exactly how many crashes or incidents have happened at the intersection. We are just waiting for those numbers to be released to Channel 9.
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