Orange County Sheriff’s Office Reminds Drivers to be Careful In School Zones, Even in Summer

By Orlando Personal Injury Attorney on May 9, 2017

The Orange County Sheriff’s Office issued a reminder earlier this week for people to be careful in school zones throughout the summer. The words come from a video uploaded to the Orange County Sheriff’s Office Facebook page that appeared on Tuesday evening. In the video, Master Deputy Mike Johnson and Master Deputy Greg Ritter can be seen reminding motorists that just because school is no longer in session does not mean that there are no longer any children in school zones. In fact, the two Master Deputies say that with the advent of warmer weather and increased free time, children may even be present in school zones with a greater frequency than they were when school was actually in session.

The Orange County Master Deputies go on to remind drivers that the law says that a car should be at 20 mph before it enters the school zone. This is a difference from how many people approach the situation: not slowing down until they pass the “school zone” sign. Continuing on with this train of thought, the Master Deputies suggest that the reason many people fail to slow down at the appropriate time when entering a school zone is that they are suffering from distractions. Distractions can be anything from a passenger to something eye-catching out of the side window. Much of the time, however, distractions are cell-phone related.

Later in the video, the two Master Deputies say that, in reality, “school zones” should be renamed as “kid zones,” saying that with a new name it would remind people that kids are everywhere, engaging in the sort of summer play that children do, using the crosswalks and the roads. The message from the Orange County Sheriff’s Office comes after a bad start to the year with regard to hit-and-run accidents and accidents involving pedestrians. Almost every week, it seems that a pedestrian in a crosswalk is struck by a distracted driver. As those who scan this blog will easily discover, most of these accidents result in the death of the pedestrian. Even in the case where a fatality is thankfully avoided, the physical damage done by a vehicle on the comparatively fragile body of a person can quickly become disastrous.

James O. Cunningham

Since 1977, personal injury lawyer James Cunningham has provided effective legal advocacy to people who are injured through the negligent actions of another person or entity throughout the Central Florida area. He fights to obtain recoveries for his clients’ physical and emotional pain and suffering and pursues his clients’ personal injury cases with a commitment to excellence and impeccable preparation.