CLEARWATER, Fla. — Lighted crosswalks and more bus stop safety information for parents were among the proposals brought to a Forward Pinellas committee Wednesday by the uncle of Ethan Weiser, the Largo High School student killed while walking to his bus stop on Belleair Road in August.
"We don't know if an illuminated crosswalk or lighting would have prevented this accident," said Matt Croasmun, Ethan's uncle. "But we can only assume based off of information that we see in other places where we've added crosswalks, street lights, things like that, lit crosswalks, that we see a reduction of those accidents, and we give the pedestrian or the student a chance to react and the driver a chance to react."
What You Need To Know
- Ethan Weiser, 15, was fatally struck by a car on Belleair Road while walking to his bus stop in August
- Matt Croasmun, Ethan's uncle, addressed the Forward Pinellas School Transportation Safety Committee Wednesday
- Croasmun made two suggestions for possible crosswalks in the area and said he'd also like information made available to parents about bus stop safety features
- Read previous coverage here
Croasmun gave a presentation to the Forward Pinellas School Transportation Safety Committee suggesting two crosswalk possibilities. He also said he'd like to see a QR code included on information cards Pinellas County Schools sends home every year on school bus safety. He said it could direct parents to maps of bus stops and include information about what safety features — like crosswalks, street lights and crossing guards — they include.
"A lot of people think that there's a lot of requirements for bus stops, and there's really not," Croasmun said.
Forward Pinellas Planning Manager Chelsea Favero said Belleair Road has been on the organization's radar for years.
"We...knew that with the overpasses that were planned along US-19 that are now, they've been constructed, that Belleair Road may see additional traffic, with people trying to access that road both in the east and the west direction. So, we've had our eye on it," said Favero.
Favero said while the organization has looked at different options to make the road safer, they're still in the planning and design phases. She said the Pinellas County Public Works Dept. is looking at where a crosswalk would work best in that area. The committee Croasmun addressed is made up of county and district representatives that Favero said coordinate on an ongoing basis.
"We proposed today that we ramp up that coordination, we increase our education to the students," Favero said of bus stop safety education efforts.
Croasmun said the next step for him is continuing the conversation about improvements with the county, school district and planning organizations. He said if no action is taken this year, he wants to work toward getting agencies to come up with a definitive timeline in 2023.