Watch: Drivers disregard stop signs near Orange Grove Elementary
SEMINOLE, Fla. - Residents along 66th Avenue North in Seminole are fed up with drivers running stop signs, especially with an elementary school close by.
A crew from FOX 13 captured four cars rolling through stop signs Wednesday at 66th Avenue and 103rd Street North in within five minutes. Normally, a stop sign means a complete stop.
“Half the time they do. Half the time they don’t,” said Mary Gallagher, who lives in the area.
The intersection is a well-known problem to those who live there. They are frustrated and want changes.
“We have petitioned the county to get crossing guards because we have a lot of people who walk and everything. These people will not stop for us, even when we’re walking our kids across the street,” said resident Tali Kannenberg.
Kannenberg said she wants a crossing guard at the intersection. Orange Grove Elementary School is just a few hundred feet away. She said walking her daughter to school can be dangerous.
“They will drive right up to me while I’m walking my child across the street and honk,” said Kannenberg.
A viewer sent FOX13 video of even more drivers running the stop signs, and our crew caught at least one car blowing through a right turn.
That’s a big concern for walkers like Gallanger.
“That’s a reason I stop and look,” said Gallanger. “I always wave them on because I take time crossing the street.”
The Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office did a speed traffic study on 66th Avenue about four months ago but did not find a chronic problem.
Neighbors said they hope for some change.
“I feel like it is just a complete disregard for people, for the lives out of children,” said Kannenberg about the stop sign runners.
The Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office said deputies will patrol the area for stop sign violations.