Pinellas schools promise safer school bus stops for coming school year

LARGO - After a year when Pinellas school board members said they failed to keep students safe at bus stops, transportation officials pledged they'll make the grade this year.

The district is in the process of examining more than 8,500 bus stops across Pinellas County. Nearly 30 people are working ten hour days this summer checking every bus stop for safety.

Any stop on a busy intersection will be moved to a quieter street. "Our priority this year was to ensure that any student assigned to a bus stop would not have to cross a major roadway," said school transportation director Rick McBride.

ABC Action News did a series of reports on the dangers of arterial bus stops over the last school year. Arterial bus stops were located on major streets to facilitate moving large numbers of students to magnet and choice schools. However when school board members saw students walking through heavy traffic, concentrating on iPods and texting rather than looking at crosswalks, they determined changes needed to be made.

The problem was punctuated last December when Pinellas Park High School student Nora Hernandez-Huapilla was killed crossing a busy street to catch her school bus.

Lisa Johnson has two children riding Pinellas school busses. Johnson was relieved to learn her daughter would not have to cross busy 49th Street to the bus stop this year. "I'm very happy that they're doing this," said Johnson. "I just wish we didn't have to lose Nora for this to finally happen."

Approximately 35,000 of the Pinellas School District's 102,000 students ride the bus to school. 10,500 of them were on arterial bus routes, which were generally located on major roadways.

Transportation Director Rick McBride said, "I am convinced students will be safer at bus stops this year."