PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. — The Pinellas County Sheriff's Office is cracking down on speeding in school zones.
Deputies say they've issued many tickets since the start of the school year.
"You never know what is going to happen... if there is a kid that will get hit and you will forever be changed," said parent Jeryn Luise.
"It can be devastating…for the driver and the family of the child. You never know when a kid is going to run out in the road," said Pinellas County deputy Blaine Loring.
It's a close call parents in Palm Harbor say happens too often.
"Every day, I walk my son out to go to school, and somebody is always speeding across," said Luise.
That's why Pinellas County Deputy Blaine Loring goes to work every day and monitors the road near Palm Harbor Middle School.
"Obviously, with more people is going to come more violations, but it is constantly that people are speeding in these school zones," said Loring.
But just how many violations are we talking about?
We asked the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office for a breakdown.
Throughout the 2022- 2023 school year, they've issued 452 speeding tickets to drivers in school zones... and only two months into this school year, deputies have already given 119 tickets.
"They aren't paying attention; you throw your phone in there, and they are looking down, a kid jumps out in front of you, and by the time you look up, it's too late," said Loring.
ABC Action News's Casey Albritton spent the day with Deputy Loring, during one of his shifts near Palm Harbor Middle School, and within 30 minutes, he pulled over two drivers who were going at least 15 miles over the speed limit.
He says the goal of the sheriff's office is to educate.
Luise said she often worries about her 7th-grade son's daily journey to and from school.
"There's so many kids on bikes, and what happens of somebody falls on a bike, or somebody is walking, and they aren't watching, and they trip, it's dangerous," she said.
