ORLANDO, Fla. — Parents in one Orange County neighborhood are raising concerns over their children’s school bus stop location. It’s in the area along University Boulevard, which is an often busy area.

What You Need To Know

  • Kids are picked up and dropped off along University Boulevard, a busy six-lane roadway

  • Last month, the roadway saw a deadly crash where a car flipped and hit a pedestrian on the sidewalk

  • Florida Highway Patrol officials say they’ve worked at least 200 accidents on the road in the past year

When exiting the busy, six-lane University Boulevard, the Adamich family is usually there getting ready for an even busier day of school. But this year, family members say their bus hasn’t been making a turn into the quiet streets of their neighborhood.

“For a long time, the buses would come into the subdivision and stop here at the first stop sign,” said Ian Adamich, whose son rides the bus to school.

This year, they’re having to take a short walk down to the road to University Boulevard, despite parents asking for the driver to stop in the neighborhood. They say they don’t mind the exercise, but the sound of approaching traffic has been sparking concerns.

“Your first thought as a parent is, ‘Oh boy, University,’” said Adamich. “I’m a former first responder, and you see the horrific vehicle accidents.”

Florida Highway Patrol officials say they have responded to over 200 crashes on this stretch of road in the past year.

Just last month, a few hundred feet down the road from the school bus stop, there was a deadly accident, caused when a car overturned and hit a pedestrian standing on the sidewalk.

“Our children aren’t safe here on a busy road like University, the racing strip of the university,” Adamich said.

He says they were told by Orange County Public Schools leaders that they were unable to move the bus stop into the neighborhood. 

Officials with the school district did say, though, that they can accommodate drives into the neighborhood for special needs kids with a requirement for curb-to-curb transportation.

A representative with the district told Spectrum News that because the road is straight and has a long line of sight, it’s safer for the bus to stop rather than make a turn. While Spectrum News was out with the Adamich family, though, several drivers ignored the bus' stop sign.

“It makes you feel very mad," Adamich said. "We’ve been known to yell at people who fly past our children’s school bus."