It is very dangerous for anyone to get across during morning rush hour, especially young drivers. If they were able to cross the road here easier, traffic wouldn’t back up in the north bound turn lanes.

Unfortunately, they will not cure the problem of stupid seventeen-year-olds.
The northernmost left turn into Chiles will require a traffic signal.
It can act as a safety flasher 23 1/2 hours a day, but is required for half an hour a day.

The failure to provide a traffic signal is a deliberate choice for death on the highway.
Will it be a car carrying four laughing senior girls planning their prom?
Possibly it will be Mr Cool Dude in Daddy’s oversized pickup….

Whose commuting family coming down from Thomasville is going to lose their mother and siblings?

The years and years of neglect this problem still rests squarely on the shoulders of the school board, the school superintendent, Chiles’ principal, and Leon County’s sheriff. Each has it within their power to provide mitigating actions to reduce the extremely high number of near collisions.

Florida’s Highway Patrol is not without blame, but they have provided the best deterrent presence. I applaud them, while regretting they are not there more often, especially at the crucial morning half hour.
And, of course, DOT has known what is needed for years.

I refuse to excuse any party to this death trap on the basis of available funding. Options, alternatives and mitigating acts have always been available, but the key individuals in this situation sit on their hands and wait for death to fund their dreams of an ideal traffic loop. They failed and continue to fail to make adjustments to parking, schedules and provision of deputies for half an hour each morning.

I have no doubt that heartfelt eulogies have alrady been written, waiting only for the names to be filled in.
Then, we’ll hear these read by Jackie Pons and Joe Burgess in voices filled with emotion and empathy for the grieving families. And, all these past years, little or nothing has been done to make this road safer.

We need to get the whole job done right, and get it done now. Are we really going to wait for death to motivate the funding? No one who comes down hwy 319 during the 7am rush would argue against doing it right. The nay sayers who don’t want to spend money have never driven past Chiles when the stupid goofies are racing each other to the parking lot in their two tons of steel.

Now address the driving of students in the parking lot!