HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. — “If you live south of the school, you’re not allowed to turn left,” said Matthew Taylor.
Matthew Taylor has a child who attends Robinson Elementary in the Plant City area.
He reached out to ABC Action News about traffic concerns because cones at the entrance of the school’s drop-off lane cut off access to parents who need to turn left to get into the school.
“Everybody that comes this way from the school, which is northbound and that lives in the south, we can’t turn left into the school,” said Taylor.
Robinson Elementary sits off Turkey Creek Road, which is a busy, two-lane street with no safe place to make a U-turn.
“I’ve seen one lady run up on the sidewalk. One car almost got hit as she tried to make a three-point turn in the middle of the road to get into that right lane. I see it almost every day because I’m out here filming every day,” said Taylor.
Taylor said he sees parents nearly get into accidents often as they’re trying to turn around to drop their kids off at the school.
“They’re driving up to people’s yards like all the way to their house to spin around. They’re driving up the sidewalk. It’s a two-lane road. No one is expecting a car to pull up on the sidewalk, and someone’s going to get hurt,” said Taylor.
He told ABC Action News that he’s been asking for the school to remove the traffic cones so drivers can turn left to drop their kids off at the school.
“The only place to really safely turn around is you go all the way up to Trapnell, and there’s a gas station up there, but it’s still illegal to turn around into a gas station. So it’s a lose-lose if you live south of the school,” said Taylor.
“It’s pretty frustrating,” he added.
ABC Action News reached out to school and county leaders.
The Hillsborough County School District sent us this statement:
Issues related to traffic and roadways fall under the purview of the county. We can only address issues on our campus.
The county implemented a no left turn to avoid backups on the roadway. As I understand it, the no left turn sign has been there for many years and most parents abide by that and come into the school dropoff from the north. The school has sent out flyers to parents advising about the traffic flow for dropoff and dismissal.
The county shared this information with us:
Some or all of the recommendations below could be implemented.
Traffic Engineering conducted an investigation and determined the following:
- Motorists are conducting unsafe turning movement on Turkey Creek Road at Robinson Elementary School.
- Traffic Engineering has provided the following recommendations:
- Install No Left Turn signs - Monday – Friday between the hours of 6:55 – 7:55 am and 12:40 – 2:25 p.m. at Robinson Elementary School entrance for Northbound Traffic on Turkey Creek Road.
- Install No U-Turn signs on Turkey Creek Road from school entrance north to Holloway Road.
- Install delineators on the double yellow pavement markings from school entrance north to Holloway Road to deter motorists from making U-Turns.
