HIGHLANDS COUNTY, Fla. — Highlands County School officials say they're re-evaluating the safety of all of their bus stops after a semi rear ended a bus that was picking up children along US 27 on Wednesday.
“Anytime that you’re able to pick up on a different location than a busy highway, that would be ideal,” Deputy Superintendent Andrew Lethbridge said.
However, Lethbridge explained, that’s not always the case in rural Highlands County.
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“It is much more difficult. Sometimes we’re dealing with dirt roads that we’re picking up students and there’s no safe place for the bus to be able to go down to a side road or no other better alternative,” he explained.
The district has 20 stops along US 27. Lethbridge says all of them will remain active during their evaluation.
The evaluation includes deciding whether they should keep the stops, move them or find a way to make them safer.
“Whether signage needs to be placed, whether there’s an ability to build some sort of on-ramp a bus could pull off of,” Lethbridge explained.
