LOXAHATCHEE, FL -- At the closing bell, it is chaos outside Seminole Ridge High School on Seminole Pratt Whitney Road.
Shari Parisi also describes it this way, “It’s a zoo. It's a raceway out there. It's a death trap that road and something needs to be done."
Her daughter, Kelsie Parisi wears the scars. Her parents want people to see the pain. The seventeen-year-old was crossing the street with her friend Chelsea Barge.
They were in or next to the crosswalk when they were hit by another student Nathan Grabbe.
Despite numerous complaints by parents, the end of school is a mad rush hour.
Since October of 2007, there have been 100 accidents on the road. Since November of 2007, 39 of those have been in front of the school.
When students leave school on foot there is crosswalk, but there is no sidewalk on the other side.
They have to walk on the shoulder or grass for several hundred yards before reaching a sidewalk.
If they use the sidewalk on the school side, students then have to run across traffic (with no crosswalk) to get to the sidewalk on the other side.
Students walking on the road are common. If they don't have parking stickers, they park a mile down the road at Winn-Dixie.
The speed limit is 45 mph. There are no crossing guards and no blinking school zone signs. The school district says it's a high
school and doesn't qualify for those precautions.
Peter Parisi, Kelsie's father, asks, "Where is the protection for the children walking in and out of the school on a daily basis?"
School police say they stepped up their presence in the parking lot.
Peter Parisi says, "What is it going to take for someone to open their eyes and see the injuries that are happening to them
because of this road."
Chelsea Barge is in intensive care at St. Mary's.
The school had several counselors on hand to help students Thursday.
PBSO is investigating the accident.
