2 School Bus-Stop Safety Lights Installed to Address a Top Child Safety Concern

Cape Coral, Florida conducts test to address the inherent risks of children being picked up and dropped off at school bus stops in the dark.

CAPE CORAL, FLORIDA, UNITED STATES, November 22, 2019 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Two new-to-market, solar-powered, semi-permanent, School Bus-Stop Safety Lights were installed yesterday in Cape Coral, Florida, as part of a test to address the inherent risks of children being picked up and dropped off at school bus stops in the dark.

Cape Coral, which is one of the fastest-growing cities in the country, is conducting a test to determine the effectiveness of the lights in protecting children at school bus stops before sunrise and after sunset.

The lights which cost $980 each were provided free of charge by Solar Guard, LLC, the manufacturer, of the School Bus-Stop Safety Lights. The lights are located at 1622 SE 16th Street, Cape Coral, 33990 and 1718 SW 12th Lane, Cape Coral, Fl 33991.

The School Bus-Stop Safety Lights’ test is a result of a recent survey commissioned by Solar Guard, LLC. The survey revealed parents of Lee County, Florida school children rated traveling safely to and from school as one of their top concerns surpassing such child safety and health issues like bullying, depression, stress, drug abuse, lack of exercise, unhealthy eating, suicide, and teen pregnancy.

52% of Lee County’s parents reported their child rode a school bus. 49% reported those school bus stop pickups occurred during pre-dawn hours, according to a survey of Lee County parents with school-aged children.

The survey also asked parents to rate five potential solutions being considered for installation by local, school and Lee County officials to enhance child safety at school bus stops (permanent benches, sidewalks and crosswalks, permanent streetlights, traffic signs with solar-powered flashing beacons and a galvanized steel pole-mounted, solar-powered, streetlight with built-in amber/white flashing LED safety lights).

Parents were given a summary of the proposed solutions under consideration and asked to rate each solution, on a scale of 1 to 10, in terms of the overall effectiveness of the solution to keep children safe, the cost-efficiency to purchase and install the solution, the time required to install the solution, the solution with the least traffic disruption during installation, and the solution best suited to adapt to the estimated l6,000 changes made to bus stop locations each year in Lee County.

The various solutions ranged from about $1.5 million to over $300 million in costs. Installation time frames ran from 6 months to 5 years.
Given the level of concern around child safety when traveling to and from school, the growing population of school-age children, and the ever-increasing level of vehicular traffic in Lee County; parents showed strong support for an effective, fast cost-efficient solution that would cause the least amount of traffic disruption during installation and would be most adaptable to the frequent movement of school bus stop locations made each year.

Lee County parents rated Fort Myers-based Solar Guard, LLC’s School Bus-Stop Safety LightTM, the solar-powered, streetlight with built-in amber/white flashing LED safety lights mounted on a galvanized steel pole, the clear #1 choice in all five categories:
* most effective for keeping children safe
* fastest installation time
* lowest cost to purchase and install
* least amount of traffic disruption during installation
* best suited to adapt to the l6,000 changes in school bus stop locations made each year in Lee County

Importantly, the survey conducted by Quenzel Marketing Agency, revealed when asked to consider all aspects of each school bus stop safety solution (effectiveness, cost efficiency, installation time, impact on traffic during installation and adaptability to bus stop location changes), and to rate the Overall Worth of each solution; parents of Lee County school children overwhelmingly supported Solar Guard, LLC’s School Bus-Stop Safety Light, the solar-powered, streetlight with built-in amber/white flashing LED safety lights mounted on a galvanized-steel pole:
* 70.3% rated Solar Guard, LLC Worth/Well-Worth the Tax Dollars
* 66.3% rated permanent streetlights Worth/Well-Worth the Tax Dollars
* 55.4% rated sidewalks and crosswalks Worth/Well-Worth the Tax Dollars
* 55.4% rated signs with solar beacons Worth/Well-Worth the Tax Dollars
* 52.5% rated benches Worth/Well-Worth the Tax Dollars.

To voice your opinion or to learn more, visit SchoolBusStopSafetyLights.com.

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About Solar Guard, LLC
Solar Guard, LLC, the company behind School Bus-Stop Safety Lights, was founded by two home builders, Richard Scholl and Peter Wahl after they heard about two children getting killed while waiting at bus stops in Lee County this past year.

The next day, with their knowledge of construction, they started creating their prototype of the School Bus-Stop Safety Light to address the issue of drivers having little or no visibility of children waiting at bus stops in the dark.

Solar Guard, LLC’s School Bus-Stop Safety Lights are semi-permanent and easily moved as needed.

Solar Guard, LLC’s School Bus-Stop Safety Lights cost $980 each. Installation time is less than 4 hours.

Learn more at https://schoolbusstopsafetylights.com

About Lee County School Bus Stops
The Lee County School District serves 7,000 school bus stops daily. Of the 7,000 school bus stops, 2,500 pick up children in the dark.
On average, there are approximately 16,000 changes made to the physical school bus stop locations each year in Lee County.

National Statistics
In 2017, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reported that 214 children were killed by a vehicle while walking, jogging, hiking, sitting, or lying down.
§ Sixty-four percent (136) of child pedestrian fatalities in traffic crashes occurred during weekdays.
§ 14% (30) occurring between 6 am - 8:59 am and 33% (70) between 3 pm - 5:59 pm.
§ Twenty-four percent (49) killed in rural areas, and 76 percent (153) killed in urban areas.
§ Sixty-six percent (140) occurred at non-intersection locations, compared to 17 percent (36) at intersections and 17 percent (36) at other locations (8 on shoulder/roadside, 12 on the sidewalk, 11 on non-traffic way areas and five on driveway access).

About the Survey
The survey was conducted by Quenzel Marketing Agency, a Fort Myers based marketing and consulting firm on behalf of Solar Guard, LLC, the company that founded School Bus-Stop Safety Lights.

Colleen Quenzel
Quenzel & Associates
+1 239-226-0040
email us here
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