ORLANDO — Kyle Anderson’s daughter rides her bike to Lake Nona Middle School every day, pedaling along one of the region’s busiest roadways where students sometimes weave through traffic on their way to and from campus.

Six-lane Narcoossee Road runs in front of the middle school and Lake Nona High School, which is about a mile away. Neither school is part of a reduced speed zone — a designation that drops speed limits to at least 20 mph and, city officials say, helps slow down cars and curb accidents.

Instead, the speed limit on that stretch of the road is 45 mph and vehicles often drive by at even higher speeds.

“It just makes me nervous because the traffic’s so fast,” said Anderson, whose older child graduated in May from Lake Nona High.

Anderson has been emailing city officials for more than a year urging school zone designations at both the Lake Nona schools. He may get his wish, though he’s frustrated any action is still months away.

Orlando is looking to create dozens more school zones — including at both the Lake Nona schools, which have a combined enrollment of about 4,100 students — and then install cameras at each to ticket speeders.

In June, Orlando City Council voted to deploy the cameras in 23 existing school zones including at campuses in Audubon Park, College Park, Dover Shores and Metrowest. The school zone cameras act much like a red light camera where offenders would face a $100 fine and be sent a ticket in the mail.

The cameras are not yet installed, however, and the city has no timeline for getting them in place because it must still put the equipment out for a bid, said spokesperson Ashley Papagni. Still, the city may decide by the end of the current school year to put cameras at many more schools, hoping to deter more motorists from zipping by campuses so quickly.

“Crashes are little lessons in physics, velocity and mass,” said Laura Hardwicke, Orlando’s safe mobility manager. “If we can reduce the velocity, the speed of vehicles, we make safer conditions.”

Lake Nona is a fast growing section of the city and traffic on Narcoossee Road jumped to 57,000 drivers per day in 2023, the most recent figures available, from 38,000 the year prior, according to data from the Florida Department of Transportation.

The Orlando metropolitan area has historically been one of the deadliest regions in the country for pedestrians, most recently ranking 18th among the nation’s 100 largest metro areas.

The two Lake Nona campuses are among 25 additional Orange County Public Schools located in Orlando city limits that could be eligible for a speed zone — which is marked with signs and flashing beacons — but do not have one, according to the city. Twenty eight other charter schools and private schools could be eligible, too.

If the city designates new zones, it can, under a new state law, then install the speed detection cameras. The Florida Legislature in 2023 approved speed enforcement cameras in school zones.

The public schools to be studied are located all around the city, from Lake Nona in the south to Baldwin Park near downtown to Azalea Park on the city’s eastern side.

Hardwicke said the city’s earlier school zone study found a safety risk because of speeding even in designated school zones, meaning more than half of cars drove through them above the posted speed limit. The hope is the cameras will do more to slow down motorists, she said.

City staff in their proposal for the new study, which the council will vote on Dec. 9, reference a 2002 Transportation Research Board report that found each year about 25,000 children are injured in school speed zone accidents and about 100 are killed in collisions while walking to or from school. A more recent 2018 study by Zendrive found Florida’s drivers rank second among all states in the dangers they pose around schools.

Public schools in Orlando that could get speed zones and cameras:

•Azalea Park Elementary

•Baldwin Park Elementary

•Carver Middle

•Catalina Elementary

•Dr. Phillips High

•Edgewater High

•Glenridge Middle

•Hillcrest Elementary

•Howard Middle

•Ivey Lane Elementary

•Jones High

•Lake Nona Middle

•Lake Nona High

•McCoy Elementary

•Memorial Middle

•Millennia Elementary

•NorthLake Park Elementary

•OCPS ACE

•Orange Center Elementary

•Orlando Gifted Academy

•Rosemont Elementary

•Shingle Creek Elementary

•Ventura Elementary

•Village Park Elementary

•Washington Shores Elementary

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