Two Rymfire Elementary School students were slightly injured this morning when a car backed into them in the parking lot of Ralph Carter Park, next to the elementary school.
A Flagler County school district spokesman said the students’ parent was dropping them off in the parking lot of the park, as many parents do to avoid the congestion of the school’s lot. The students, both boys, were retrieving their backpacks from their vehicle’s trunk when another car backed into them, the spokesman said. One is a fourth grader, the other a fifth grader.
Both students required some medical attention at the scene, but their injuries were limited to scrapes and bruises. By 9 a.m. the fifth grader was already in class. The fourth grader was having his knees iced down. It wasn’t clear whether he’d be able to attend class today, the spokesman said.
The incident resulted in the response of numerous police and fire-rescue units. The names of the students or the driver of the vehicle have not yet been released, as the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office is still conducting the investigation.
Though the incident took place in a parking lot, it is the sixth incident this year involving a vehicle-versus-student collision, with injuries, with a total of seven students involved–four on bicycles, all of whom sustained minor injuries, one at a bust stop (the 7 year old was killed in a collision with a car), and today’s two at the parking lot.
Michael Taylor says
This is out of hand and Palm Coast officials have yet to publicly take action, so our page on face-book is doing the best we can to create an awareness, join us at “Safer Streets in Palm Coast” together we can make the difference we want to see in our city…
Woody says
What are officals going to do?I work in a small shopping center in Palm Coast and sometimes I Have to almost dive out of the way from cars backing up when walking out to go home.Like Ron White says”you can;t fix stupid”Why do people in this town go right to make a left hand turn? It is like they are all towing trailers!
markingthedays says
Why do people (kids and adults alike) walk behind cars that are backing up?
markingthedays says
Actually, I take back my comment upon further self-discussion. In this case, the children were not putting themselves in harms way. I do still stand by my position that, right of way or not, if you see a car backing up in a parking lot it is up to you to get out of the way rather than assuming the driver sees you.
jadobi says
What is your solution? With the amount of cars and people on the road, collisions are going to happen. It all boils down to personal responsibility and awareness. What is the City going to do to solve that? Call me soulless, but the number (single digit) is pretty low.
Leslie Johnson says
The parent was dropping off the children in an unauthorized area not meant for children to dropped off so that parent could bypass the rules that are there to help keep all of us safe!!
I swear these parents leave their brains somewhere else and they have a complete and utter distegard for rules and safety, including for their own children!
This stupidity makes me very angry because if they would just follow the rules like the rest os us, we might see fewer accidents.
Sandra Reynolds says
Soulless, it may seem low to you until it is your child who is injured or killed. Please do us all a favor and stay off the roads.
Annonymous says
The were not walking behind the car while it was backing up. The gentleman was being impatient and threw his car in reverse because he couldn’t wait for the car in front of him to let their children out and backed in to the car behind him… which hit the children that were getting their backpacks and skateboards out the the trunk.
If everyone would just pay attention and drive with some sense we wouldn’t have these issues.
It is low of other to cast judgment in a situation they are not in. Not to mention the accuracy of the story is off as well but what can you expect from the this.
Nancy N. says
Agree with Leslie Johnson…before I started homeschooling, it used to make me crazy that the area around BTES during pick-up and drop-off was littered with parents who thought they were too special to do it the way the rest of us had to, and instead chose to put their kids and everyone else at risk by creating crazy traffic in side streets and other areas around the school.
Newsflash folks…you’re no more special than the rest of us. Do it like you’re supposed to!
confidential says
Whether the parent was letting of the children in an unauthorized area (which of course I do not agree either) is not a justification for a car driver to back up in human beings, whether being students adults or anyone including animals! A car driver has a big weapon “his car” and lets do not make excuses for being careless/irresponsible versus who has no protection against his/her car.
Leslie Johnson says
Without question, the driver who backed up into the children was clearly negligent and reckless. He needs a stiff penalty and a driving course, probably anger and/or stress management course. I’m even for removal of his license because stupid people who do stuff like that shouldn’t even have a license, IMHO. He was dead wrong doing what he did and now he’s dealing with what’s to come from that.
However, the parent who dropped off his/her children in a non-designated area shares some of the responsibility for bypassing safety precautions set up by the school as to where and how children should be dropped off. The parent was negligent and reckless as well, not to mention blatantly too selfish and self-absorbed to follow the rules set up by the school.
Both drivers put other children and other drivers at risk by not following these rules. The schools do what they can to protect our children from what could be preventable issues by having a plan, a route and a place where children are to be dropped off. When some parent takes it upon themselves to go a different route, they are putting their children (and mine, yours & anyone else’s) at risk and the schools cannot account for nor foresee every act of stupidity a parent will choose in order to get around doing the right thing.
Look, I get that there is a park. It’s a nice one, too. Just because we *can* park there to drop off our kids doesn’t mean that we *should* and this is precisely a reason for WHY we have rules in the first place.
Our kids are in danger. WE are in danger. Join Safer Streets in Palm Coast on Facebook & let’s see what we can collectively do about it.
Caden says
I know the 4th grader he’s in my class but I’m not saying the name
Rymfire Mom says
Actually, the parking lot next to Ralph Carter park is authorized. The students then follow the sidewalk to the school entrance. What’s not authorized is the parents that actually pull into the school parking lot and park then have their kids walk across the parking lot. I have fought with Rymfire for years, even offered to volunteer my time. Falls on deaf ears.