Safety upgrades at bus stops put to the test with new school year beginning

Reporter: Nicole Gabe
Published: Updated:

Monday is the first test of a safety plan prompted by the death of Layla Aiken, who was killed by a hit-and-run driver last March.

Over the summer volunteer groups installed 200 semi-permanent benches at bus stops throughout Cape Coral.

Layla’s mom is praying these changes prevent another tragedy like she has experienced.

Residents wish these changes were made years ago, but unfortunately it took a tragedy to make it happen.

Layla’s mom says she is grateful to see this community come together to help protect these children trying to get to school.

Kathleen Aiken says we can’t change what happened to her daughter, but she hopes we can do something to make sure something like what happened to Layla doesn’t happen again.

“That’s what i can do for her, because I wasn’t there to save her that morning, but now hopefully my actions can save somebody else’s baby,” Aiken said.

The city will monitor these safe zones to determine if they are effective during a 3 month period that starts on Monday. If they are, they tell WINK News they’ll consider more options like solar lighting.

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