If you travel along Wekiva Springs Road in Longwood each afternoon rush hour, you’ll likely see it: drivers zipping past Sabal Point Elementary School, where two lanes merge into one.

  • Drivers in merge lane cut into through traffic in front of Sabal Point Elementary
  • FHP: Majority of students live within 2 miles of the school
  • If you're in merge lane, you don't have right of way, troopers say

In this week’s Traffic Inbox, McKee Clark writes (edited for clarity):

“You should bring your cameras to Sabal (Point) Elementary on Wekiva Springs Road and Sabal Point Dr. Face camera shot east from the corner near the elementary school sign between 4:30 and 6 pm and watch the crazy drivers violating the thick solid white line that warns drivers: right lane must turn right.

“You will be suprised at how many people risk a citation from FHP to cut into traffic after a high speed pass of stopping traffic... just to get home 30 seconds earlier.”

Trooper Steven Montiero with Florida Highway Patrol said:  

“If you are in a merge lane, you do not have the right of way. The other traffic moving has the right of way."

Montiero said that sometimes, merging happens smoothly, while other times, drivers ride up a turn-only lane to hop ahead in line.

“You’ve got drivers honking their horns at each other, literally darting their vehicles in front of other vehicles, shutting the road down so they can get in," he said.

That’s dangerous not only to other drivers but students, too.

A majority of students live within two miles of the school, according to the Seminole County Sheriff's Office. That means that each day, many students are walking or biking to and from school grounds. After-school programs mean children get out later, when crossing guards are not present.

“We say pack your patience all the time. Not only your keys, your phone, your children, but also your patience in the car with you," Montiero said. “I think when you start throwing in people’s impatience while they’re driving, these merge lanes go from a simple act of driving and operating a car to an aggressive enforcement area.”

Moving citations can be costly and come with points on one's license, according to Montiero. But the bigger picture, he said, is about being a responsible driver.

“This is not something that we’re out here to give people a hard time about," Montiero said. "All we want is people just to drive safe.”