Cars are backing up outside the Bella Sera neighborhood in Royal Palm Beach every school morning, and residents say a U-turn maneuver ordered by nearby H.L. Johnson Elementary School is putting children who walk and bike to class directly in harm's way. Bella Sera resident Brianna Steel, who has lived in the gated community for nearly a decade, says vehicles have jumped the curb attempting the tight turn, and that one child fell off a bicycle trying to avoid being hit.
According to WPTV, the school instructed drivers last year to go around and make a U-turn in front of Bella Sera as a way to manage its drop-off and pickup lines. The resulting traffic queue now blocks the entrance and exit to the 385-home community, which sits directly off Crestwood Boulevard North adjacent to the campus, according to Redfin. H.L. Johnson Elementary, built in 1984, serves more than 850 students from pre-kindergarten through fifth grade, per its school profile.
Close Calls Piling Up Before the New School Year
Steel says children have experienced close calls with vehicles throughout the past year, and that a no U-turn sign residents believed had been installed directly at the school to ease congestion has not stopped the daily jams. She describes Royal Palm Beach as having a family-friendly, children-first reputation, and says that reputation is exactly why she's pushing for change. “I hope my advocacy will lead to a change before an accident happens,” Steel said, according to the same report, adding that she wants the right people involved before the situation turns into a tragedy.
The traffic situation is becoming a major safety issue as the school year begins, Steel said. Under Florida law, U-turns are only legal when a driver can complete the maneuver safely and without interfering with other traffic — a standard set by Florida Statute 316.1515, which classifies violations as noncriminal moving infractions.
Village and District Response Still Pending
Royal Palm Beach village staff typically coordinates with schools on traffic and safety planning before each school year, but questions about the Bella Sera U-turn have not yet been fully answered. The station's report notes it reached out to former Mayor Fred Pinto's office, which forwarded the questions to the village manager for a direct response — a role now held by Village Manager Raymond C. Liggins under Mayor Jeff Hmara, who took over village leadership after Pinto's death in September 2024. As of the report, WPTV was still awaiting that response.
The School District of Palm Beach County said student safety is its highest priority and reminded drivers to allow extra commute time, obey traffic laws in and around school zones, and exercise caution around student pedestrians, school buses, and increased traffic. The district directed families with specific questions to contact its transportation call center. Palm Beach County's school system is the 10th largest in the United States and the fifth largest in Florida, operating more than 180 schools and serving over 189,000 students, including 109 elementary campuses, according to a district profile compiled by Niche.
A Countywide Pattern of Risk for Young Pedestrians
The concerns in Bella Sera echo broader safety data across the county. Florida Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles recorded 724 bicycle crashes, 706 bicycle injuries, and six bicycle fatalities in Palm Beach County in 2024, part of 15,453 total traffic crashes countywide that year. A 2026 Smart Growth America “Dangerous by Design” study ranked the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Palm Beach County metro area as the 17th deadliest in the nation for pedestrians, tallying 3,726 pedestrian deaths statewide between 2020 and 2024.
Local officials do have tools available if they choose to use them. A 2023 state law, Florida Statute 316.1896, allows municipalities and counties to install automated speed cameras in school zones that issue $100 citations to drivers exceeding the limit by more than 10 mph, though the law requires a 30-day public awareness campaign before enforcement can begin. Whether Royal Palm Beach will pursue that option, or any physical redesign of the Bella Sera entrance, remains an open question as families adjust to another year of school-day traffic.
Hoodline previously reported on the dangers of Palm Beach County roadways in the wake of a fatal teen crash after a tournament, underscoring the stakes for a county already grappling with elevated traffic risk for young people.
