ST. JOHNS, Fla. – A terrifying close call for one St. Johns County student sparked a movement and now, a brand-new state law.
“Bella’s Law” is named after a young girl who biked just feet from a busy highway to get to school. But her story — and her community — helped create lasting change.
For years, St. Johns County students’ daily route to Liberty Pines Academy took them just a few feet from fast-moving traffic. Children as young as 5 had to walk or bike a stretch of County Road 2209, near the 9B on-ramp.
That meant being close to speeding cars, busy traffic and even crash scenes.
But one moment changed everything for 8-year-old Bella Edwards and her family.
Bella was riding her bike to Liberty Pines Academy when a car flipped onto the sidewalk in front of her.
“I never thought that a car would crash and flip on the sidewalk where my daughter was going to school,” Bella’s mom, Clara Edwards, said. “My heart dropped. It was very scary as a parent taking your kids to school and being able to witness that and thinking that my daughter could have died if we left the house a few minutes earlier.”
Bella is now 13, but that frightening moment is one she’ll never forget.
“I knew how the car could have hit me, and I could have got injured in the hospital or something like that, so seeing the car being there — really scary, to be honest,” Bella said.
Clara says dozens of families in the St. Johns Forest neighborhood shared more than five years of photos of flipped vehicles, flashing lights — and even a gurney — hoping the school district would finally make a change.
After years of hoping for answers, State Rep. Kim Kendall got involved.
“The neighbors call this Crash Alley. They’re continually seeing crashes all the time. Some minor, some major,” Kendall said.
Their efforts led to Kendall filing her very first bill and naming it after Bella.
“To see the visual of this car that was flipped in front of her little girl on her bike by herself, and as a mom there’s nothing you can do. It was a no-brainer to file this bill,” Kendall said.
Under Florida law, students who live within 2 miles of school typically walk — unless the route is deemed hazardous.
Bella’s Law now adds limited-access highways and on-ramps, like the one near Bella’s home, to that list of exceptions.
It means students in her neighborhood — and others like it — can finally qualify for bus service.
Kendall presented Clara and Bella with a commemorative version of the bill.
“It makes me feel like I’m some kind of hero and how I’m saving other kids’ lives so they won’t have to do the same thing as me,” Bella said.
Now, Bella is starting her eighth-grade year, and, for the first time, she’ll be riding the school bus. She promised Kendall a picture of her first ride on the bus.