Volusia County officials vowed to enforce traffic safety at a safety meeting Tuesday night and they started bright and early Wednesday morning.

Orange City police said they issued at least half a dozen warnings to students on Wednesday for jaywalking and tickets to students not wearing helmets riding home from school. Police said starting next week, students will get $65 tickets for crossing streets dangerously and not in crosswalks in efforts to stop the troubling trend that seems to be plaguing Volusia County.

"If kids are not paying attention and bring home a citation that will give them something to think about," said parent Joe Miller.

Parents said they support the idea even though many realize their children may be the ones paying for a violation.

'He would earn his own money to pay the citation," Miller said when asked what he would do if his child came home with citation. "Its a big responsiblity for them also as well it will teach them this is consequences of what I'm supposed to be doing."

The meeting that sparked these changes was called after 16-year-old Brandon Vera was hit by a car and died crossing U.S. Highway 17-92 on Feb. 2 in Orange City, sending shockwaves throughout the county. It was the 17^th student that has been injured walking to and from school since the beginning of the school year.

"People need to be vigilant about our children that are crossing these streets. They need to watch out for the other guy," Wilfred Vera, Brandon's father, said at the meeting Tuesday.

Volusia County Sheriff Ben Johnson said Tuesday night that steps can be taken to increase safety, including writing tickets to drivers speeding in school zones and writing tickets to student pedestrians who aren’t paying attention to traffic or using crosswalks.

Currently, the speed limit on 17-92 in Orange City is 45 miles per hour. Making it a school zone would reduce that to 20 or 25 miles per hour.

"When are they going to wake up and decide lets help these kids now? I think now's the time," said Vera.

As far as other Central Florida counties, citing for jaywalking seems to be a rare occurrence. Marion County sheriff's said it’s very rare to cite a student for jaywalking or not using a crosswalk. Their policy is to issue a verbal or written warning first and then write a citation to the student

Brevard and Flagler counties both said if deputies see it happen and it's a safety issue the student will get a verbal warning.

Lake County sheriff's says they will on occasion write warnings and give citations to students jaywalking.