The Volusia County Council has also denied tearful requests from the Patricks to end the practice.

Instead, the Council added a bright yellow compromise: new signs that say “slow  children playing” now hang by ramps leading to the beaches and on the wooden markers noting the 10 mile an hour speed limit. Mr. Bruno said most residents had no interest in doing more.

“Change doesn’t come fast here in Volusia County,” he said. “We hold on to what we have.”

Economics, he acknowledged, are at least partly responsible. Each year, eight million visitors come to the county’s beaches. New Smyrna Beach has the second-lowest property tax rate in the county, largely, city officials say, because its beaches attract so many tourist dollars.

“On weekends as far as you can see in either direction, there are thousands of cars,” said Brandon McKenney, 39, whose family owns the Breakers, which sits beside a tollbooth charging $5 for each car let onto the beach. “Where are you going to put them? They’d have to buy or build parking lots, and my taxes are high enough.”

For Jason and Portia Patrick, Aiden’s parents, that is the argument that hurts the most. “You don’t want your taxes to go up  you know what, trade your child,” Mrs. Patrick said.

She and her husband, a project designer for fire-prevention systems, live in Deltona, about 30 miles inland. Their simple concrete home still has pictures of Aiden hanging prominently on the walls. In one photo, he shows off his tiny biceps; in another, the ocean can be seen just behind his cheerful grin.

The Patricks, who have three other children, said they went to New Smyrna Beach regularly because it was close, and because they did not realize how often injuries occurred. County recordsshow that more than 40 people have been struck by vehicles on the beach in the past five years.

Mrs. Patrick, 31, said that Aiden was just learning how to cross the street and that he could not have understood that the beach was just as dangerous. He darted away in an instant, she said, noting that it could have happened to any parent.