- November 20, 2024
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Officials are considering additional changes at an intersection where a 15-year-old girl on a bicycle was struck by a car Dec. 12. The teen had no visible injuries after the crash, according to deputies.
The intersection, at Belle Terre Parkway and State Road 100, has drawn complaints from parents who feel it is unsafe for children walking or cycling to school, and the Florida Department of transportation installed a dedicated right turn arrow at the intersection — a move designed to reduce conflict between cars and pedestrians — a few weeks before the girl was struck.
But in an email to local officials and reporters, parent Laura Gollon — who drove past the crash, and whose son Chris regularly passes through the intersection to get to school — said officials haven’t done enough.
“I pictured my son bloodied and sprawled in that intersection Thursday, as I approached from south of 100, and all I could see were the emergency vehicle lights,” she wrote. “I still have a knot in my stomach over it. I’m still emotional over it. I’m still shaken up over it. Imagine how that girl’s mom feels.”
The state is still considering adding extra signage, including a no-right-on-red signal.
The problem has been a timing issue at the intersection’s crosswalk. A stream of cars make right turns across the crosswalk while pedestrians, including many students walking and biking to nearby Flagler Palm Coast High School, have a walk signal.
The girl struck in the Dec. 12 incident told deputies she had followed other pedestrians into the intersection and had 20 seconds left on a walk signal when she entered it, according to a Sheriff's Office report.
Because State Road 100 is a state and not a city or county road, local officials have had limited power to make changes.
But that hasn’t stopped parents from complaining, pressing government leaders to push the state for more action.
One parent, Flagler Police Athletic League baseball coach George Roy, videotaped kids waiting through walk signal after walk signal as cars passed though the cross walk in front of them. He posted the videos to YouTube.
In a response to Gollon’s email — forwarded by Gollon to the press — Palm Coast Mayor Jon Netts wrote that state traffic engineers are still considering extra signage and a pedestrian signal with a no-right-on-red sign.
But he warned that those changes wouldn’t make someone riding a bike in the intersection totally safe, adding that he would consider asking the Sheriff’s Office to make sure that people walk bicycles through the intersection instead of riding them.
The driver of the car that struck the teenager on Dec. 12 was cited for failing to yield to a pedestrian.
