Photo by: NorthEscambia.com
Florida Highway Patrol responded to another crash Tuesday at US 29 and County Road 196 in Molino.
A 17-year-old boy and a 50-year-old woman are both hurt but expected to be okay.
This site has seen several crashes over the years, including a deadly accident back in January that claimed the life of a 17-year-old Tate High School student.
FHP tells WEAR News there have been 66 crashes — three of those have been fatal in the last 10 years.
People in the area are calling for change.
“There’s been a number of serious accidents in recent history,” District 5 Escambia County Commissioner Steven Barry said.
“When I heard about it this morning I had horrible anxiety. I just felt terrible,” Bradley Ellertson’s mother Krystal Stone said.
Stone lost her son Bradley Ellertson, a junior Tate High School student, in a crash at that same intersection in January.
Stone and neighbors in the area have been pushing for additional safety measures here.
“Well besides lowering the speed limit, it is what I believe should be 45,” Stone said. “I think that possibly a good compromise is adding on the stop signs and flashing signs so that people are alerted further back that they need to slow down and stop. A lot of residents have wanted a stop light out there so that could possibly be a solution.”
Barry serves that district and says the county requested the Florida Department of Transportation to do a study back in February after another crash.
“That prompted the county and myself to ask FDOT to evaluate the intersection again traffic light,” Barry said.
“But it’s something that we asked FDOT to look at a number of times over the years,” he added.
Barry says the previous studies showed the traffic count wasn’t enough for a traffic light.
He says the county is hoping this study will have a different outcome.
The county is also working with Florida Power and Light to install more street lights.
“I understand it’s going to happen,” Barry said. “It’s just a matter of the timeline for the installation by their contract partner and it sounds like right now there are some issues with the delivery of the materials for the installation of the lights themselves that seems to be the delay.”
Stone says there are things drivers can do now to stay safe.
“Slow down, you have people’s lives in your vehicle and I think these kids and people who are speeding forget that this is a weapon,” Stone said. “You’re putting fragile bodies in your car, it does not matter. If you are speeding, you’ll kill them or you’ll kill yourself.”
WEAR News reached out to the Florida Department of Transportation for more information about the intersection.
Officials tell us they are looking at it and recent crash data to see if a traffic signal can be installed there.
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Source: weartv
