Lost lives prompt talk of traffic safety

Since two brothers on a bicycle were killed on the way to Largo High, officials have been pressured to make the route safer, especially at Missouri Avenue.

By ROBERT FARLEY, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published December 7, 2002

LARGO -- Perhaps none of the traffic safety measures now being considered around Largo High School would have prevented the death of two students who were struck by two cars while crossing busy Missouri Avenue on a single bicycle.

The Oct. 25 accident that claimed the lives of brothers Ervis and Almarin Sefa prompted a flurry of phone calls, letters and e-mails to the school.

The recurring theme, said Largo High School principal Barbara Thornton: "Isn't there something you can do?"

In response, a group of school, city and Department of Transportation officials came up with a handful of proposals aimed at making it safer for pedestrians to cross Missouri Avenue to get to the high school.

Among the suggestions: installation of flashing lights at the approach to the school; an adult crossing guard; additional street lighting; a left turn signal southbound into the school; stopping traffic at all four directions when the pedestrian crossing button is activated on Missouri Avenue and Fourth Avenue NW; and safety and accident information letters mailed to all parents as a reminder of the danger.

"Missouri Avenue is a very busy highway," Thornton said. "It's hectic. There are kids crossing the street, and cars are pulling in while other cars are going by very fast. I have always seen that and been concerned about it."

The traffic fatalities in October have brought those safety issues to the forefront.

"It's sad that it takes a tragedy like this to get attention on the problem," she said. "We need to do everything we can that would prevent an accident in the future."

And yet, she said, even if these changes had already been made, there's no way to know that the accident wouldn't have happened.

Largo Police Sgt. Butch Ward noted that the accident happened some 700 feet away from the intersection of Missouri and Fourth Avenue NW. The boys crossed the street where there is no crosswalk or traffic signal. They were killed, he said, because they failed to yield to the right of way of the vehicles.

Ward said he supported most of the safety measures being discussed. But mostly, he said, students need to use the ones that already exist.

"The tools are in place to prevent these types of accidents, if they are used," Ward said.

Largo police issued seven pedestrian violations Friday morning to students crossing Missouri Avenue mid block. It brought the total to 21 such tickets given out this week.

"It's an education process that starts at home," Ward said.

Ward said he had pushed for flashing signs that warn passing motorists, "Caution, School Crossing."

They are also lobbying DOT officials to retime the signals so that there will be red lights in both directions to give pedestrians a couple of seconds to cross before cars get a green light.

As for a crossing guard, Ward thinks that's "just PR."

"We had two officers standing across the street yesterday, and kids still crossed mid block," Ward said.

Ward said the first safety change would be signs directing students to push the appropriate pedestrian crossing button. Often, he said, students have mistakenly been pushing the button for Fourth Avenue NW. They become frustrated when they don't see a pedestrian crossing signal light up and head across the street without it.

Thornton said it just took too long to get a green light when people press the pedestrian crossing button. It seems like five minutes, she said, though she has been told it's no longer than three minutes.

"Rather than waiting, people cross when they can," she said.

She'd prefer an on-demand green light when the button is pushed, to shorten the wait. If it took only a minute for the light to change, she said, "people would be more patient and wait for the light."

Ward noted that DOT had made several improvements to the high school area in the past year, including extending the left turn lane and adding more signs.

"It's a tragedy those boys were killed," Ward said. "But that accident had nothing to do with that intersection."

Perhaps, though, it will provide the fuel needed to get some long-standing safety issues addressed, he said.

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