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Fatality renews calls for safety

Beach communities are demanding action from the DOT.

By SHEILA MULLANE ESTRADA
Published June 29, 2005

REDINGTON BEACH - Concern over pedestrian safety on Gulf Boulevard is no longer a mere talking point at beach community meetings.

In the wake of a pedestrian fatality in North Redington Beach late Saturday, officials of several beach communities contacted the state Department of Transportation this week demanding action.

And only days before that accident, Redington Beach Mayor Bob Fountaine formally asked to meet with Gov. Jeb Bush in hopes that he could push the DOT to reduce speed limits and install traffic calming measures. Currently along Gulf Boulevard the speed limit ranges from 30 to 40 mph, and the road can be difficult to cross safely.

"While we once had fairly high hopes of working cooperatively with FDOT to resolve our issues of concern, it was recently brought to my attention by District 7 engineers that there is "nothing further that can be done,' " Fountaine wrote in a letter to the governor requesting a meeting "at your earliest convenience."

The governor's scheduling office is reviewing the request, a spokesman for the governor said Tuesday.

"The DOT has been unresponsive. They have said no to everything," says Fountaine, who is the designated representative of the Barrier Islands Governmental Council (Big C) relating to safety issues on Gulf Boulevard. The council met with DOT officials last month to discuss how the beach road could be made safer for pedestrians and bicyclists.

Saturday's fatal accident occurred as an elderly Clearwater couple were crossing from a parking lot to attend a family reunion at the Sandalwood Beach Resort at 17100 Gulf Blvd.

According to the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office, the couple crossed the northbound lanes of Gulf Boulevard to a narrow median and then stepped into the path of a southbound pickup truck.

Kermit Ross, 86, was killed and his wife, Doris, 77, was severely injured. The driver, William Zimmerman of St. Petersburg, was not injured or charged in the accident.

Investigators don't believe excessive speed contributed to the crash, according to Sheriff's Office spokesman Jim Bordner.

What did contribute to it, according to North Redington Beach Mayor Bill Queen, was the lack of a nearby designated crosswalk and safety zone in the median.

"This was a very sad tragedy," said Queen, who recently asked DOT to consider installing three additional crosswalks in his town - one of them near the site of the accident.

Under state law, motorists can be ticketed for not yielding to pedestrians crossing at official crosswalks.

"This was a very dangerous place to cross. There is no place in the median for people to stop and be out of traffic," Queen said. "There is nothing to protect them."

Queen will meet Thursday with Debra Kennaugh, a safety and special projects engineer for the DOT Tampa office. Kennaugh also plans to meet with Madeira Beach City Manager Jill Silverboard to discuss additional steps to promote safety on Gulf Boulevard.

Kennaugh said that after Saturday's fatal accident officials from several communities have called her with concerns about safety on the beach road.

However, the DOT's official position, according to Kennaugh, is that the road is safe. "Is Gulf Boulevard a dangerous road? No. It is a very safe road. Many of the accidents involve DUI issues and that is an enforcement problem," said Kennaugh, who says she has reviewed accident and fatality reports for the past five years.

She also says the present speed limits are appropriate and cannot be lowered without violating state law. "That would create a speed trap," she says.

Other requests to narrow traffic lanes or install such devices as roadside flashing warning lights or mid-road pedestrian warning signs are either "experimental" and therefore not allowed by DOT, a safety issue, or must be coordinated with scheduled road resurfacing.

[Last modified June 29, 2005, 04:57:14]