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Driving force gets light installed early

A woman's determination causes the devices to go up two years ahead of time at an intersection known for crashes.

By CHUIN-WEI YAP
Published June 27, 2006

SAN ANTONIO - It took 75-year-old Diane Jones 13 days to persuade the state Department of Transportation to change its mind.

Thanks to Jones, a new set of traffic lights is going up at State Road 52 and Curley Road - two years ahead of schedule.

The intersection is a notorious accident spot, and when 82-year-old H. Pauline Ferrell died May 3 in a car crash there, Jones sprang into action with the backing of Ferrell's children.

It took Jones two weeks to assemble 2,870 signatures and win support from the City Commission and state Rep. Ken Littlefield.

"When I started out, I thought, this is a small town, and if I get 400 to 500 signatures, I'd be elated," Jones said. "I was blown away by what I got."

She took a day to put petition sheets at 20 spots around town, hoping people would speak with their signatures.

What came back two weeks later was effectively a deafening cry for help.

Jones, a former city clerk, ended up with a petition three times the size of San Antonio's population, which stands at about 1,000.

Residents weren't the only ones who signed the petition, but also truck drivers and other motorists who pass that intersection.

Kwik Mart, the store at the northeastern corner of the intersection, collected 18 sheets of signatures, as did San Ann bar along State Road 52.

Now, traffic at the intersection is guided by flashing amber lights on east-west SR 52, and red ones on north-south Curley, also called County Road 577.

Residents say it's not enough.

"I live one block to the south of that intersection," said City Clerk Barbara Sessa. "I've lived here pretty much all my life ... and all my life, there's been that flashing caution light. I get alarmed every time I hear squealing tires."

One of those squealing-tire occasions killed a woman Jones never knew, but whose death she said devastated her.

"We've been trying to get a light there since the 1980s," Jones said. "Everybody kept saying we need a light there, and somebody needs to do something about it. I said to myself, 'Well, what's wrong with me doing it?'"

Ferrell was driving north on Curley Road when she was hit and killed by a truck driven by John E. Slayback, of J&J Trucking Co., according to county records. Slayback was not cited. A witness said Slayback could not have stopped in time, according to a Florida Highway Patrol report.

Florida Highway Patrol Trooper Larry Coggins said SR 52 is one of busiest Pasco roads, and the existing caution lights "have been there for, like, 1,000 years." The new lights would add to safety, he said.

On Monday, Ferrell's children cheered Jones' victory.

"Everybody says a prayer when they go through that intersection," said Diane Smith, Ferrell's daughter.

"It can't bring her back, but if drivers know that they could be facing a red light, maybe they'll slow down," said Ferrell's son, Dade Ferrell.

In a letter to Jones dated June 21, Gary Thompson, a DOT traffic operations engineer, said he hoped the new signals will be up by mid-summer. The department had decided in 2005 to install the lights, but planned on construction in 2008, said its spokeswoman Marian Scorza.

Jones' letter changed things.

"It was warranted," Scorza said. "We've done a study on it awhile back."

A flashing sign will give early warning of the new signals ahead for eastbound drivers on SR 52, as it curves toward the intersection.

Those used to zipping through SR 52 may grouse, but some accident victims are already thanking Jones.

"I think it's overdue and well needed," said Tammy Antoine, 28, of San Antonio. "It's a very dangerous intersection."

On March 18, Antoine and her husband were heading east on SR 52 when a white Ford pick-up truck T-boned their car, as they passed through the intersection.

The crash sent Antoine to the hospital with neck, back and rib-cage injuries. She's still in therapy.

"Because of that accident, we try to go around that intersection now at all costs," she said.

She won't have to any more.

[Last modified June 27, 2006, 06:52:25]