Jockeying for lane adds risk to 102nd
At Old Ridge Road, one family experiences two accidents, one fatal, in less than two months.
By JEAN HELLER, ANNE LINDBERG and JON WILSON, Times Staff Writers
© St. Petersburg Times,
published July 8, 2001
[Times photo: Carrie Pratt]
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Skip, left, and Lynn Bailey hold a photograph of his mother, Adeline Openlander, who died in a wreck in the intersection behind them of 102nd Avenue and Old Ridge Road. Less than two months before, their daughter was hurt in an accident there. "We've asked the city and the county for help," Skip Bailey said.
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SEMINOLE -- It is, according to Seminole residents who know it well, the intersection from hell.
In December, Skip Bailey's daughter was broadsided there by a car and had to be cut out of her Dodge Neon and flown to the hospital. She had dropped her 2-year-old at the babysitter's only minutes before.
A month later, Bailey's mother was driving her Buick Roadmaster in the opposite direction at the same intersection and was involved in a similar accident. She died.
The intersection in question is 102nd Avenue at Old Ridge Road, just west of 113th Street. From 113th, 102nd is two lanes in each direction. At Old Ridge Road, it narrows to one lane each way.
"You get drivers jockeying for position in each direction, to get out in front westbound when the road narrows to one lane, or to get out from behind slower traffic when the road widens eastbound," said Bailey, a luxury boat salesman. "People keep slamming into one another."
Adeline Openlander, Bailey's 75-year-old mother, was westbound at the intersection in January, in the left lane. According to police, a car in the right lane sped past Openlander and tried to cut in front of her, but hit her instead.
"We've asked the city and the county for help," Bailey said. "Maybe they put up a few more signs. It's not enough."
You can understand why 102nd and Old Ridge gets Bailey's nomination as the worst place to be in your car locally. But there is no shortage of other contenders.
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