Changes sought for Winter Park intersection
It’s site of 9 crashes, 2 deaths since Jan. 2017
WINTER PARK — The mangled vehicles sounded like a train crashing as they came to rest outside Colte Suggs’ Orange Avenue home.
It turned out that a BMW doing almost 130 mph had Tboned a Toyota SUV turning at nearby Westchester Avenue. Two young women in the SUV were killed, leading to the arrest of the BMW’s driver on two charges each of vehicular homicide and reckless driving.
“I thought one of the trains had come off the track,” recalled Suggs, 32. “My neighbors and I were just talking the other day, and we’re tired of being the first responders.”
Since Jan. 1, 2017, there have been at least nine accidents at Orange Avenue and Westchester Street, according to state Department of Transportation data. Now, after neighbors have complained about the
rash of crashes, the state agency is recommending ways to improve safety.
The department is calling for a crackdown on speeding and aggressive driving and potentially restricting left-hand turns onto Orange Avenue from Westchester during rush hour.
It also recommends a study to see if Orange Avenue should be placed on a “road diet” — for example, sacrificing car lanes for bike lanes — between Wilkinson Street and U.S. Highway 17-92, where neighbors say the fourlane traffic becomes a speedway.
“It’s a long run from 17-92 to Wilkinson,” said Stephen Pategas, an Orwin Manor homeowners association board member since the 1980s. “I think it could use a road diet … you could use a median, you could use a bike lane or on-street parking.”
Winter Park spokeswoman Clarissa Howard said no decision has been made about what action to take, but the goal is to bring a plan to the City Commission in June.
In the New Year’s Eve crash — the only one of those in the past year and a half to be fatal — Justin Fonner allegedly bragged to his passengers that he would “show you what a real man’s car can do” before he jammed the accelerator and raced down Orange Avenue, police said.
Investigators later discovered through the vehicle’s airbag control module that it reached 128 mph 1 ½ seconds before the crash and was at 106 mph on impact, records show.
Geena Brigete Pabarue and Keisha Nicole Oyola Perales, both 23, were killed in the crash. A memorial placed nearby provides the neighbors with a stark reminder of the tragedy.
Suggs said he’s seen at least four crashes since he moved into his home along Orange Avenue in August.
He told city commissioners last week that the high speeds make him nervous to back out of his driveway and urged them to study shrinking the road, though he’s been frustrated that they haven’t agreed yet.
“I back out on my street every morning and it’s terrifying because people are speeding to work,” Suggs said in a later interview. “When you back out onto the road, it’s like playing real-life Frogger.”
Before the crash, speeding drivers were just an inconvenience he said, but the New Year’s Eve crash really “put it in perspective to have two young ladies die in front of your house.”
City Manager Randy Knight said Winter Park was debating whether signs restricting left turns between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. would be enough or if a so-called “pork-chop” island — a triangular traffic device that helps drivers make right turns — would be enough.
“The concern is that people would just move over to Berkshire [Avenue],” he said of the street a block south of Westminster.
Mayor Steve Leary warned about potential “unintended consequences” of moving the traffic elsewhere.
“Some other neighbor is going to get upset now they’re getting a 100-percent increase in traffic in their area,” he said. “I think we should investigate it. I just would be very concerned that you’re going to squeeze the balloon and it’s going to go somewhere else.”
Of the nine crashes at Westchester and Orange avenues, two involved left turns and five were considered “angled” crashes — including the fatal New Year’s Eve crash — with seven of them occurring between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m, FDOT data shows.
Those collisions caused 17 injuries and $69,400 in property damage, but it’s the two deaths that have stayed with the neighbors.
“Orwin Manor was incredibly shaken up about this,” Pategas said. “Something needs to be done. It’s just a shame two lives had to be lost for people to take a hard look at this.”
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