Changes proposed for intersection where fatal crash involving the Holy Cross women’s rowing team happened
“We need to make decisions quickly. They need to be the right decisions."
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New traffic safety measures are being considered for the Vero Beach, Florida, intersection where the Holy Cross women’s rowing team was involved in a severe crash that killed one rower and injured many others.
A presentation from Mark Plass, a traffic operations engineer with the Florida Department of Transportation, showed the state’s plan to install a flashing yellow arrow at the intersection for those attempting to make the same left turn women’s rowing coach Patrick Diggins was attempting to make the morning of Jan. 15 as he was driving a van with 11 students to winter training.
The flashing yellow arrow should help drivers understand when they have to yield, according to Plass, who presented the proposed changes to the Indian River County Metropolitan Planning Organization during a meeting Wednesday.
The crash killed Grace Rett, a sophomore, and sent eight others to the hospital — six student-athletes, Diggins, and the driver of the pickup truck, the other vehicle involved.
“It probably better communicates to a motorist that wants to turn left permissibly that they still have to yield the right of way to oncoming traffic,” Plass said during the meeting.
The state also intends to install electronic signs that tell drivers their speed, with a speed limit sign. The changes are planned to be implemented within the next couple of weeks, according to TCPalm.com.
FDOT is also performing a safety audit of the intersection, according to the news site. Authorities are discussing further changes, too – cutting back vegetation in the median for better driver visibility and more speed limit signs, according to TCPalm.
“We need to make decisions quickly,” Plass said, according to the news site. “They need to be the right decisions. They need to be realistic decisions based on technical capabilities.”
Vero Beach officials told the Worcester Telegram and Gazette that traffic crashes have been on the rise for that intersection. Data obtained by the newspaper shows that while there was just one crash in 2014, the three years after that saw crashes increase to 10 or more, with 21 reported in 2018.
“It’s a major thoroughfare with a high density of traffic that wants to get off that bridge in the morning,” Vero Beach Mayor Tony Young told the newspaper. “It’s a challenge.”
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