MERRITT ISLAND, Fla. — There is outcry among residents on a riverside road in Merritt Island after another crash happened on it this past weekend.
- 2nd crash in one week on South Tropical Trail
- Pedestrians say they don't feel safe anymore
- Some calling for the city to put speed bumps back on the road
- PREVIOUS: Brevard Residents: Missing Speed Bumps Making Riverside Road Dangerous
The latest crash on South Tropical Trail happened Sunday resulting in a heavily damaged car. Fortunately the driver wasn't seriously hurt.
"She hit a giant coquina rock, and smashed into a tree," resident Robert Sisko told Spectrum News 13. "So we've had two accidents in one week out here."
The first crash happened last Thursday after an SUV plowed into a truck pulling a trailer, careening into a fire hydrant, wall, and knocking down a power pole.
They happened on a sleepy, two-mile stretch of road along the waters of the Indian River, where the speed limit is only 25 mph.
On weekends especially, you'll find all kinds of walkers, joggers, and bicyclists enjoying this scenic river roadway. But with two crashes in a matter of days, locals are once again calling for speed bumps to return.
"I walk my Golden Retrievers out here, and I'm scared now," Sisko said.
That same day residents like Sisko received a letter from Brevard District 4 Commissioner Curt Smith, saying speed bumps taken out for a March repaving project weren't going to be reinstalled.
"Ironically, the letter I sent out to all the people, they received last Thursday, which is the day they had the first accident," Smith said. "The speed bumps disappeared in March. That was six months ago. No accidents until this past week.
The letter details the speed bumps installed in 1992 did not meet current traffic standards.
Smith requested a new study and petition to gauge if support for new speed bumps to be put back in.
County ordinance calls for 85 percent of residents to agree. Smith says the vote was dead even — 36 for, and 36 against.
"We had 19 people say yes they want them, but only if the speed bumps go back in the place they were before," Smith said. "And that wasn't an option. So I didn't count them at all.
Commissioner Smith said per county ordinance, the speed bump issue can be revisited in a year.