SARASOTA COUNTY – Concerned parents are speaking out about the dangerous intersection where the Pine View Teen lost her life to a hit-and-run driver.
“Passing by and I saw the bike hit by the car… it was horrible,” said neighbor, Adrin Slota.
“It’s awful, it’s so preventable,” said Parent of a Pine View Student, Mark Mason.
Lilly was struck on August 15 by David Chang as she rode her bike home from school. She was critically injured and after fighting for her life and on Sunday, she passed away at All Children’s Hospital.
Chang is now behind bars with a felony charge.
Her mom Sarah posted on FB saying how devastated she is to lose her sweet Lilly. She also is very thankful to everyone for their support and kindness. She adds quote: “She was able to save at least 5 lives with her organ donations as I know that’s what she would have wanted.”
People are demanding change from county leaders.
“There should be at least a three way stop here or a light… otherwise it’s going to repeat itself unfortunately,” said Mason.
“The stop sign would be great. It would be slowing people to stop, and then accelerate again. They won’t be going that fast…or a speed bump,” said Slota.
A Pine View teacher has created a petition online to add a three-way stop or a traffic light at this intersection.
Now, that petition already has almost 4,000 signatures…
“People are in a real hurry along here, it makes this road even more dangerous,” said Mason.
“I mean it’s very busy. People go very fast,” said neighbor, Magda Slota. “Some people are going 50/60 miles per hour,” said Slota.
Now the Sarasota County, Public works department says they are already working on making changes to this intersection, starting with the sidewalks.
As for the request on a traffic light or stop sign, an email to SNN from Sarasota County says,
“Public Works Director Spencer Anderson indicated Public Works Transportation staff are obtaining current traffic count data at the intersection that will be used to determine if any requested traffic control changes are appropriate. This process will take a couple weeks.”
