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U.S. 19 Safety Initiative Starts With A Bang

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By DAVID SOMMER, The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 11, 2007

HOLIDAY - Pasco County's most notorious roadway lived up to its reputation Wednesday when passing motorists punctuated the kickoff of a safe driving initiative by crashing on nearby U.S. 19.

'We didn't plan it, I swear,' said Donald J. Skelton, the state Department of Transportation traffic engineer in charge of roadways in the Tampa Bay area.

Just as Skelton announced the start of a U.S. 19 traffic safety campaign dubbed 'See The Lights - Save A Life,' the sound of screeching tires followed by crunching metal emanated from the roadway just behind a gathering of public officials.

The three-month initiative is aimed at reducing the average of 3,555 injury accidents per year along the 95-mile stretch of U.S. 19 that runs from St. Petersburg north to Citrus County, Skelton said.

He urged all motorists and pedestrians to obey traffic signals and put safety first when navigating U.S. 19, widely acknowledged as the worst road to drive on in the Tampa Bay area.

'Even for one day, if we could eliminate all fatalities, that would be a tremendous gain,' Skelton said.

After, Skelton and others acknowledged that the roadside spectacle of numerous police and deputies' cruisers, television and radio trucks and a large knot of uniformed officers gathered in the parking lot of the Tahitian Resort probably contributed to the crash.

'It's probably people driving by seeing all the law enforcement and wondering what's going on at the Tahitian,' Skelton said.

Motorist Jeffry Dobbs, whose blue 1998 Ford pickup bore minor damage from a rear-end collision with the car in front of him, echoed Skelton's assessment.

'They were stopping in the middle of traffic to see what was happening,' said Dobbs, 36, of Holiday.

Neither Dobbs nor the driver of the red 2003 Oldsmobile he collided with, Joyce Schwaberow, 58, of Ohio, complained of injuries, Florida Highway Patrol Trooper Larry Coggins said. Dobbs was cited for careless driving.

'See The Lights - Save A Life' will feature 21 roadside billboards and periodic radio and television spots urging those who use U.S. 19 to obey common-sense traffic rules.

State troopers, who enforce traffic laws all along U.S. 19 in Pasco County, except for the relatively short stretch that runs through Port Richey and New Port Richey, will focus on what causes accidents and how they can be prevented, Coggins said.

Wednesday morning's collision illustrates the axiom that 'curiosity causes crashes,' he said.

'This is going to be a marriage between education and law enforcement,' the trooper said. 'When the light turns green, don't go right away; give it a second for the intersection to clear. It's all about patience. Nothing is so important to risk your life or somebody else's.'

Reporter David Sommer can be reached at (727) 815-1087 or dsommer@tampatrib.com.

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