JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A business owner on Jacksonville’s Westside is calling for calling for changes on what she says is a dangerous Westside road.
Diana Ward said that drivers often speed on Seaboard Avenue near the intersection of Timuquana Road, which creates an issue for pedestrians.
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“People laying in the street, shoes in the street. It’s sad and it bothers me,” Ward said, describing the frequent accidents she has witnessed just a half block from the business she’s owned for more than 15 years.
It’s the same area where a 7-year-old boy was hit by the driver of an SUV who took off after the collision.
Ward said she’s really concerned about the children and the disabled.
“The apartment complexes in this area have a lot of disabled people. They ride in wheelchairs and things like that. So there’s no sidewalk on that side of the street,” she explained."
According to the Florida Traffic Safety Dashboard maintained by the GeoPlan Center at the University of Florida, the city experienced over 30,000 crashes last year, with 104 involving pedestrians.
While the dashboard does not specify the number of incidents at this particular intersection, a small hot spot is visible on the map.
Ward believes that implementing traffic calming measures and reducing speed limits could enhance safety for both drivers and pedestrians.
“I think traffic calming will help, speed limits will help... I think that if we could incorporate that [in] some type of way it would be better,” she expressed.
Feeling discouraged, Ward remains hopeful that action will be taken to address the issue.
News4JAX has already reached out multiple times to the council member for the area, Tyrona Clark-Murray, to ask about the issues but she has yet to respond.