St. Augustine Beach residents fear busy intersection could be dangerous

Sea Grove residents: Many close calls with pedestrians at A1A intersections

St. AUGUSTINE BEACH, Fla. – Residents of the Sea Grove subdivision are concerned that a busy intersection, at  the entrance of their neighborhood to A1A  is getting so dangerous that someone will get hurt.

Most crosswalks on A1A  Beach Boulevard at St. Augustine Beach have orange flags to mark the pedestrian crossing but that's not the case in front of the Sea Grove neighborhood.

Residents said they need flags to serve as a better marking to alert drivers of the crosswalk.

“I think that the people that are unfamiliar wouldn’t know the difference between those and construction flags,” said Maryrose LaCavera, a St. Augustine Beach resident.  

The flags are holstered to poles on both sides of the crosswalk. Many beachgoers grab and wave the flags while crossing the street so drivers will see them.

“Wave the flags and people will stop for you,” said Edward Pritchett, vice president of Sea Grove Homeowners Association.

Pritchett wants similar flags put up outside the Sea Grove neighborhood.  He said there have been too many close calls for people trying to cross the road. The speed limit there is 45 mph.  

Resident Victoria Lovett knows the danger all too well. “I was halfway through and literally a car was right there. I had to put my hand on his hood. That’s how close,” Lovett said.

Members of the homeowners association said they have tried to get the flags installed and wrote a letter to the city of St. Augustine Beach last month. The association offered to pay for the flags and maintain them.

“My fear is that when something terrible happens here people are rightfully going to say, "Well, you knew that was a dangerous intersection, why didn’t you do something about it?” said Frank Ward, president of Sea Grove Neighborhood Association.

Officials at the city said they're not against the flags but their hands are tied because the intersection includes a state road and permission would have to come from the state.

State transportation officials said the city does need a permit and permission from them to put the flags up.

Florida does not keep crash records for the intersection but News4Jax learned that there have been 31 crashes so far this year along the stretch of A1A that includes the subdivision. 

In 2017, there were 91 crashes. 


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