Community works to improve traffic safety

In the wake of the recent tragedy at the intersection between Bay Street and Old Venice Road, students and teachers alike are demanding change. A petition created by AP United States History teacher Scott Wolfinger and his students demanding a redesign of the intersection has over 5,000 signatures and counting.

“I remember just saying, ‘Somebody needs to do something about this.’ And then I thought, ‘Why have somebody else do it?’” Wolfinger said. “I looked at [the students], and they looked at me, and I said, ‘You know what? Let’s start a petition.’ So then I started writing it, they helped me with the grammar a little bit, I posted it, they started reposting and sharing it, and it has almost 5,000 signatures now.”

Wolfinger’s name is on the petition, but he considers it to be a team effort between him and his students. Not only were students able to provide grammatical and technological support to Wolfinger, but many of them also have their own negative experiences at the intersection. 

“That intersection is the worst to get out of when leaving [Pine View], and I find it hard to turn left onto the road due to the bushes covering a lot of my view,” eleventh-grader Sawyer Grantham said. 

As the petition began to gain traction, several local news outlets expressed their interest in covering Wolfinger. On August 29, Fox 13 came to Pine View to interview him, and Wolfinger directed them to some of his students, including eleventh-grader Roland Bonaparte.

“During our class, he was [submitting] the petition and publishing it. It was more of a class effort that helped him, and I was one of the students that helped,” Bonaparte said. “Fox was going to interview him about the petition, and he was like, I’m just gonna give this to one of my students today. I volunteered to do it and then I ended up on Fox.” 

Since publishing the petition, Wolfinger has been in contact with many county officials, including Brennan Asplen, the Superintendent for Sarasota County Schools, Jody Dumas, the Chief Operations Officer for Sarasota County Schools, and Alan Maio, the District Four County Commissioner. Notably, Sarasota County’s Public Works Director confirmed the conception of a traffic study.

“[They will] analyze what needs to be done at that intersection, and then let the data determine what happens. Right now, what they told me is they’re going to have to weigh how much a light would interfere with traffic and back it up versus safety, and I think safety should always come first,” Wolfinger said. 

The findings of the traffic study and further action to be taken will be discussed at a traffic meeting sometime in the near future. In addition, Wolfinger is in contact with a concerned citizen holding a PhD in traffic science. He plans to conduct his own traffic study and compare the results to the study conducted by the county. Wolfinger hopes that this will ensure the safest option is selected in terms of the future of the intersection.

“I think it’s important to [acknowledge] that that is a dangerous intersection, and to make sure that no one else gets hurt there,” Wolfinger said. “I know we can’t make everything perfectly safe, but there is a lot of room for improvement at that intersection.”

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A version of this article appears in print on Oct. 28, 2022, News, Page 2, of The Torch with the headline: Community works to improve traffic safety.

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