After being hit by a car crossing the street, a St. Pete Beach resident says now is the time to install a crosswalk at 37th Avenue and Gulf Boulevard.
Brad Pettit and his wife live on St. Pete Beach and keep their boat at the docks behind the Hotel Zamora.
"I was crossing right here and all of the traffic had stopped,” he said. “I went... one lane, two lanes, turn lane, turn lane, next lane, and when I got to this lane a gentlemen in a Mercedes ran me over.”
Thankfully, Pettit wasn’t hurt.
"I'm lucky. I'm a big guy. I was able to bounce off the pavement. If it was a kid or somebody else, they may not have been so lucky,” he said.
Now, Pettit is on a mission to have a crosswalk installed there.
There are two marked crosswalks nearby, one about a block to the north and the other about four blocks to the south.
The Hotel Zamora is on one side of the street and direct beach access is on the other. It's a natural spot for hotel guests and residents to cross.
After the accident, Brad's wife, Kristi, started making calls to get a crosswalk here.
"So we immediately contacted our local Commissioner, who's also a friend, Dr. Terry Fennerty, and got her involved, and then of course, Cookie Kennedy from up in Indian Shores and Indian Rocks. Immediately, got a hold of you,” said Kristi Pettit. “So, it was one of these things where if we've got state and local people pushing and you can put a face to it, I think it has more legs."
The state has put a lot of effort and energy into safe crossings along the beaches, but if those crossings aren't in places where people naturally cross, they won't get used.
Pettit’s accident is a reminder that using the marked crosswalks increases your chances of getting across safely, even if it's a little out of the way.
The state has a study in progress for a potential new crosswalk at Gulf Boulevard and 37th Avenue. Results from that study should be released soon.