TAMPA, Fla. — The Plant City Community is coming together after a fatal train accident that took the lives of six and left one person in the hospital.

A new petition aims to make the railroad crossing at Jim Lefler Circle and U.S. Highway 92, the site of the fatal crash, safer.

What You Need To Know

  • Plant City fatal accident has prompted a petition to request safety measures in place where accident took place

  • Nancy Espinoza signed the petition and shares why it’s so important

  • Six people died in the accident while one person remains in the hospital

  • RELATED: Accident takes the lives of 6 and leaves 1 in the hospital

Plant City resident Nancy Espinoza has already signed it, and shared it on her social media so more people can get involved.

Espinoza loves to serve the community she grew up in, and it’s one of the reasons she hasn’t left the area. So to hear about the train accident that claimed the lives of six people from her community, was devastating.

“I know people that are family to these individuals and it’s scary because it hits so close to home,” she said. “Everybody needs to share this... you know it could have happened to anybody."

Michael Callanan, a former train conductor for CSX, says although private properties like the tracks are not city or state responsibilities, railroad companies have an obligation to maintain the area in which their tracks go through.

“From County Line Road all the way through Plant City near the casino area (it) is notorious for pedestrians and cars being struck," said Callanan. "There’s a lot of these crossings here that are not busy intersections, so they don’t have to have the gates."

Callanan also points out that even without gates, signs should be visible to this who are crossing. He says the stop sign at the crash site had been vandalized.

That's part of the reason why Espinoza wants something to be done about it.

“I feel like every railroad crossing should have these barriers, either flashing lights or some indication,” she said.

That petition has already gotten more than 1,000 signatures.

Spectrum News reached out to the U.S. Department of Transportation who is investigating the accident. The department said many state and local authorities are often reluctant to exercise jurisdiction over crossings because they are private.

And, cost-wise, to install barriers at that crossing to replace the stop sign, it could cost more than $100,000.