Florida has more wrong way crashes than just about any other state in the entire country.
And on Monday morning, Kayla Mendoza will be sentenced for a crash that killed two 21 year-old women on the Sawgrass Expressway.
Since that tragic night some changes have been made to protect you on the roadways, but it will be a while before these changes come to an intersection near you.
Two Young Lives Lost
“It’s the worst feeling in the world, it’s with you forever ,” said Gary Catronio.
Gary Catronio’s forever changed, not with a phone call but when he checked on his daughter’s location using an App on his phone.
“I said, ‘She’s on the Sawgrass, she’s almost home’,” Catronio said.
He was relieved to see his daughter was close to home on the expressway but then he noticed something - her car was at a standstill on the GPS tracking software.
“I tried to refresh my phone so I could get the car moving and when I went to the computer, the car wasn’t moving, it was still in the same spot,” he said.
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The father rushed to that spot on the Sawgrass and found his daughter’s mangled car sitting on the expressway.
“The FHP said ‘we regret to inform you that your daughter didn’t make it,” he said.
Just minutes earlier, another young woman 21 year old Kayla Mendoza used her phone to send out a tweet that said “2 drunk 2 care”. Prosecutors said she was too young to drink and too drunk to drive and drove her white Hyundai the wrong way on the expressway. Mendoza drove east bound in the west bound lanes for seven miles before she struck Marisa’s car. Mendoza survived but Marisa Catronio and Kaitlyn Ferrante did not.
“They didn’t have a chance to react,” Catronio said.
New Warning System is Getting Tested
Every year, nationwide, wrong way crashes kill about 360 people. Florida’s one of three states with more fatalities than anywhere else. The other states include California and Texas. Gary Catronio wants to change that.
At fifteen ramps connected to the Sawgrass and Homestead extension you’ll find new warning signs. If a car travels the wrong way, they light up, warning drivers they’re heading in the wrong direction.
The signs also set off an alarm at the State Command Center to notify troopers to be on the lookout. Plus, cameras located on the signs snap pictures of the car at the ramp. In the past six months, ten cars have been photographed driving the wrong way and then slamming on the brakes.
“It brought tears to my eyes, that a life was just saved,” said Catronio after seeing the pictures.
So far, state officials said it appears to be working.
“There at least appears to be some sort of a deterrent effect that’s going on there,” said Chad Huff with Florida’s Turnpike Enterprise.
At the test locations, they’ve also lowered the Do Not Enter Signs and moved them up close to the entrance of the ramps.
Studies in California and Texas shows lowering the signs lowered the number of cars traveling the wrong way by more than half.
“A lowered sign, a larger sign, might get them to notice, where they normally would not,” said Huff.
But the State won’t spend the money to install them on every ramp until studies prove they work over a long period of time. That could take at least another six months.
Dad Wants even more Precautions
Gary Catronio is already pushing for more. He wants the state to install plastic warning barriers that can pop out of the ground when drivers head the wrong way.
“They’re going to trigger this pod as well, which will deploy and put up a barrier across the road like the road is potentially shut down,” said Catronio. The plastic barriers would be triggered to deploy when the wrong way light is activated. It’s something State Officials are now looking into.
Sentencing Day
Catronio has helped to accomplish a lot in the year and a half since his daughter was killed. This weekend, he prepares to face the woman responsible in the courtroom.
Mendoza pled guilty to two charges of DUI Manslaughter and on Monday she’ll be sentenced. She could spend much of her young life behind bars. Catronio said he is hoping to prevent other drivers from facing a similar sentence and to spare other parents the heartbreak of losing a child.
“What price can you put on the loss of a life in a tragic crash like this?” he said. “You can’t put a number on it, so whatever it costs to stop this, we need to do.”
