ST. LUCIE COUNTY, Fla. — A Facebook video of a wrong-way driver in St. Lucie County has gained thousands of views, and a lot of reactions from drivers who say the problem is all too common.
Okeechobee Road near Midway Road has been getting much-needed safety improvements from the Florida Department of Transportation.
The video reminds county leaders and families who have lost loved ones on the roadway why they pushed for those changes.
If you drive along Okeechobee Road, you can't miss a long-standing roadside memorial for Santia Feketa and Britany Lee Poindexter.
The two teen girls were killed when law enforcement said an elderly man was driving an RV the wrong way down Okeechobee Road, crashing into the girls' car.
"The truth is I don't like going to the cemetery. I would rather come right here," said Stewart Feketa, Santia's father about the memorial site.
Feketa and Britney's mother, Yvonne Poindexter, have both been pushing to make the road safer since the crash in 2018.
A video surfaced on Facebook of a wrong-way driver on the same stretch of roadway reminds them there is still work to do.
The video was taken in early July, showing the driver heading west in the eastbound lanes along the divided highway.
"I cried and cried and cried for my husband to have to see that and witness that. I was also relieved that no one else got hurt," Poindexter said.
"It was like deja vu all over again. It happens too many times," said St. Lucie County Commissioner Frannie Hutchinson.
Hutchinson said the state expedited safety improvements that would have taken seven to eight years but have been completed in the last three years.
"Just a couple of years ago we had nothing. Now we've got the warning signs, the lit warning signs for out there at nighttime," Hutchinson said.
There are signs warning drivers of the divided highway, wrong-way signs, and more street lighting all costing the state close to $300,000.
In a matter of months, a final safety measure will be installed -- a new traffic light at Midway Road and Okeechobee Road.
Feketa hopes it will make drivers take an extra moment to stop, wait and read the roadway before passing through.
But Hutchinson said even with all of the safety improvements, the county and state can only do so much.
"Please be alert," Hutchinson said.
"It's just a lot of it is driver error and people just need to be more cautious and more careful when they're driving," Poindexter said.
