A Feb. 9 fatal traffic accident has reignited an interest in the Twin Lakes Subdivision to have a traffic light installed on State Road 54 and Foggy Ridge Parkway. Back in 2003 residents requested a light, but the Florida Department of Transportation put one in at Oak Grove Boulevard instead.

Joe Saladino, an officer on the Twin Lakes Home Owners Association board, said he plans to contact the Pasco County Commission about the situation. A traffic light, he said, is needed at this intersection.

That need, Saladino said, was brought to the forefront Feb. 9 when a car driven by 87-year-old Thomas Joseph Campbell collided with a vehicle heading westbound. Mr. Campbell died shortly after the accident.

The Florida Highway Patrol said he was traveling eastbound on State Road 54 in an Acura when he made a left turn onto Foggy Ridge Parkway and drove into the path of 20-year-old Chelsea Nichole Wilkinson's Toyota Camry.

According to FHP, Wilkinson suffered minor injuries, was taken to the hospital and was released shortly thereafter.  

When State Road 54 was widened in 2003, the residents of the Twin Lakes Subdivision petitioned for a traffic light at the entrance, Saladino said. Instead, a turning lane was installed.

State Road 54 has become an extremely busy highway and drivers going east, and wishing to turn in to Twin Lakes must wait, sometimes for five minutes, for a continuous stream of traffic to abate. Crossing this busy road has become hazardous, residents say. And, with the new mall in Wesley Chapel, and the potential for more development near Interstate 75, residents feel Twin Lakes desperately needs a traffic light.

Saladino has been ever alert to the welfare of this small subdivision.

"We are still trying to get a traffic light here." he said. He asks, "How many more lives have to be lost before the county installs one?"