Angle

Issue date: 1/31/05 Section: On Campus

Media Credit: Joseph Conrad Lights make intersection safer. [Click to enlarge]

Media Credit: unknown Workers install new traffic light. [Click to enlarge]

For ten years the hardest thing to do at Clearwater Christian College has been simply getting on and off the campus.

With some cars traveling westbound on the Courtney Campbell Causeway at more than 60 miles per hour, and entering and leaving the beach area across from the entrance, drivers often found entering the causeway both difficult and dangerous.

The college administration worked hard with the county's transportation planning board to remedy the situation, but all efforts seemed hopeless.

That is until the death of 19-year-old Laura Lamby, a promising college student, in a March 2002 accident at the beach exit in front of the college. The family of the victim responded to her death by starting a petition that advocated a traffic light in front of the CCC campus and the beach exits across the street.

The college took action and had the petition signed by everyone available on campus, and because of the tragic accident, the county finally began examining the issue.

Nearly three years after the death of Laura Lamby, the traffic light is finally up and operational. For the students and faculty who have been here for many years, this is truly a blessing from God. A day many of us thought would never come is here.

We can now enter and leave our campus without the fear of being hit or worse. Although the new light has made many people happy on this side of the bay, it will surely be an annoyance for those commuters coming from Tampa to Clearwater. To these people it means nothing more than a thirty-second delay, but for some of us it could mean another thirty years of life.

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