Collier County investigates traffic safety after tragic Immokalee Road incident.

Collier commissioners will look into ways to improve traffic safety following a tragic incident on one of the county’s busiest highways.

At a board meeting Tuesday, commissioners directed county staff to return with recommendations on how to prevent red light running, according to a recent article by Laura Layden of Naples Daily News.

Commissioner Burt Saunders added the subject to the schedule in response to an accident that killed a 47-year-old woman and injured two middle school students, who were taken to the hospital. Last Thursday, a semi- truck ran a red light and crashed  into her SUV at the intersection of Immokalee Road and Logan Boulevard.

“This was a horrible accident, and we want to make sure that we are doing everything we can to keep that from happening again,” Saunders informed the audience.

In the coming weeks, commissioners will hear more thorough reports on initiatives and proposals to improve road safety from county staff and the Collier County Sheriff’s Office.

Collier County’s head of transportation management services, Trinity Scott, stated that the county recently obtained a federal grant focused at lowering traffic-related fatalities and injuries throughout the county, including in its three cities.

With the grant, the county’s Metropolitan Planning Organization, which is in charge of transportation planning, has begun work on developing a “safe streets for all comprehensive safety action plan,” which she expects to be finished by next summer.

“It will open up additional federal dollars for us,” the governor stated. “So, additional federal grant opportunities.”

Commissioner Bill McDaniel requested that county officials send back further information on the intersection where the traffic accident happened, including signal timing, to assess whether it is acceptable.

“We all know we have a hugely constrained roadway system, et al,” remarked the governor. “So when this item comes back I would like to see that analysis, with regard to this specific intersection.”

He proposed that the sheriff’s office improve its enforcement of red light running.

Two mothers who live near the dangerous crossroads and frequently go through it spoke out about the need for immediate action. Kim Aquila, for example, stated that she routinely sees cars breaking red lights, weaving between lanes, and acting aggressively on the road throughout the county, with little prosecution.

“I never see a police car on the road,” she told me. “I never do.”

A group of Naples mothers created a Change.org petition urging the local government to find a method to make local roadways safer by enacting stronger regulations and sanctions. The petition has received almost 2,500 signatures.

Collier County Sheriff Kevin Rambosk told county commissioners that he has already increased enforcement efforts following the collision, “particularly in congested areas.”

He stated that he is willing to return with additional thoughts and recommendations on how to “get changes made,” noting that some would need to occur at the state level.

When asked about red-light cameras, which the county suspended years ago owing to privacy concerns, Rambosk expressed support for them.

“We absolutely believe in them, and we absolutely think they should be considered,” he told me.

This article originally appeared on Naples Daily News