4-Year-Old’s Death Rekindles Beach Driving Debate
By, Saul Saenz.
Questions linger after a 4-year-old girl from the United Kingdom was hit and killed by a car on the sand along Daytona Beach.
The toddler’s death was the first accident since 1996 involving a person hit and killed on the beach.
In response, some have started asking if driving along the beach should continue.
Some beachgoers called the accident just that: An accident. They said it could have happened anywhwere, and that driving on the beach should continue.
Others said it’s a wake-up call to eliminate it.
The debate stemmed from Saturday’s tragic accident, when Ellie Bland, 4, was visiting Daytona Beach with her great aunt and uncle.
Witnesses said Ellie darted out into oncoming traffic, and was struck by a car driven by Barbara Worley, of Georgia. Then something happened that caused Worley to drive over the girl a second time.
Ellie was pronounced dead on the scene.
A day later, beachgoers held their children and grandchildren a little more tightly as they walked and shared the beach with traffic.
Some wondered if driving should still be permitted on the beach following the little girl’s death.
“Absolutely,” said Rich Miller, visiting from New Hampshire. “This is one of the only places in the nation that you can do that.”
“I don’t really like it, because I have a 4-year-old grandson, too,” said Robin Calloway, from North Carolina. “You don’t think you can watch him any minute, and that could happen to anybody.”
The investigation of the fatal accident was turned over to the Florida Highway Patrol. Officials have not determined if Worley will be charged.
Beach Driving Excerpt from, Surfriders Foundation
Driving on the beach is a long-standing tradition in many areas of the United States, including Cape Cod National Seashore in Massachusetts, portions of the New Jersey shore, North Carolina’s Outer Banks, Georgia’s islands, certain areas in Florida, North and South Padre Islands and other areas in Texas, and several areas in Oregon and Washington, including the Long Beach Peninsula shoreline. In many of these areas, access to the beaches for swimming, surfing, fishing or just a day at the beach would be very difficult, if not impossible without allowing beach driving.
It is also widely recognized that beach driving can cause serious ecological impacts by potentially destroying nesting areas for sea turtles and birds such as the piping plover and damaging or destroying vegetation and dunes. Shore erosion can be accelerated by careless beach driving and vehicles on the beach can be a safety hazard to beach goers.
In recognition of the potential impacts of beach driving, most areas that allow this practice regulate it in some way, including:requiring licenses or passes, limiting the number of vehicles on the beach, limiting beach, driving to certain types of vehicles (e.g. 4WD), enforcing speed limits, specifying beach access ramps and the, allowed driving zone along the beach, prohibiting driving on dunes an in other ecologically sensitive areas, prohibiting driving during certain times of the year, such as during seabird or sea turtle nesting seasons or when beach pedestrian traffic is so high that vehicles on the beach would represent a safety hazard
Volusia County in Florida is home of Daytona Beach and New Smyrna Beach, where there is a tradition of beach driving dating back to the early days of the automobile.
Related Posts
