Opinion: What will it take to stop dangerous driving?
Just last month, on June 21 to be precise, a 2008 Black Lincoln Navigator was involved in a crash that resulted in $22,000 worth of damage.
The driver of the Navigator – Teresa Zeppi – was given a $166 citation for careless driving after she allegedly "failed to slow, resulting in a rear-end collision." Zeppi, according to public records, also admitted to driving with a suspended license.
The accident happened on 9th Ave. NW in Bradenton.
Joey Dralus used to love that street.
If you lived in that part of town, you knew Dralus. Nearly every day for 35 years, he walked the same five-mile loop, usually in the same ratty shorts and always without a shirt if it was summertime.
What made Dralus stand out was his decency. Whenever he encountered a car or a person, he always flashed the peace sign. It was not political, mind you, just his way of saying, "I'm walking, it's a good day, I'm grateful to be alive, I'm Joey, and we're friends," his son, Joe Jr., once said.
On April 25, 2020, at 5:08 p.m., a 2017 Lincoln Navigator was driving on 9th Ave. NW in Bradenton when it veered off the road and onto the shoulder, striking Dralus as he walked.
The vehicle drove off. A short distance later, neighborhood surveillance cameras captured a woman get out of the Navigator and brush something off the right front of the vehicle, something that "looked like debris," the police report said.
On May 21, 2020, Joey Dralus died from his injuries. The "Peace Walker" was 82.
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Later, it was determined that DNA taken from the Navigator was 700 billion times more likely to be from Dralus than anyone else.
For the longest time, no arrests were made, frustrating the family, as you can imagine. Finally, 20 months later, a person was brought in:
Teresa Zeppi.
She was charged with leaving the scene of a crash with death (a first-degree felony) and tampering with evidence (a third-degree felony). She pleaded not guilty and was released after posting bond. A trial date has not been set.
On the morning of April 25, 2020, only hours before she allegedly hit Dralus, Zeppi was issued a citation for careless driving for a rear-end collision she was involved in with the same Navigator.
Just to recap: Zeppi was in two accidents on the same day in the same vehicle, with one involving the death of a neighborhood icon out for a walk and flashing peace signs.
Then, three years later, on the same street Dralus was left to die on, Zeppi was issued a careless driving citation because "she failed to slow, resulting in a rear-end collision" while driving with a suspended license.
After allegedly killing someone, then allegedly fleeing the scene, then allegedly covering up the evidence, why was this person driving again?
My twin daughters just received their licenses. I am petrified every time they leave the house. My daughters, I trust. It's everyone else that I don't.
To wit: You have an elderly population driving, and many who shouldn't be, let's face it.
Souped-up monster trucks are everywhere, tailing people and shining lights that are bright enough to guide ships at sea. And the black smoke they blast you with at stoplights is really cool.
Annoyingly loud cars race over bridges at 100 mph – the Green Bridge between Palmetto and Bradenton is just one dangerous example – and when did running stops signs become a thing? I see it constantly. People don't even pretend to stop anymore.
Recently, I honked my horn at two kids in a truck that ran a stop sign. I turned left. They made a U-turn and tailed me for blocks. Only when I pulled into the Palmetto police station did they fly past. It was like a scene in Top Gun.
Throw in texting while driving, people talking on cell phones, people driving under the influence, never-ending construction and ridiculous congestion on Interstate 75, confusing roundabouts, mistimed stoplights, and dated infrastructure that is in no way capable of handling the traffic overflow, and what do you have?
Not a place where a nice old man can safely walk through his neighborhood and flash you the peace sign without being killed, that's for sure.
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Opinion: Our roads have become too dangerous to be on
