Family petitions for traffic signal at deadly intersection

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. (FOX 35 ORLANDO) - A family is mourning the death of a 23-year-old mother, saying too many people speed along Avalon Park Blvd.

Kayla McCabe Thompson was killed in a car crash on the roadway, where the posted speed limit is 45 mph.  The family wants to see wants to see changes.

"It's hard. I don't think you recover. I don't think you ever recover from this," said Kayla's aunt, Lissette Adams. "She just had a baby when this happened. The baby was only two weeks old."

Adams said Thompson was on her way home from the grocery store on April 4, when the fatal crash happened near the intersection with Perdido Drive.

"She was sitting in the backseat of her grandmother's car, and the grandmother was making a left turn into the community," Adams explained. "They didn't see him coming so he hit directly into her."

Troopers with the Florida Highway Patrol said the grandmother's car violated the other driver's right-of-way, but the case is still under investigation. According to Adams, they never even saw the other vehicle, because it happened so fast.  Now the family is collecting signatures.

"We started a petition because we wanted to put a light there," Adams said. "They go too fast, there's a blind spot."

Back in 2017, a 15-year-old boy skateboarding near that location was also killed. An Orange County spokesperson said the county plans to install additional speed limit signs on this road. They also plan to add electronic driver feedback signs nearby.  Adams said a traffic light is the only solution to prevent another fatal crash.

"We have the speed limits already, we have the warning by Castle Creek Elementary, and they still speed. I don't want another family to go through what we're going through."  

She said her niece had the biggest heart, and she is already misseing her hugs.

"You go from seeing someone grow up as a baby, and in a second, someone takes that all away. I feel like there a hole in my heart."

The family plans to present the petition to the Orange County County Commissioners in hopes they'll get a light installed.