ST. LUCIE COUNTY, Fla. — Starting May 26, the speed limit along Indian River Drive in St. Lucie County will drop from 35 to 25 mph.
Melanie Trewyn took out a family portrait from her home in Fort Pierce.
“This is Claudia’s graduation day," she said, pointing to the photo. "She had always wanted to be the first in her biological family to have a college degree.”
Claudia was killed back in 2021 on Indian River Drive— hit head-on by a drunk and speeding driver.
For the past two years, Trewyn has been fighting to reduce senseless deaths on this stretch of road.
“People don’t respect the 35 mile per hour speed limit that there is now,” she said.
But change is coming next week.
St. Lucie County Sheriff Ken Mascara was out cutting a public service announcement Tuesday for social media along the drive at Walton Road.
New signs will be going up, notifying drivers that the speed limit is coming down to 25 mph.
Region St Lucie County
Speed limit decreasing on St. Lucie County road plagued by crashes
St. Lucie County has spent more than a million dollars in recent years for things like flashing speed feedback signs, additional stop signs, and pavement markings.
Despite a recent study showed that it didn’t reduce speeds, or slow traffic.
“I don’t think it was wasted money," Mascara said. "You would think each little initiative has an effectiveness.”
Data from the sheriff’s office showed a sharp drop off in speeding citations recently, and the sheriff said the reduced speed limit will have this benefit.
“Some of these apps that tell you the shortest distance between two points, will now remove Indian River Drive from the shortage driving distance, because the speed is lower,” Mascara said.
Trewyn, through her Remember for Change non-profit, has been meeting with youth groups to talk about the dangers of drinking and driving and speeding.
She said to get to this point has been a process, but good progress is being made.
“And the change to 25 miles an hour on IRD is one more win for the driving public,” Trewyn said.
