ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — It’s not something you see every day. During Wednesday night’s rush hour, traffic on Gandy Boulevard on the St. Petersburg side of the bridge mostly traveled around the 55-mile-per-hour speed limit.
The reason why? Three troopers were positioned in the area and ready to write tickets.
According to Sherri DiGiulian and Camryn Haynes, that’s not something they see every day, either.
“Not too often at all,” Haynes said.
“Not as often as it needs to be,” DiGiulian added.
Instead, the two Crab Shack workers see a road that’s more like a drag strip. They say Gandy Boulevard is typically full of people racing home or just racing to race.
“They’ll rev up, and they’ll get right in front of you and slow down so that they can start racing,” said DiGiulian.
“It’s definitely dangerous,” added Haynes. “I mean, we’ve had several car accidents happen right here.”
This past weekend, officers, deputies, and troopers from both sides of Tampa Bay tried to change the dangerous situation with a speeding crackdown.
According to Ken Knight with the St. Petersburg Police Department, Florida Highway Patrol, the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office, the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office, the Pinellas Park Police Department, and the Tampa Police Department joined his department in the crackdown.
“It’s our responsibility to make sure that we do something about it,” Knight said.
All told, Knight said 223 tickets were written, along with 156 warnings.
“Most of the people were going 20 to 30 miles per hour over the speed limit,” he said.
Back at the Crab Shack, workers were extremely happy to see the enforcement and results, but they think it will take even more tickets and crackdowns to produce a lasting difference.
“They need to stay on top of it,” said DiGiulian. “Their presence needs to be seen.”
According to Knight, that is law enforcement’s intent.
“This is not the last time that we’ll be out on Gandy Boulevard, so this is something that we’re going to do on a fairly regular basis,” he said.
