'It's going to happen again': Jacksonville Beach neighbors concerned about area of deadly DUI crash

JACKSONVILLE BEACH, Fla. — Action News Jax has learned a new Jacksonville Beach traffic policy may mean certain safety measures are never added to an area where a deadly DUI crash occurred.  That's despite neighbors calling for something to be done.

RELATED STORY: Man accused of hitting 2 people, killing 1 in Jacksonville Beach arrested, to be extradited to Fl.

Action News Jax told you in July when police said Byrn Turner, 22, was hit and killed by a drunken driver.

Right now, police are still working to extradite the alleged driver, Joshua Lovingood, back from Ohio.

Neighbor Bryan Hartong said cars constantly speed through the area of 7th Avenue North and 2nd Street.  He believes it's due in part to a lack of stop signs.

"We thought that after this happened, the only bright spot, the only good thing that could happen out of that is that they would police this and slow people down and do something to control the speed of the traffic down this street, but that's not been the case," Hartong said.

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On Wednesday, Action News Jax pored through Jacksonville Beach's new Traffic Management Policy, just adopted in recent weeks.

It states stop signs "should not be used as a speed control device," noting speeds are often higher between intersections with them.

It makes similar points about speed humps, citing reasons like noise and slowing down first responders.

"The government can't legislate behavior," Mayor Charlie Latham said.  "We can't stop people from doing things they shouldn't do.  All we can do is work hard to prevent it and respond appropriately when it happens."

Still, Hartong believes more needs to be done.

"We knew something eventually was going to happen, and mark my words, it's going to happen again," Hartong said.

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