The UCF community received praise from a Florida Senator in a public legislative delegation meeting in downtown Orlando, where the state senator talked at length to acknowledge classmates who reached out following the death of a former student.
Family and friends have proposed a traffic safety law in memory of Chloe Arenas, a biomedical-sciences student, to reduce the number of submerged vehicle drownings.
Arenas tragically died in June on her way to pick up her mother and grandmother for the airport to visit family. She would lose control of her Hyundai just three miles from UCF, near a 408 exit ramp to Alafaya Trail into a retention pond early in the morning. An autopsy report released by the Orange-Osceola Medical Examiner’s Office concluded that Arenas was not intoxicated.
A long-time best friend of Chloe, Clarissa Lindsey began the legislative proposal shortly following the student’s death. Lindsey began a petition on Change.org that has received 56,000 signatures across the U.S. and has been featured on the non-profit’s home page.
The bill has received support from both houses of the Florida government, beginning with Senator Darren Soto and House Representative Rene Placensia. Senator Soto committed to the bill in the month following the accident and expressed the need for change in the high number of vehicle-drowning deaths that occur in Florida.
“I’ve asked the Florida Department of Transportation to look into the matter and give me a proposal about how we can improve upon the formula they use and get the funding to at least deal with the worst first, and try to make our roads safer,” Soto told reporters of News 6 Orlando.
In the Federal Highway Administration’s most recent Fatal Analysis Reporting System, a two-year period saw the loss of 60 Floridians. The years 2012 and 2013 had the Sunshine State top the list of occupants killed in submerged vehicle crashes with nearly two-fold the runner up, Louisiana, at 32 deaths.
The data continues records reviewed by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration from 2008 to 2012 that show Florida carrying 49 drownings inside vehicles during the five-year period.
KnightNews.com contacted the Orange County Traffic Engineering Division who stated that a guardrail would not be considered at the location Arenas died. A spokeswoman rescinded the statement by confirming “Orange County is in fact considering putting a guardrail up at that location,” according to News 6.
On a path to becoming a veterinarian, Chloe began classes in the summer of 2012. She had a passion to treat zoo and domestic animals alike, with dreams of one day treating elephants in Africa, says Lindsey.
A dream Arenas will never realize, Lindsey, Soto and Placensia look to honor the UCF student through the bill as well as honor the victims of past drownings.
“I will follow up on the issue with our Senate Transportation Policy Committee this fall during committee meetings – I expect to have a bill filed before the end of this year,” said Soto.
“My condolences go out to her family and friends and my actions over the next few months will be my greatest contribution to her memory.”
