A St. Petersburg woman who has lived next to a Pinellas Trail crossing for more than 30 years is calling for greater safety measures after years of witnessing close calls and crashes at the intersection.

The Pinellas Trail is a multi-use path running from St. Petersburg to Tarpon Springs, crossing several busy roads along the way. Sandy Beardsley lives adjacent to one such crossing at 5th Avenue North and says dangerous encounters between cyclists and drivers are routine. She points to fault on both sides, noting that drivers often speed through while trail users frequently skip the crossing button that activates warning lights.

Forward Pinellas, the county’s transportation planning agency, says only about 30 percent of trail users press the crossing button at Pinellas Trail intersections. At the 5th Avenue North crossing, there were six crashes between 2021 and 2025. A similar crossing at 22nd Avenue North recorded 16 crashes during that same period, including one that was fatal, with more than 80 percent of all those crashes involving cyclists.

Forward Pinellas is currently studying the 22nd Avenue North crossing for safety improvements and, because the two intersections are similar in design, any recommended fixes could potentially apply to the 5th Avenue crossing as well.

Beardsley said she is unsure what the right solution is but wants both drivers and cyclists to exercise more caution. “They need to slow down,” she told Bay News 9.

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