PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – Two teenage girls were critically injured and one man was seriously hurt in a crash Monday on U.S. 1 at Ray Road in Ponte Vedra Beach, the Florida Highway Patrol said.
The crash was reported about 4:30 p.m. at the intersection near the campus of Nease High School.
According to FHP, the driver of a Toyota Corolla, 17-year-old Mackenzie Felmet, was attempting to cross the northbound lanes of U.S. 1 and failed to yield the right of way to a Hyundai Santa Fe heading north in the right lane.
The Hyundai, driven by 39-year-old Donald Graves II, then struck the left side of the Toyota, sending the car across the southbound lanes and into a ditch, troopers said.
Troopers said the Hyundai spun into the center grass median and debris from the crash struck the front windshield of a Jeep Wrangler.
The two St. Augustine teenagers -- Mackenzie and 15-year-old Sydney Felmet -- were airlifted to area hospitals in critical condition. Mackenzie was taken to Orange Park Medical Center, and Sydney was taken to UF Health Hospital.
Graves was taken to Baptist Medical Center South with serious injuries.
The woman driving the Jeep, 38-year-old Kristina Holloway, and her two 15-year-old passengers were not hurt.
All southbound lanes and two northbound lanes on U.S. 1 were blocked for several hours and troopers diverted southbound traffic from U.S. 1 to County Road 210.
Jo Hynes, the mother of a Nease High School student, said parents have been fighting for a traffic light at the intersection for quite some time.
"The county has got to put a light there," Hynes said. "The fact that students are being affected, the county needs to step up and look at traffic patterns differently. It is not the same town as it was five or six years ago."
According to a communication News4Jax obtained from the Florida Department of Transportation to the St. Johns County School District, a traffic light at U.S. 1 and Ray Road is set to be installed in September 2017.
The proposed traffic signal at US 1 and Ray Road has received construction funding for Fiscal Year 2017-2018. We are currently working on the design and will have the design complete and ready for construction to begin September 2017. Phase II (60%) Plans will be ready for review in November. In anticipation of these plans, I was wondering if you would like to meet with the Department in December to discuss the project, schedule, and the proposed school zone removal.
Within the last six months, two Nease High School students died in accidents. Christian Meier, 17, was killed in July when he was struck by a car while riding a bicycle on Palm Valley Road, troopers said. In September, Nease High School graduate, 18-year-old Griffin Moody, died in a crash on State Road 16 that injured five other young people, according to FHP.
Hynes said students cannot bear to lose another classmate when a stoplight could have prevented Monday's accident.
"If it is a student involved in the accident, I am just literally heartbroken for the family because this will be the third within just a few months. The high school has had several students involved in accidents and two of them so far have been fatal. Gosh forbid that is today's outcome," Hynes said.
A GoFundMe account has been set up to help the Felmet family with medical expenses.
