OCALA, Fla. – More than two years after two Vanguard High School teenagers were killed by a tractor-trailer crash, crews with the Florida Department of Transportation finished installing a traffic light.
Alyssa Comstock, 17, and Amanda Lopez, 15, were killed on Dec.15, 2017 after the two were trying to turn onto Northeast 14th Street from Northeast 30th Avenue in Ocala, but were hit by a tractor-trailer.
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"It has been a struggle," Alyssa's mother, Darlene Soto, said in 2018.
Soto often sits at a bench installed near where the crash happened, with Tony Lopez, Amanda's father.
“It’s been hard, heartbreaking,” he said to News 6 in 2018.
For more than a year, both parents pushed for a traffic light at the intersection, arguing it’s too dangerous without one.
"It was a big deal in the community," Ocala Mayor Kent Guinn said.
The crash gained so much attention FDOT commissioned a study and ultimately reached a recommendation the intersection should have a traffic light, saying “There is an emerging trend of angle crashes.”
Work on a new traffic light wrapped up a little more than a week ago.
"Common sense prevailed and it's going to save a lot of lives," Guinn said.
Lopez told News 6 both families are relieved to see this traffic light installed, giving them a little light to what has been an otherwise dark two years.