In November 2013, my sister and I were in an auto accident at the intersection of Aloma Avenue and Semoran Blvd, in Winter Park, Florida.  A man in a company van T-Boned my 2 door compact car.  The man in the van ran a red light while driving approximately 40 mph as I was making a legal left turn.

One vehicle was stopped at the light and this man in the company van drove right past him, through the intersection.

The accident was so bad, the emergency vehicles had to cut the roof off of my car to remove my autistic sister from the passenger side of the car (the side that was T-Boned).

No witness in any other vehicle at the intersection stopped to provide the police with any information.  There was a woman that had been coming out of a nearby plaza and a gentleman in the Circle K came out to assist us.

The woman coming out of the plaza told the police officer that the company van had a green light.  The man in the Circle K could not say who had a red light due to the angle where he was standing.

My sister and I both told the police officer that the company van ran the red light.  I explained to the officer that there were two cars in front of me that made the left turn and when I made the left turn, the van came through the red light.

This is a very large intersection (3 lanes going straight and two left turn lanes).  Again, nobody stopped to give witness (with the exception of the two I previously mentioned) yet many people were all along the road side with their cell phones taking videos of the aftermath.

The gentleman from the Circle K stood by my door the entire time, until the fireman had to pull me out of the car. This man was a blessing.  He called our mother for us, repeatedly - gave her directions, kept her updated on the car (totaled) and her children (bleeding, being cut out of the car, and strapped in the ambulance), and kept calling her until she was able to reach the hospital (three hours later). He was right at the gas station when this happened, saw it happen, but unfortunately could not see the traffic light.

The woman that stopped, and gave witness, was coming from a plaza six lanes of traffic away. She gave witness in the gentleman's favor. And because she claims she definitively saw the light (while also seeing the accident through six lanes of flowing traffic), the State Trooper was unable to disregard her statement, and I was issued a ticket (for running a light).

Nobody else stopped. In fact, people slowed and drove around us. People took out their cellphones and videotaped my door and roof being cut off. People videotaped the jaws-of-life opening the side. Nobody else gave witness.

The State Trooper who issued me the ticket (while at the hospital) told me that if I truly believed that I had the green light, I needed to protest the ticket. He also told me that this particular intersection has accidents almost every day!

Every day there is some kind of traffic, collision, or issue at the intersection. Yet, there are no cameras.

The Circle K (at the corner of Aloma and Semoran) didn’t have any security cameras. The traffic lights do not have cameras.

There is no way to prove what truly happened.

The ticket I was issued makes this whole situation that much worse and that much more difficult to prove that I was the victim.

I now have $10k+ in medical/hospital bills.  I have only been back employed for one full month and had just moved out on my own (the Saturday/two days before the accident).  I have to go to court to protest the ticket and fault of the accident.  I am concerned about my insurance being dropped due to the accident report showing me at fault.  Dealing with attorneys, court, insurance, doctors, medical bills and my autistic sister with difficulty dealing with her own injuries...

ALL of this could have been avoided had there been a traffic light camera at this highly dangerous and accident-prone intersection.

The street-light camera (for such a high-traffic area, and a clearly high-incident area) would actually benefit the city/county. That’s a clear/factual way to prove, one way or another. Plus, it’s an easy way to find the drivers that run the lights without causing accidents – because running a light is still illegal, causing an accident/incident or not.

This situation my sister and I are still healing from – it could be a lot easier and less stressful. If there was a street-light camera system at the intersection. And the situations to come would be a little bit simpler and less stressful for anybody to be involved. If there was a street-light camera system.

I’m not asking to protest my ticket for me – I’m just asking for street-light cameras to be installed. You/The City makes/saves money by being able to prove/find red-light-runners, and people in my situation will be able to save money, time, and stress when they’re hit by those red-light-runners.

Adding the traffic light cameras will not help me deal with all these issues, but it will hopefully help the next innocent person following all traffic laws when someone runs a light and hurts someone else.

My sister and I are very lucky that we were not seriously hurt (thank you side air bags) and we would like to ensure that nobody else has to go through such a traumatic event.

Thank you for your time and consideration.