The night he lost half his right leg, Jocelin Morency was strolling along South Orange Blossom Trail, one of the most dangerous roads in one of the nation’s most dangerous places for pedestrians.
It was July 4, 2019, about 3 a.m., a dangerous time to cross an urban street like South OBT.
The six-lane road, also known as U.S. Highway 441, snakes from Kissimmee through Orlando, Apopka and Leesburg, pocked with bustling commercial districts and dotted with roadside memorials to pedestrians who died on its pavement. A medical examiner’s tally lists at least 52 pedestrian deaths on that 68-mile length of highway since 2018.
Along the stretch Morency was walking, state engineers had lowered the speed limit, added lighted crosswalks and built speed bumps to slow traffic, but in the wake of the crash that maimed him, they would decide those safety measures weren’t enough protection.
Morency had worked in his mom’s yard nearby in the afternoon, then met up with friends at night for beers on South OBT. He said he had two, maybe three.