APACHE JUNCTION, Ariz. – A stretch of State Roadway, east of Apache Junction, is at the center of a conversation about safety measures after a string of recent crashes.

This stretch of State Route 88, also known as the Apache Trail, has been the site of several crashes over the years, with cars dating back to the 1950s still left where they landed after crashing.

Now, two Arizona mothers are using a recent near-tragedy involving their kids and turning it into a call to action to make the area safer, demanding improvements along the historic route.

Local perspective:

Amber Nelson considers it a miracle that her son Andrew and his friend Maddalyn are alive. Their car fell nearly 400 feet after veering off of State Route 88 near Tortilla Flat.

“The only thing in Andrew’s car that survived glass or mirror-wise was his rearview mirror and on it it said ‘Trust in God,'” Nelson said.

Both of the friends are now home and starting the slow recovery process.

“He’s doing a lot better physically, he hopefully can get his staples out here shortly, but definitely the mental weight of it is much harder,” Nelson said.

Maddalyn’s mother, Joyce Davis, said, “We see a lot of confusion, hard to keep stories straight, she has a little bit of memory issues when it comes to things that happened in the last six months or so.”

Andrew and Maddalyn were helped by some good Samaritans in the area, but not every driver has been so lucky.

“So this is how often it happens, a neighbor of mine, his co-worker lost his daughter in that red car that my son’s car landed on,” Nelson said.

Why you should care:

Both Nelson and Davis insist more should be done in the area, known as “Hell’s Gate,” to prevent any more wrecks.

“I don’t care if it’s a solar camera, you know what I mean, they have cameras everywhere,” Davis said. “If it’s just something that says hey someone went off the cliff, something sensors and people can get notified and people can be saved.”

“If we can use this incident to propel something like that happening then it’s, I don’t want to say worth it but at least we can make some good out of it,” Nelson said.

What’s next:

The Arizona Department of Transportation said they are checking on potential safety measures, but said there are limitations involved with making changes to the highway since it’s a historic roadway and parts of the road travel through a national forest.

Nelson said changing history in this case could mean saving lives.

“Yes, Arizona’s beautiful, let’s preserve it, but again a guard rail is not going to ruin anyone’s day but losing a loved one, you know, I could’ve gotten a completely different call that day,” Nelson said.

ADOT did say that the speed limit at this location is 25 miles per hour, but the advisory speed limit is 15 miles per hour.

What you can do:

Amber Nelson has set up a Change.org petition to get guard rails installed. A GoFundMe for Maddalyn was also created.

The Source: This information was gathered by ADOT and FOX 10’s Nicole Krasean, who spoke with the victims’ families on Sept. 23.

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