Mother calls for pedestrian safety along Atlanta parkway after daughter’s hit-and-run death

ATLANTA - An Ohio mother wants city and state leaders in Georgia to take action and make a state highway safer for pedestrians.

The outcry comes after the woman's daughter was struck and killed by a hit-and-run driver on Donald Lee Hollowell Parkway.

"I want people to be able to feel what I'm feeling. Know that it is not just me, it's still happening, and we have to ask ourselves why?" mother, Valerie Handy-Carey insists.

Donald Lee Hollowell Parkway pedestrian safety

The Ohio mother says people are still dying when crossing Donald Lee Hollowell Parkway.

Handy-Carey's 33-year-old daughter, Britney Glover, who was a flight attendant for Spirit Airlines, was killed by a hit-and-run driver in September 2022.

Since that time, Mrs. Handy-Carey says she has spent tens of thousands of dollars traveling to and from Ohio to advocate for more safety measures on the state highway, as well as renaming Finley Avenue to Brittany Patrice Glover Drive.

"It's bigger than a name change period. We want to change the culture of that community.

"A crosswalk, we want traffic cameras, more traffic lights. We know it may not eliminate all traffic fatalities, but it can make it better," the mother said.

Mrs. Handy-Carey addressed both the city council's transportation and finance committees and met for the first time with Atlanta Victim Assistance in hopes of getting funds to underwrite expenses following Brittney's death.

"That financial burden for me living out of state. I had to fly her body up to another state, but that's an expense. The travel back and forth, not only airfare but the hotel stays, time off from work in addition to counseling," Ms. Handy-Carey explains.

Funding for the Atlanta Victim Assistance

The local agency looks forward to assisting Glover's family but acknowledges it has had a $300,000 reduction in funding.

"We are sorely underfunded, and this work is so important. No one wakes up and says I'm geared up for a crisis today, or I want to be a victim today," Atlanta Victim Assistance Executive Director Shantel Wright said.

City Council woman Keisha Waites has introduced legislation to have AVA receive $500,000 annually as part of the city budget.

She will need to get the votes to get it passed though.