COCOA, Fla. — Walking and biking are two very common sites around District Two in the city of Cocoa. Roughly 13% of the city’s residents don’t own a car to get from place to place.

That reality also means that Cocoa sees a notable amount of vehicle wrecks involving people on bikes and on foot. That’s why last month, the city pledged to tackle the issue by adopting its own Vision Zero resolution.


What You Need To Know

  • Cocoa, Space Coast TPO dedicated a safety marker for a fatal crash victim on Dixon Blvd.

  • Commemoration helped kick off the city’s Vision Zero initiative.

  • About 13% of people in the City of Cocoa don’t have a car for transportation.

Vision Zero, which was previously adopted by the Space Coast Transportation Planning Organization (TPO), is an initiative designed to eliminate wrecks with severe injuries and deaths.

The city decided to really kick off the push by making sure that the lives of those affected by these tragedies don't get lost in the statistics down the road.

On Tuesday, the city held a ceremony to mark the installation of new safety marker emblazoned with the words “Stay Alert — In loving memory, Mary Kathryn Otto-Mennicke.”

The commemoration came exactly one year after Otto-Mennicke died while walking her dog along this stretch of Dixon Boulevard in Cocoa.

“She walked her dog every day. She didn’t drive,” said Otto-Mennicke’s daughter, Miriam Moore. “She only lived a few blocks away and this is where she came. Everybody in the area knew her. The people in all the businesses in the church knew her.”

As painful as that event was last June, Moore said her mother isn't the only person she has grieved for since then. Seven months later and 4.4 miles away from where her mom was killed, Moore’s daughter Amber Kelso was killed while riding her motorcycle on State Road 520.

Moore said that while these two tragedies are painful to dwell on, she uses those memories to help push for change in her city.

“I think that God placed me in a position where I could tell people about this and make them more aware of why we need to be safe on the roadways and responsible, not just for yourself, but for others,” Moore said.

During Tuesday’s commemoration marking the official beginning of Project Zero, Melissa Wandall, a national advocate for roadway safety, offered her support for what the city is undertaking. 

Her husband was killed in a wreck when she was 9-months pregnant. She said that being able to stand with others impacted by vehicle wrecks puts a powerful spotlight on improving safety.

“It shows our motoring public that anything can happen at any moment and the more people that we meet that have lost loved ones on our roadways is saying we have a bigger problem, and we all need to stop and take a moment and slow down and start being mindful of what we’re doing on our roadways,” Wandall said. 

Wandall has worked with Project Zero in other parts of the country and commends the city of Cocoa for taking what she describes as an important challenge.

“We have advocates and we have the Florida Department of Transportation that wants to do something about it, but a lot of times our policy makers fall short,” she said. “But it looks like here we have some policy makers stepping up to make sure that we can drive down heartache.”

One of those policy makers is Cocoa District Two Councilman Lavander Hearn. He joined Lorraine Koss during Tuesday’s commemoration. He has an extra connection to Moore’s story since he was one of the paramedics who responded to the crash where her daughter died.

He said the city has a chance to do something really important with the initiative.

“We’re taking an aggressive look at it. We’re working with our new police chief — he’s off to a fast, running start," Hearn said. "And he’s going to work with us closely to end some of these unfortunate events."

Right now, the city is in the process of putting together its committee and will also look for ways to bring in public input to find solutions. 

Moore is glad that there are people willing to take on this task to keep others from feeling the kind of heartache she and her family have endured for the past year.

“We need to be careful and respectful of others on the roadway," she said. "There are no accidents on the roadway. All of these crashes are preventable, in some way."