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"One year after a crash on Interstate 75 that killed 11 people, some measures are in place to make the stretch through Payne's Prairie safer, but much of the critical technology is still a year away from being installed.WESH 2 returned to the scene to investigate whether the 61,000 people who drive the stretch daily are safer.The Department of Transportation has installed overhead cameras every mile to help monitor visibility. On both ends, WESH 2 found portable signs warning of fog. But they flash even on a clear day, leaving some to doubt their effectiveness.\"When you get there, where's the fog? So it's kind of like crying wolf if you will,\" said driver Roger Williams.\"It has been helpful, if nothing else, to remind you, oh yes, the fog can kill lots of people,\" said motorist Laurie Alexander.A year ago, Rep. Keith Perry (R-Gainesville), promised to fight for smart board technology.But one year later, the smart signs are nowhere to be found.After the crash, the Department of Transportation hired University of Central Florida professor Mohamed Abdel-Aty -- an expert on reduced-visibility crashes -- to find out if the Payne's Prairie crash was an isolated occurrence.He found just the opposite.Based on his research, the Department of Transportation is investing $4 million in smart signs on both ends of Payne's Prairie, along with vehicle detectors and fiber optics to provide instant, automatic and verifiable warnings about dangerous road conditions. No more crying wolf.\"I think they are coming up with an excellent system, from an equipment point of view, what you call intelligent transportation system, or ITS,\" he said.DOT officials said it will still be a year before all that safety signage is in place.Perry told WESH 2 the DOT wanted to be comprehensive with their approach, and that some of the technology they're installing has never been used in Florida. But he said he is not happy with the pace.Meanwhile, law enforcement is making changes.The Florida Highway Patrol said it has retrained every trooper in the state of Florida. They're now willing to shut down roads for longer periods of time, even if they're busy, and they now have better communication with the division of forestry, which is something they didn't have last year.But until the smart signs come, the job of making that stretch of I-75 safer is not yet done, and that means motorists should beware.Chopper 2 images: 11 killed in I-75 pileup"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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