Resident urges lower speed limit on South Lake Story Road after fatal crash

Janine Glass told the Knox County Board on Jan. 28 that her sister, identified in her remarks as Marty Glass, was hit in a head-on crash on South Lake Story Road on Nov. 22, 2025 and later died of her injuries. Glass read a prepared statement and presented a petition with more than 40 signatures asking the county to reduce the road’s posted speed from 45 mph to 35 mph between Henderson Street and Allison Campground, and to set a 25 mph limit on the road’s curves.

"I am proposing that the speed limit be reduced to 35 miles an hour from Henderson Street to Allison Campground and then the speed limit on the curves be reduced to 25 miles an hour," Glass said as she read her petition to the board.

Jim Jacobs introduced Glass and said the petition and supporting documents would be turned over to the clerk for the official record. Clerk Scott Ericson accepted the petition for the record.

Glass told the board the other driver crossed the double yellow center line and was impaired by illegal street drugs, according to her account, and that her sister went into cardiac arrest after the crash before being hospitalized and later dying on Nov. 30, 2025. She described her sister’s long career as a nurse and military service and urged the county to act to prevent similar crashes.

Board members did not take a formal vote on the petition at the Jan. 28 meeting; the presentation occurred during the public comment period. Earlier in the public comment exchange Jim Jacobs asked when the infrastructure committee meets; the committee meets the third Tuesday of the month at 6 p.m. at the annex, according to information given during the meeting.

The petition was recorded with the clerk during the meeting. No committee referral or board action was announced on the record at the meeting’s close.