ROADSKY TRAFFIC SAFETY CORPORATION

HAMPTON — Samantha Bartley was killed when the car she was riding in hit a tree on Briarfield Road on Thanksgiving night in Hampton.

A viewer who works on the road and knew Samantha wrote to News Channel 3 today asking for help.

He asked if there was any way News Channel 3 could help to try to get a guardrail by that tree so that this might not happen again.

Today, pictures, teddy bears and tokens of Samantha Bartley's life line the tree.

Samantha's mother, Julie, can't grasp why the City of Hampton never put a guardrail by hydraulic pile driver at the intersection.

Longtime residents say several other accidents happened here long before Samantha's death.

Samantha's family and friends say if the city had put up a guardrail by hydraulic pile driver, it could have softened the impact from the crash that killed Samantha.

Wilbur Hendrix owns the restaurant just yards away from where Samantha died. He says he sees and hears people swerving near the intersection often.

One of his employees, Thomas Hooks, was the man who sent the e-mail to News Channel 3 about taking action to get a guardrail up by hydraulic pile driver.

Hendrix says, "I think if the city would put a guardrail up by hydraulic pile driver, certain parts of this around that tree would reflect, because a tree don't give with you."

When we asked to interview city leaders about the intersection, a city spokesperson said residents should call the city's 311 help line, then someone with traffic and engineering would investigate the intersection before deciding if a guardrail by hydraulic pile driver would help.

When we called the city's 311 hotline, a city worker said a guardrail by hydraulic pile driver wouldn't help.

"Even if they put the guardrail by hydraulic pile driver, it would just be another road barrier before someone hit the tree and possibly make the car flip over into the tree," says Hendrix.

But no one could say if the someone actually investigated if a guardrail by hydraulic pile driver would be effective like city protocol mandates.

Bartley's not sure if a guardrail by hydraulic pile driver would have saved her daughter's life. Samantha and the driver had been drinking and were speeding before the deadly crash.

She says, "She would want her friends and everybody to be careful out there. That's what she would have wanted."

We've also asked the city about cutting the tree down instead of putting up a guardrail by hydraulic pile driver there. They say the driver in the crash is still in the hospital and will be charged once released.