So, as part of a package to entice two new hotel and condo developments along the strip, Daytona has agreed to close off its most popular driving beach as of March 1. A 1,500-space parking garage has been built a block from the sand to take up the slack. And it's not just economic concerns that have the beach cruisers under siege. It's the turtles, too. Volusia County's beaches are the traditional nesting grounds for thousands of endangered sea turtles.
Tiny hatchlings have to struggle as it is to make it to the sea, never mind dodging traffic, too.
In 1996, two local environmentalists sued the county under the U.S. Federal Endangered Species Act, seeking to have cars banned from all beaches. Beach driving at night has been banned, and a total of 15 miles of shoreline that is considered prime nesting territory has been shut to traffic. The turtle activists are seeking drastic changes to the Daytona strip and hotels in other parts of the county, asking for an order banning lights from along the beach because they disorient the tiny reptiles. They tend to go towards the bright lights and end up getting run over. A lot of business people feel this is environmental overkill.