TORTILLA FLAT, AZ — A morning drive to watch the sunrise nearly turned deadly when two friends plunged off a 350-foot cliff along State Route 88.
Maddalyn Davis, 19, and Andrew Nelson, 21, were returning from watching the sunrise near Tortilla Flat on Sunday morning when their vehicle tumbled more than 350 feet down the mountainside in the Tonto National Forest.
"Looking at the videos and the photos of the car, I don't know how my son walked away," said Amber Nelson, Andrew's mother.
The dramatic helicopter rescue was captured on video by Lenny Marshall, a good Samaritan who was driving by and climbed down the mountain to help the victims.
"He was familiar with the drive…he was careful with the drive," Nelson said of her son.
Despite the severity of the crash, both young people survived, and Andrew has since been released from the hospital. Nelson says Maddalyn is still in the hospital recovering from a broken neck and back. You can see her family’s GoFundMe here.
Mother launches petition for guardrails
Now that her son is home recovering, Nelson is pushing for safety changes along State Route 88, where crosses are reminders of other drivers who weren't so fortunate along the roadside.
"This can be prevented. It's stupid there's not anything in place at this point," Nelson said.
Nelson has started a Change.org petition calling for guardrails to be installed along the treacherous mountain road. While some sections of SR-88 have guardrails, most areas do not.
However, the Arizona Department of Transportation says State Route 88 is designated as a "historic roadway," making changes difficult to implement.
“SR 88's designation as an historic roadway limits changes allowed along the highway. It travels through the Tonto National Forest, which also means there are federal environmental limitations. Low speed limits and signs related to curves, hills, and other features are in place, and drivers should adhere to those safety measures,” an ADOT Spokesperson said.
Nelson says she isn’t letting this get in the way of her goal to create positive change from her son’s crash.
"I've been told several times already, nothing is going to happen, they're not going to put up guard rails, I'm going to get loud and I don't care," Nelson said. "I'm not going to stop just because you're telling me they're not going to do it. Clearly there's a problem, clearly it's dangerous."