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Kayla Joiner had an uncanny ability to brighten a room.

As a 16-year-old junior at Palmetto Ridge High School, Kayla enjoyed making people laugh and was pursuing a career in the medical field where she planned to work with kids, said her mother, Tracey Joiner.

But those plans came to a sudden and tragic end on Oct. 22, when Kayla was ejected from her friend’s Pontiac Sunfire after it rolled over an embankment near her home on Eighth Street Northeast in Golden Gate Estates.

Kayla, who wasn’t wearing a seat belt, was killed in the wreck.

“It has been the hardest time of my life actually,” Tracey Joiner said. “Words cannot describe the pain that you feel, the loss. In a brief moment your life changes. ... I wouldn’t want any parent to go through what we are going through.”

Kayla Joiner was one of 55 people killed on Collier County roads in 2007, according to preliminary numbers reported Monday by the Collier County Sheriff’s Office, the Florida Highway Patrol, the Naples police department and the Marco Island Police Department. The latest occurred Sunday night on Marco Island.

The 2007 total is down from 58 in 2006, 62 in 2005, and 79 in 2004.

The Florida Highway Patrol reported that there were 91 fatalities on Lee County roads, down significantly from 121 in 2006 and 150 in 2005.

Though every fatal accident is tragic, authorities say the continued decline in traffic fatalities is good news.

“Of course it’s good news,” said Cpl. Karen Hebebrand, a traffic homicide investigator with the Collier Sheriff’s Office’s Safety Traffic Enforcement Bureau. “First, it shows we’re doing our jobs. I understand that people don’t like getting a ticket for speeding ... but they have to understand that the reason we’re doing this is to save their lives as well as the lives of other people on the road.

“If we’re showing a reduction in the number of traffic fatalities, then obviously we’re doing something right.”

That something includes a continued focus on education, enforcement, DUI checkpoints, “Click it or Ticket” seat belt campaigns, and vehicle safety inspections, Hebebrand said.

In addition, Lt. Paul France of the FHP said that in 2007 his agency added nine troopers and two sergeants to the ranks who are specifically dedicated to patrolling toll gate to toll gate on the Alligator Alley portion of Interstate 75. Those new troopers allow the 11 troopers assigned to Collier County to work more in town, and add visibility to the Alley.

“Hopefully it’s slowing people down,” France said. “Probably our number one cause of fatal crashes was speed. ... What’s the first thing you do when you see a trooper? You hit your brakes and slow down.”

Preliminary numbers show that of the 53 deaths worked by the Sheriff’s Office and the FHP, 16 occurred on I-75, 14 occurred on U.S. 41, and 19 were drug- or alcohol-related, Hebebrand said.

In addition, five of the deaths were pedestrians, five were motorcyclists and four were bicyclists.

Of the 39 deaths that didn’t involve a bicycle, pedestrian or motorcycle, 35 who died weren’t wearing a seat belt, Hebebrand said.

“The number of people ejected from motor vehicles this year is very high, which is related to them not wearing their seat belts,” she said. “We’ve had a lot of ejections this year.”

Hebebrand said that the number of fatal wrecks involving multiple deaths is the highest she’s seen in years.

“I have 14 people dead out of six crashes,” she said.

The most recent traffic fatality in Collier County involved two pedestrians, 72-year-old Alan O’Hea and 69-year-old Jeanne O’Hea, who were struck Sunday night on Marco Island by a 1994 Honda Civic driven by Luke Vergo, 23. Alan O’Hea was killed in the crash, the only fatal wreck on Marco Island in 2007.

Jeanne O’Hea suffered serious injuries and was taken to Fort Myers to Lee Memorial Hospital.

The Naples police department reported one traffic fatality in 2007; an 82-year-old woman who was struck by a motor home in the parking lot of the Coastland Center mall in March.

The keys to reducing fatal traffic crashes are simple things, authorities said, like not drinking and driving, keeping vehicles well-maintained, driving the speed limit and being patient.

But most importantly, drivers and passengers need to wear their seat belts.

“You can tell people until they’re blue in the face,” Hebebrand said, “but wearing your seat belt does save your life.”

In the two months since her daughter’s death, Tracey Joiner has made a point of preaching the importance of seat belts to other Palmetto Ridge students, and passing out “Parent-Teen Driving Contracts.” She also has started a Web site, www.buckleup4Kayla.com, and a foundation in her daughter’s name to award scholarships and donate money to charities Kayla would approve of.

“I just want to keep Kayla’s memory alive. That is the most important thing to us,” Tracey Joiner said. “You can’t even imagine the pain of losing a child. You don’t think that will happen. You think you’ll go first. That’s the way it’s supposed to be.

“I miss her terribly. I’d do anything to have her back.”