Posted on 10/06/2012 12:01:14 PM PDT by Blue Highway
(CNN) -- Fifty-two people were hurt Friday in a pileup involving dozens of vehicles on an interstate highway on Florida's Gulf Coast, police said.
The accident, which occurred about 3:30 p.m., involved at least 46 vehicles in the southbound lanes of I-75 on the Manatee/Sarasota county line, said Lt. Chris Miller with the Florida Highway Patrol. Twenty-two people, three of them in critical condition, were taken to area hospitals, he said.
None of the injuries was considered life-threatening, he said. "Quite a few had minor injuries that didn't require transport," he said.
The incident occurred about the time an afternoon thunderstorm struck, he said. "Weather was a contributing factor."
The Sarasota County Fire Department said that 29 people were taken to hospitals.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
46+ cars. How many drivers among them were texting or otherwise using their cellphones?
I drive that area quite often. The traffic in that area isn’t too bad. We’ve been having very heavy rains which turn visibility to zero and make the roads very slick. All it takes is one person doing something stupid and accidents occur.
Does anyone know about the seemingly recent trend in people entering a free-way or interstate, but not accelerating to the cruising speed of the flow of traffic or at least the speed limit? For example, every morning going to work I get onto I-75 but more often than not there will be a goofball doing 40mph on the on-ramp and not accelerating and then cars start piling up behind this idiot and they get onto the Interstate doing well UNDER 60mph which is a good 10-20mph under what the current flow of traffic is. Do these people realize how much of an accident risk they are creating for themselves; the cars behind them; and mostly the cars doing 75-85mph on the Intersate.
Nice editing--3 in critical condition but nothing "life-threatening."
yes, I caught that as well and many others have commented on that poor bit of writing (in the comments section of the Sarasota Tribune).
Hmmm?
Helpless? It seems you had the best help in the universe.
A little gratitude and acknowledgement might be a nice gesture on your part.
Gee, let me see. Hmmmm. Couldn’t possibly be that these morons were traveling the way I see morons traveling everyday...80 mph on each other’s bumper flashing their lights to move the other morons off the road. Let’s see. Hmmm. Reaction time from 2 feet off the guy ahead at 80 in rain,...whoops, what’s that guy doing?????????GDit he hit the brakes. JC I just smashed through his trunk and HS there’s another guy smashing into my trunk...........HOW DID THIS HAPPEN??????????? I’m such a safe driver. GDit!!! I’ll show these bastards! I’ll buy the biggest Hummer I can find and then I’ll run each of them off the road! I’ll show’em not to hit me!!!!!!
Mom?
My brother once said he was on 75 and saw two cars each try to cross 5 lanes of traffic at once and they met in the middle in front of them. He said he did what race car drivers say they do, head for the accident because by the time you get there, they’ll be out of the way. Sure enough it worked.
If any state is more fraud prone than NJ, it's FL (one of my bigger clients is a prominent non-standard carrier in that state). I'm guessing there will be a number of fraudulent claims arising out of this by people trying to cash in on the misfortune and suffering of those who were involved.
I've noticed that recently. I think they fall into 3 categories. Old people that can't see, hyper milers, and people that can't afford to operate a vehicle. By the time they actually merge on to the interstate, they aren't breaking minimum speed limit laws but it sure seems like it.
I have the same problem here in Denver area, I-25 North most times, when I get to the slow car, it is ALMOST always a Prius or other hybrid type vehicular machinery.
They either don’t have the acceleration or don’t want to exceed the magic 55 mph in a 75 mph speed limit which means most everyone in the middle and left lanes are doing 80+ mph.
Plus there is the medicinal marrywanner drivers too...slowing down to light up a bowl...
” Anybody remember the “2-second rule”?”
Uh...once the light turns red, you have 2 seconds to get thru it?
No, no. You drop food on the floor of your car and you have two seconds before the germs get on it.
I’m guessing the 2-second dropped food rule does NOT apply on American Airline jets...especially the ones with loose seats.
Florida’s drivers can’t drive in DAYLIGHT with the sun shining!! I hate to see what they would do in SNOW...
I’ve seen what they do in snow. I help tow them out occasionally.
I always remind people not to Drink & Drive.
Instead Drink while waiting at the traffic lights . . .
I think some of that is people trying to increase their gas mileage. They need to spend the dime and merge properly.
I want a GAU-8 under the hood... ‘-)
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