An accident involving a semi truck and a van at the intersection of Interstates 10 and 75 in Columbia County resulted in two people sent to the hospital with injuries. A 15-year-old girl from Alabama, transported to Shands at the University of Florida, sustained injuries described as serious. The 42-year-old driver of the 1999 Dodge van, also from Alabama, received medical treatment for undisclosed minor injuries at Lake City Medical. The 43-year-old driver of the 2000 Freightliner semi truck involved in the accident was reportedly unhurt.
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Auto accidents are the leading cause of death for young people aged 16 to 20, but some forward-thinking people in Orange County are trying to change this fact. The Florida Safety Council announced recently that high school students in Orange County would be able to apply for free driver training. This free training will include six hours of behind-the-wheel driving lessons in traffic and driver education classroom courses.
“We actually take them out to the expressway. We don’t cut them loose until they’ve driven in traffic on I-4 and the 408 expressway,” said Glenn Victor, Florida Safety Council spokesperson.
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An Orlando man accused of causing an auto accident that claimed the life of another man entered a guilty plea recently. The accused was allegedly involved in an illegal street race that killed a bystander watching the race.
“I want to say I’m so sorry to (the victim’s mother),” the man said after sentencing. After the accused made that statement, Judge Roger McDonald made an unusual request that stunned many in the courtroom—including the accused man’s mother.
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A couple married in Tallahassee last April was killed and their eight-year-old daughter orphaned in a drunk driving auto accident recently. As recounted in this Tallahassee Democrat article, the Havana couple wed at the Tallahassee Moose Lodge last spring after being together for more than ten years and having a daughter. On the evening of October 9, 2009, the couple was driving to the mother’s house to drop off their daughter at her grandparent’s to spend the night. As the couple waited to merge into traffic on the way, a drunk driver crashed his Dodge pickup truck into the back of their two-door Pontiac.
The 30-year-old father and 26-year-old mother were pronounced dead after transportation to Tallahassee Memorial Hospital. The daughter was reportedly riding in the back seat of the car when struck by the drunk driver and was unhurt in the accident. A sergeant on the Florida Highway Patrol said the 62-year-old driver of the truck was clearly intoxicated at the accident scene and was arrested on two counts of DUI manslaughter. The drunk driver reportedly bonded out of the Gadsden County Jail the day after the accident.
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An article published recently in the Orlando Sentinel describes a hit-and-run pedestrian accident that claimed the life of a 16-year-old Leesburg High student from Okahumpka. A car hit the young man as he walked along County Road 33 on October 4 while talking to his girlfriend on his cell phone. After the pedestrian accident, the victim was airlifted to Orlando Regional Medical Center where he died when taken off life support.
The victim’s mother has urged law enforcement authorities to investigate the pedestrian accident, but the lack of publicity in the case has made her uncertain whether or not the police were looking for the driver who struck the young man and fled from the scene. She went public recently with her dissatisfaction about the lack of cooperation and communication in the case.
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A Florida Central News article reports that officials with the Florida Highway Patrol are investigating a recent five-vehicle accident in Lakeland that claimed the lives of three people. FHP officials say that the accident occurred around 4 pm on U.S. Highway 98 just south of Rockridge Road when a Chevrolet pickup truck crashed head-on with a motorcycle. They say the pickup was driven by a 65-year-old woman who veered into the path of a motorcycle operated by a 55-year-old man.
The pickup’s driver was killed in the accident, as was the motorcycle’s passenger-a woman whose identity and age was not released by the FHP when the article was published. The 55-year-old motorcycle rider suffered critical injuries in the accident and was flown to Tampa General Hospital in a helicopter. The 51-year old driver of a Ford pickup truck behind the motorcycle also died in the accident. FHP officials say that he swerved to avoid the initial accident, but crashed into the left front of the oncoming Chevy pickup. The force of the collision caused the Ford pickup to land on its roof.
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A recent WESH Orlando report claims that a woman was killed in an Orlando hit-and-run accident in early September 2009. Law enforcement officials investigating the accident say that the victim was struck and killed on the side of Goldenrod Road and the motorist who hit the woman fled from the scene. Police officials say that the Orlando hit-and-run accident occurred around 3 am when the driver of one car and the occupants of a black Nissan Altima were arguing with each other.
They say that the 24-year-old victim was driving along Goldenrod Road arguing with the people in the Altima when she stopped her vehicle in the middle of the road and confronted the people in the other car.
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A humorous and ostensibly harmless trend among some Florida motorcycle riders has also shown a troublesome and negligent side. Recently, law enforcement officials have caught a number of Florida riders operating their bikes without any clothes on. Naked motorcycle riding might present a hazard for distracted drivers, but in some cases these riders are operating their bikes under the influence of alcohol and that is a far greater concern. According to Ocala police, the first incident occurred in mid-September when an officer pulled over a drunken rider.
The police say they noticed the naked rider early one morning on I75 and pulled him over for running a red light. The 45-year-old rider admitted that he had been drinking and a breathalyzer returned blood alcohol levels of .178 and .162-both dangerously over Florida’s legal limit of 0.08. The naked rider told police he had been drinking at a local restaurant. Police found a shirt and shawl hanging around the motorcycle’s handlebars and requested that the rider wear them. Records indicated that this drunken driving conviction was the rider’s fifth offense.
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