Florida’s Deadliest Roadways

Florida’s deadliest roadways

FLORIDA- Southfloridareporter.com writes that Florida’s roadways are some of the deadliest in the nation. When it comes to the most dangerous road, Interstate 4 takes the top spot. That busy road runs past some of Florida’s most popular spots for tourists, such as SeaWorld and Walt Disney World.

In terms of deaths per mile, Interstate 4 has 1.25, leading to a lot of tragic wrecks. The part of the road running from Lakeland to Orlando had 775 crashes in the course of about three years. Many crashes also occurred near Tampa, which is home to one of the most hazardous road junctions and bottlenecks in the country. Around Plant City, hundreds of collisions were reported as well.

Some of the accidents reported in the state were massive, such as one that occurred in early 2019. That incident took place on another deadly Florida interstate, I-75. Four people ultimately died in one crash on that road. Another 38 people suffered injuries in the incident, which involved a shocking 70 vehicles. The crash was not just one of the state’s worst but was one of the nation’s worst wrecks in recent years.

I-75 had an earlier pileup in 2002 that led to three deaths and involved 27 vehicles.

The weather was at least partially to blame in both tragic I-75 wrecks. Visibility on the road was impaired due to heavy fog. In 2019, the view of the road was further obscured as a result of a brush fire that covered the road in smoke. In 2012, the deadliest of these pileups occurred on I-75 when eleven people died in a crash that involved eighteen vehicles. Again, fog and smoke led to visibility issues for drivers on the interstate. In the aftermath of that collision, many of the cars involved ignited, leading to further injuries and deaths. The rescue workers trying to locate the victims in the fog and smoke had to rely on hearing their screams.