A previous post on this Florida blog talked about how distracted driving remains a serious problem in Florida. The latest headlines in the news only demonstrate this point, as two recent accidents on local highways may both wind up being attributed to distracted or inattentive driving.
The first accident happened on Interstate 75. Traffic that was heading north in the early evening hours, at the tail end of the evening commute, apparently started to slow down after a passenger vehicle stopped on the road for a reason that was not clear.
The driver of a semi-truck did not slow for the incident and tried to change lanes quickly instead. Unfortunately, there was still a very serious rear-end accident which involved both the semi and another car catching fire after the collision. Several vehicles were involved in the accident, and five people had to go to the hospital. Additionally, two people succumbed to their injuries.
The second accident happened in the St. Petersburg area on Interstate 275. According to authorities, the driver of a passenger car apparently, did not slow down for backed up traffic and wound up striking a motorcyclist from behind. Another vehicle was also involved in the accident, and the motorcyclist suffered what authorities were calling critical injuries.
Both of these crashes are still under investigation, so it is difficult at this point to exactly what caused these car accidents. Still, the way police have described them, it seems that both of the drivers responsible for the collisions were simply not paying attention to the road and did not notice that the cars in front of them had slowed down.
