Personal Injury Law

Semitrailer truck and minivan crash on Florida Turnpike in Toll lane

By LaBovick Law

Every day millions of people take the Florida Turnpike to work. Personally, I have a two-hour daily commute on the Florida Turnpike.  I use a Sunpass to save time.  A Sunpass helps drivers move  through the toll lanes with no waiting. On Wednesday, Warren Thomas made his last and final drive on the Florida Turnpike. Thomas went through a Sunpass lane at Mile Marker 63 and tried to back up to get to a tollbooth where change is given. At the same time, a semitrailer truck fatally struck his minivan. He was taken by ambulance to Broward Medical Center where he later died.

Investigations are underway by the Florida Highway Patrol to determine what caused this fatal crash involving the minivan and the semitrailer truck. At this time it is not known whether Warren Thomas of Fort Lauderdale had a Sunpass. The truck driver, Orta Gerardo, 45, of Miami, wasn't hurt, According to the FHP.

The accident occurred before 6:00 AM Est., driver fatigue may have played a factor in this fatal accident. Reports indicate that over 750 deaths occur each year and over 20,000 injuries, due to driver fatigue by truck drivers operating commercial truck vehicles, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA). Tired and sleep drivers can be deadly drivers. Commercial truck drivers often drive long hours to make more money, many are sleep deprived to make the tight delivery deadlines often imposed by commercial trucking companies.

Nodding off or drifting into other lanes are two common signs of driver fatigue and sleep deprivation by a trucker. Inattentive and fatigued truckers often lead to rollovers, jackknifing and ineffective down-breaking, which can result in a fatal crash. Truck accidents often involve multi-vehicle accidents. Reports show that approximately 600 commercial truck drivers die each year in fatal highway truck accidents.

Click on the following link to read more from the Sun-Sentinel.

Full post as published by LaBovick Injury Law Blog on April 22, 2010 (boomark / email).