10 Dead and Many Injured After I-75 Auto Accidents
In the wee hours this Sunday morning, a disaster unfolded on a stretch of I-75 just south of Gainesville. A brush fire had begun burning on Saturday afternoon in Paines Prairie Reserve, and consumed approximately 60 acres. The smoke from the brush fires settled into low-lying areas, including the stretch of I-75 that runs through the prairie lands between Micanopy and Gainesville. As midnight passed, the early morning fog began to combine with the smoke from the brush fire, and resulted in conditions of near-zero visibility. According to this morning’s Gainesville Sun article, Florida Highway Patrol had closed the affected stretch of I-75 sometime around midnight. Sometime around 3 am, the FHP “assessed” the conditions and decided to re-open the highway. Less than an hour later, over 20 were injured and 10 people were left dead, after what many veteran law enforcement officials called the worst traffic accident of their careers. The fog and smoke had combined by that time to create horrible driving conditions, and survivors reported that it was like driving into a wall, beyond which all visibility disappeared. The crashes left a stretch of northbound and southbound I-75 littered with wreckage, as approximately 20 semi trucks, cars and SUVs piled into each other in the smoke and fog.
Colling Gilbert Wright are the premiere auto accident attorneys in Central Florida. We offer our deepest condolences to all of the families involved in Sunday’s tragic accidents on I-75. Our firm has represented dozens of major tractor trailer accident cases involving similar circumstances. If you or a loved one is injured in a tractor trailer accident, call our firm or visit www.thefloridafirm.com for a free consultation. For legal representation from experienced and aggressive accident attorneys, don’t rely on referral hotlines or gimmicky television commercials. Call the dedicated accident attorneys at Colling Gilbert Wright and let our reputation, hard work and experience work for you.