You remember that huge mess on Interstate 4 just over a year ago. Seventy vehicles were involved in a string of early morning crashes, where fog and smoke from a nearby controlled burn had grown thick on the highway.
The FHP released a report that says 100 cars passed through there that day, and somehow, 30 of them were able to safely make their way through the fog and smoke. Of the 70 that were involved in the crash, many of them slowed down to account for the terrible visibility. Unfortunately, irresponsible drivers behind them plowed right through the dense fog and ended up plowing right into the cars who had slowed down.
Of course, the FHP is one of the agencies that was catching hell from ambulance chasers and local opinion pages. But if 30% of the traffic made it through completely unscathed, and even some involved in the crashes were doing what they were supposed to be doing, it certainly seems that the rest of those drivers could have and should have reacted better.
Onaiz Zinna
1 year ago
I believe that Florida has some of the most careless drivers in the United States if not the world. Most Floridians tend to abuse the speed limit by about ten miles per hour or more, change lanes aggressively and without using turn signals, constantly tailgate other drivers on the road if they believe that they are going too slow or sometimes even doing the speed limit, run many red lights, and are constantly unaware of their surroundings on the road. Why are most Floridians in such rush? Is it because they want to get to their destination as fast as possible? Statistics show that driving aggressively and fast will only save a few minutes on an average trip to the grocery store or to work.
I think this seventy car pileup is a perfect example of how careless most Floridian drivers really are. Each and every form of a driving manual or booklet I have ever seen, booklets from the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles to booklets from insurance companies like Allstate, states that drivers should try to avoid or slow down for hazards on the road in order to pass the hazard safely. Slowing down gives drivers more time to assess the situation and also helps to reduce the distance it takes for the car to stop. If most of these drivers would have just lifted their foot off of the gas pedal and kept it ready on the brake pedal, then the number of cars involved in the accident would be drastically reduced.
Denis Baldwin
1 year ago
Onaiz definitely has a point. Of all the places I’ve lived, the only place that has faster/more careless drivers is Detroit. I’ve seen some of the most ridiculous driving here, and I often feel like I have to get out of their way before I get plowed over.
Since I moved to Florida, I’ve had seven “near misses”. People merging multiple lanes with no blinker, guys in delivery trucks running stop lights, idiots on their cell phones when they should be paying attention to the road… it’s ridiculous.
Mariella
1 year ago
A few days ago I drove up Azeele to a green light at West Shore. I was very close to driving through the intersection when a driver sped through the red light on West Shore, just in front of me. I stopped and waited out the yellow, then red lights. Still a bit apprehensive when my light turned green again, I hesitated before proceeding through the intersection. Good thing. Another driver blew through the red light on West Shore right in front of me.
WP
1 year ago
Just last night, I was traveling south on Rome between Waters and Hillsborough. I was stopped at the light at Sligh. When the light turned green I accelerated normally to the speed limit of 30 mph only to be passed by a car doing at least 50 on a double solid line in a neighborhood at night. I see pedestrians crossing that road mid-block all the time, many of them children. I proceeded normally and this person turned a couple of blocks before Hillsborough and entered a driveway as few houses in as I passed by. He/she may have saved 8-10 seconds by breaking the law and driving recklessly.