MILTON, FL — A tractor-trailer chain reaction accident killed two people and sent four others to the hospital in Milton, Florida on Tuesday, January 18th, 2014, according to a report from The Northwest Florida Daily News.
Police have reason to believe both William and Dorothy Smith were hurt when the vehicle they were in became involved in an accident with three tractor-trailers and a Uhaul truck while driving on Interstate 10. The report does not illustrate what sparked off the accident, only that two of the tractor trailers went off the edge of the Blackwater River Bridge.
Scene of the Accident
William and Dorothy Smith sustained unspecified injuries in the accident and were taken to a nearby hospital for treatment. Two of the tractor-trailer drivers were killed in the accident.
Authorities expect to release the findings of their investigation at a later date.
Commentary:
The news report’s details about this accident are fuzzy, but chain-reaction accidents can be very complicated situations. We don’t really know what started the crash, but the secondary collisions can easily be attributed to following too closely. Maintaining a safe distance from the vehicle ahead is a responsibility all truckers need to be mindful of, especially in cases such as this where weather was effecting the roads as was reported here. I always remind people in these situations that unsafe speed for conditions is a close cousin of following too closely, and if weather had effected the road as the news report suggests, and one or all of the drivers did not adjust their speed accordingly, they could be held partially or fully responsible for the initial accident or the ones that followed.
–Grossman Law Offices
