Two people from Fort Myers were killed and three others were injured late on Saturday night, October 31, when a Toyota Camry lost control on Interstate 75 in Broward County, struck a U-Haul truck parked on the shoulder and was thrown into the path of a BMW, which overturned, the Florida Highway Patrol (FHP) said in a news release. The crash happened at about 9:50 p.m. near mile marker 45 on I-75, the cross-Everglades highway also known as Alligator Alley.
Source: Florida Highway Patrol release via Gulf Coast News
According to the Highway Patrol, an 18-year-old woman from Fort Myers was driving a 2018 Toyota Camry westbound on I-75 near mile marker 45, travelling in the outside lane. A 2014 Ford E-450 U-Haul truck was parked on the outside shoulder on the eastbound side of the interstate, and a 19-year-old man from Port Charlotte was driving a 2019 BMW X5 eastbound in the inside lane.
Source: WPLG Local 10 via Spot On Florida
The FHP said the Camry's driver lost control of the vehicle and it left the roadway, striking the back of the parked U-Haul. The impact redirected the Toyota into the path of the BMW, and the front of the Camry collided with the right side of the BMW, causing the BMW to overturn, the release said.
The Camry's driver and her passenger, a 29-year-old man from Fort Myers, were pronounced dead at the scene, according to the Highway Patrol, which did not release their names in its release.
Who was hurt
The BMW's driver, the 19-year-old man from Port Charlotte, suffered minor injuries, the FHP said. His passenger, a 37-year-old woman from Port Charlotte, suffered serious injuries. The U-Haul's driver, a 40-year-old man from West Palm Beach, suffered minor injuries. The Highway Patrol said the crash remains under investigation and it has announced no cause and no charges.
A parked truck on the shoulder — for the second time that night in Florida
The Broward crash was the second time on the same Halloween night that a car left its lane on a Florida interstate and hit a parked truck on the shoulder. About an hour later, at about 11:05 p.m. on October 31, a Camry struck a parked Kenworth tractor-trailer on Interstate 95 in Martin County, killing three of its passengers — a pattern that highway-safety officials have warned about for years, because a vehicle stopped on a shoulder sits only feet from traffic passing at full highway speed.
Interstate 75 at mile marker 45 is part of Alligator Alley, the long, straight toll road that crosses the Everglades between Broward County on the Atlantic side and Collier County on the Gulf side. It is one of south Florida's main freight and family-travel corridors, carrying heavy truck traffic through the night, with long stretches, few exits and canals and wetlands on either side — conditions in which a moment's loss of control can carry a car a long way before it stops.
For the many Punjabi truck drivers and owner-operators who run I-75 between Miami, Fort Myers and Tampa, the two Halloween-night crashes are a direct warning about shoulder stops: troopers and safety groups advise drivers who must stop to pull as far onto the shoulder as possible, use hazard lights and triangles, and stay aware that a stopped truck can be struck by a drifting vehicle even when it is parked legally and well clear of the travel lanes, as the Highway Patrol described both parked trucks in these two crashes.
The Florida Highway Patrol says its investigation of the I-75 crash is continuing. It has not announced why the Camry left the roadway, and no charges have been announced.
What happens next
Highway Patrol investigators will complete their crash report, which is expected to establish the sequence of impacts and whether speed, fatigue, distraction or impairment played any part — none of which the FHP has alleged so far. The two people who died had not been publicly named in the FHP release, and the seriously injured BMW passenger's condition has not been updated by authorities. Awaaz Punjab will update this story if the Highway Patrol releases names, a cause or charges.