Wednedsay's fatality involved a fiery collision between two semi-trucks
Wednesday's crash on State Road 60 west of Yeehaw Junction was another fatality along a road being considered for widening.
According to Florida Highway Patrol, a semi tractor-trailer was traveling westbound just west of Peavine Road about eight miles west of U.S. Highway 441/Kenansville Road when it failed to stop for traffic ahead. Just after 2:30 p.m., a second semi tractor-trailer and a Ford F-150 pickup truck were stopped in the westbound lane for traffic, with the semi positioned behind the pickup.
Troopers say the first semi collided with the rear of the second tractor-trailer, causing a chain reaction that pushed the second semi into the back of the Ford F-150. Following the initial impact, the first semi tractor-trailer became fully engulfed in flames. The driver of the first semi was pronounced dead at the scene. The driver of the second semi, a 48-year-old man from Eagle Lake in Polk County, was transported to Orlando Health St. Cloud Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. The driver of the Ford F-150, a 33-year-old Mulberry man, was not injured and remained at the scene. FHP says the Medical Examiner’s Office is working to identify the deceased driver and will notify investigators once identification is confirmed.
The crash closed the road in both directions into the early evening.
That stretch of State Road 60, which connects Florida's two coasts from the Tampa area to Vero Beach through the south part of Osceola County on just two lanes, has seen a number of crashes, including another fatal that left two people dead in 2023. The stretch from Prairie Lake Road in the west to Florida’s Turnpike in Osceola County, a distance of 19.3 miles, is under study by the Florida Department of Transportation for widening, in order to improve safety and address future travel demands.
According to FDOT, currently an estimated 14,300 vehicles per day use the road, with 34% of that traffic consisting of trucks. By 2050, the traffic is expected to increase by 140%. In the four-year period of 2020-204, there were 334 vehicle crashes, including nine fatal incidents.
