FHP: Wrong-way driver crashes into pickup truck on I-275; suspected of DUI
Provided by FHP
TAMPA, Fla. - A Tampa woman was likely driving impaired when she drove the wrong way for several miles on a highway and crashed into a pickup truck, troopers say.
The collision occurred in the northbound lanes of Interstate 275 near Busch Boulevard. According to the Florida Highway Patrol, the 55-year-old woman was traveling south in the northbound lanes. Meanwhile, the driver of the pickup truck, a 42-year-old man from Tampa, was heading northbound when the crash occurred around 3:18 a.m., troopers said.
The Tampa man had minor injuries while the wrong-way driver had serious injuries. Troopers didn't say where she may have started driving in the opposite direction.
"What we are learning, citizens made phone calls to 9-1-1 and FHP, and they alerted it. Our traffic management center was also alerted," said Kris Carson, a Tampa spokesperson for Florida Department of Transportation District 7. "We already have some citizen reports that she possibly got on the interstate on I-75 in Pasco County and traveled quite a distance the wrong way."
Carson said the driver may have driven about 15 miles the wrong way from Pasco County into Hillsborough County. Officials said drug and alcohol impairment is suspected, and that’s frustrating for Linda Unfried who lost her sister to an impaired driver.
"This wrong way crash, there’s absolutely no reason for it. And where did she even get on the interstate? That’s really scary to me because we use the interstate," said Linda Ufried, co-founder of Mothers Against Drunk Driving Hillsborough County. "FDOT is doing everything that they can. Law enforcement is doing everything that they can, and we are doing everything that we can to help people understand that it’s all about responsibility."
FDOT already installed wrong-way detection sensors and flashing wrong-way signs in 19 ramp locations in Tampa Bay, focusing on areas like Ybor City, downtown Tampa and St. Pete, the South Howard area, and Armenia Avenue and Howard Avenue.
"I have been on the interstate when those signs came on saying watch out for a wrong way driver and I know how scary that is and you’re just looking," said Ellen Snelling, chair of the Tampa Alcohol Coalition and board chair of the Hillsborough County Anti-Drug Alliance. "What do you do in a case like that when you see headlights coming at you? It’s just a scary situation. But again, if people didn’t drink, use drugs and drive, it wouldn’t even happen."
According to FDOT District 7, Carson said there were 96 wrong way drivers from July 2021 to March 2022. Carson said 74 of those drivers, about 77 percent of wrong-way drivers, realized what they were doing and corrected themselves.
"It is working. We do still hear about wrong way crashes, and unfortunately, we need some public responsibility for people to stop driving impaired, whether it's drugs or alcohol," said Carson.
Carson said there are dozens of ramps currently getting sensors and signage in Pinellas and Hillsborough counties.
"We have a current project under construction right now that's adding more of the wrong way devices, which are the flashing wrong-way signs. We're adding more of those on I-275, I-4 and I-75," said Carson. "Once that project wraps up this summer, that's a $2 million project. We have more projects coming down the pipeline to continue adding this signage all across the interstates around the Tampa Bay area."
Friday’s crash was serious, and safety advocates said it was also preventable. Troopers did not publicly identify the woman nor did they say if she was arrested.
"It’s about responsibility. You need to make your plans before you go out. Once you go out, it’s too late," said Ufried.
Carson said the entire interstate system in District 7 for Tampa Bay will have wrong way detection devices working by the summer of 2024.