A 29-year-old Jacksonville man is dead after his SUV struck a vehicle stopped on the shoulder of I-295 South while he tried to steer around a disabled car blocking the center lane early Sunday morning. The Florida Highway Patrol says the man was not wearing a seatbelt when the crash happened around 5:13 a.m. near Wilson Boulevard.
According to Action News Jax, the man was driving southbound on I-295 south of Wilson Boulevard when he came upon a disabled car stopped in the center lane. A second vehicle was stopped on the inside shoulder nearby, where its driver was helping the occupants of the disabled car.
When the man swerved left to avoid the disabled vehicle, the front of his SUV collided with the rear of the second vehicle, the outlet reports. The impact sent his SUV spinning counterclockwise, and it came to rest blocking the left travel lane.
Conflicting Accounts of the Second Vehicle
FHP has not publicly specified exactly what kind of vehicle was stopped on the shoulder, and local outlets differ on the detail. Action News Jax describes it simply as a second car, while News4Jax reports investigators say the SUV struck the rear of a tractor-trailer stopped on the inside shoulder, identifying its driver as a 36-year-old Haines City man who was not hurt.
Both outlets agree on the outcome for the SUV driver: he was pronounced dead at the scene, and FHP confirmed he was not wearing a seat belt. The driver of the vehicle he struck walked away without injuries, regardless of which account of that vehicle is accurate.
Why Drivers Are Required to Move Over or Slow Down
The crash underscores the risks drivers face when stopped vehicles sit along Florida's busiest interstates. Under the state's Move Over law, motorists approaching a disabled, emergency, service or utility vehicle stopped on the side of the road must shift over a lane, or slow to at least 20 mph below the posted speed limit if changing lanes safely isn't possible, according to the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles.
Sunday's crash is the latest in a string of deadly incidents on I-295 in recent months. A wrong-way collision on the interstate killed a driver in late June, and another fatal crash that same month shut down all lanes near Philips Highway, per reporting from jacksonville.com.
The Florida Highway Patrol says the crash remains under investigation, and no further details about the circumstances have been released.
