Six people are dead after a 2023 Chevrolet Traverse slammed into a Road Ranger assistance truck on Florida’s Turnpike in Orange County Friday night, triggering a fire that engulfed both vehicles. The SUV driver and five adult passengers were trapped inside and pronounced dead at the scene, while the Road Ranger driver walked away with only minor injuries.
The crash happened at about 9:31 p.m. near mile marker 252, according to WESH 2 News. The Florida Highway Patrol said the Traverse was heading north in the inside lane when it crossed into the path of the Road Ranger truck, which had been assisting with an earlier crash and was responding to a request to help a stranded box truck. As the Road Ranger moved from the median toward the outside shoulder, the SUV’s driver failed to avoid it and struck the truck’s right rear.
Witnesses Say SUV Had No Headlights On
Witnesses told investigators the SUV was traveling at a high rate of speed without its headlights on in the moments before the collision, per the same report. The impact sent both vehicles off the roadway, where they became engulfed in flames. The SUV driver and the five adult passengers riding with them were trapped inside and could not be rescued; all six were pronounced dead at the scene.
The Road Ranger driver, identified only as a 28-year-old man from Kissimmee, suffered minor injuries and was not taken to a hospital, the station reported. As of Saturday, the Florida Highway Patrol had not confirmed the identities of the SUV driver or the five passengers who died alongside them. The crash remains under investigation.
Road Rangers Patrol Turnpike Daily
Florida’s Turnpike Road Rangers Safety Patrol provides free motorist assistance every day across the Turnpike system, according to Florida’s Turnpike Enterprise. The patrol trucks are a familiar sight on the highway, helping stranded drivers and assisting at crash scenes like the one the Road Ranger had just left before Friday night’s collision.
Friday’s crash is the second fiery, fatal wreck on Florida’s Turnpike in the Orlando area in less than a year. Last December, a semitrailer driver was killed when his rig slammed into the back of another tractor-trailer and caught fire in the southbound lanes near mile marker 248 in Osceola County, according to ClickOrlando. In that case, troopers said the semi driver failed to notice traffic slowing ahead of him before striking another rig that had already crashed into a third truck, and the heat from the fire damaged the roadway surface, requiring emergency repairs.
