Two Killed, Two Injured in Multi-Vehicle Crash on US-301 in Thonotosassa, FL
Thonotosassa, FL -- April 14, 2022, two people died and others were injured in a series of related accidents on U.S. Highway 301 in Thonotosassa.
Authorities say the incident began around 2:55 a.m. along northbound US-301. Preliminary investigation suggests a 32-year-old Tampa woman was headed north on the highway when she crossed over the center line for unknown reasons. After entering the oncoming lanes she crashed into a southbound pickup truck. The pickup caught fire after the collision.
Shortly after that wreck a commercial tractor-trailer passed through the area and slammed into the Tampa woman's SUV, then sideswiped another nearby pickup truck. The big rig also hit a pedestrian who had stopped and exited their vehicle to check on the people in the first accident.
The Tampa woman was pronounced dead at the scene. The Good Samaritan that stopped to help was transported to an area hospital where he died a short time later. The occupants of the southbound pickup truck hit in the crossover crash received serious injuries. The final driver hit by the 18-wheeler was unhurt.
No further information is available at this time.
Commentary on Multi-Vehicle Accident on US-301 in Thonotosassa
It's not unusual for there to be few preliminary details about a complex, multi-vehicle crash involving one or more commercial vehicles. The scenes of those accidents can be pretty chaotic and it takes a lot of time and experience to ensure nothing slips through the cracks. Frankly that may mean it'd be better to have independent investigators look into things rather than just waiting around to see what police find out.
That's not meant to be a dig at law enforcement, just a recognition that their time and resources are quite limited and have to be split between many different priorities. The constraints that puts on their investigations can mean important details get overlooked and the real truth of a wreck isn't actually learned unless someone revisits the matter.
Here's an example of why prompt independent action can be so crucial: A while back a family came to us about a serious commercial truck wreck. They waited several months for answers about how their loved one was hurt in the crash, but didn't hear a peep from the authorities. They asked us to look into it and we ultimately found the investigating officer was still waiting for the trucking company to return with data from an Engine Control Module he allowed the trucking company to take from the scene. That one mistake nearly ruined the family's opportunity to find out what really happened in the crash.
The ECM is a valuable piece of evidence that records electronic data from a vehicle. That data gives invaluable insights like vehicle speeds and even braking leading up to a crash. Letting a trucking company take that from the scene before it can be independently evaluated is like asking a burglary suspect to dust for fingerprints. The suspect would most likely erase any evidence they did anything wrong, or at least would tell police they didn't find anything incriminating. That's more or less what a company is likely to do when they're handed a source of potentially-damning information about their driver's behavior. We ultimately salvaged that case, but I shudder to think how things would have gone had that family not sought professional help.
I'm not saying anyone's going to swoop in and tamper with evidence in the Florida crash, which still needs a great deal of work to unravel. I'm only emphasizing just how important it is for people to take the necessary steps to ensure they have the full story. Simply relying on the authorities isn't always a good way to do that, so having independent professionals look into things can be a prudent step toward getting folks the answers and the help they deserve.
[jump]
