Massive Pileup on State Road 429 in Orange County

By Orlando Personal Injury Attorney on July 30, 2018

At least one person was hospitalized after an incident that happened in the Orange County city of Ocoee on Friday morning, July 27th. According to reports from the Florida Highway Patrol, the events that led to this began at close to 6:30 in the morning and ultimately involved numerous vehicles and resulted in a massive lane closure.

It was around 6:20 a.m. when numerous people were still navigating the rush hour traffic on their way to work. Along State Road 429, close to where this intersects with Ocoee Apopka Road, a long line of traffic was forced to slow down while another car merged into their lane. This is far from an unusual circumstance, and it often happens that we are forced to drive at a slower rate in order for all the vehicles on the road to get where they need to be.

On Friday morning, a person driving a pickup truck was either in this line of traffic and did not want to slow or else was forced to change lanes when the traffic before them abruptly stopped. This driver pulled their car into a parallel lane. By doing so, they cut off the trajectory of a dump truck.

Because the dump truck was full of sand at the time, it was not able to stop or start as quickly as it otherwise would, and the driver of the truck knew that they would not manage to stop their truck in time before colliding the pickup. Instead, it seems that the driver of the truck attempted to swerve away from the pickup truck. As it did so, the truck collided with a van. This collision caused the dump truck to flip over and spill its full load of sand all over the roadway.

The struck van struck another vehicle, and very quickly there were many cars involved in this crash. At least one person was taken to a nearby hospital, although the extent of their injuries is not currently clear. Numerous others were injured in the incident, but the report stated that their injuries were minor affairs and did not require hospitalization.

At the time of this writing the incident is still under investigation. We do not know if any charges are pending against any of the drivers involved.

James O. Cunningham

Since 1977, personal injury lawyer James Cunningham has provided effective legal advocacy to people who are injured through the negligent actions of another person or entity throughout the Central Florida area. He fights to obtain recoveries for his clients’ physical and emotional pain and suffering and pursues his clients’ personal injury cases with a commitment to excellence and impeccable preparation.