Labor Day weekend traffic came to a near standstill on both sides of I-95 just north of State Road 100 in Palm Coast late this afternoon after a tractor trailer jackknifed in the rain and ended up hanging over a deep gully, half its rear wheels off the ground. Somehow the metal guardrail and perhaps trees helped the truck from going over.
The driver, 50-year-old Jose Molina, was not hurt.
The wreck took place in the northbound lanes of I-95 just after 5 p.m., as rush hour traffic was picking up. The wreck blocked all but the left emergency lane.
Fifteen minutes after emergency crews got to the scene, another wreck took place immediately opposite the original wreck, in the southbound lanes, as drivers were rubbernecking. No one was hurt, but by 6 p.m. trafick was backing up on the southbound side, too.
John’s Towing, the Bunnell wrecker, was at the scene shortly after 6 with two two trucks that had tethered several lines to the tractor trailer and the empty container it had been hauling from West Palm Beach to Jacksonville.
Describing the wreck, Molina said he’d been going about 60 mph in driving rain when, coming over the bridge over Town Center Boulevard, the Volvo truck hydroplaned, he lost control, and ended up facing north, his truck hanging over the gully.
The Palm Coast Fire Department, Flagler County Fire Rescue and the Florida Highway Patrol responded, as did the Palm Coast Fire Police, which provided traffic control. The wreck took place in a span of time that saw another car veer off into a ditch near the intersection of Belle Terre Parkway and Royal palms Parkway, and another sedan, at around 6:45 p.m., crash into a concrete utility pole on Town Center Boulevard, just past the very bridge over which Molina had driven over before his truck started hydroplaning.
JustBNice says
Glad to hear no one was hurt.
Old Lady says
Thankfully he is OK, Hats off to the safety people
r&r says
I travel I-95 almost every day and many of the semis are swaying when they travel even on clear days and 75% are in the center lane even when the outside lane vacant. I always give them plenty of room because I don’t know if there dozing or on something. I wish the highway patrol would start buckling down on them.
Bc says
They should be required to a speed limit 5mph slower than cars and only use the center lane to pass a slower car and move rite back over to the outer lane. It would be safer for all of us motorist.
Jack says
Look at the drivers name! I drive a commercial vehicle every day and 95 percent of the accident I see are Spanish people and not being racist! They just don’t understand the rules and regulations and are the main cause of these accidents cause they get there license from down in maimi. These drivers are always in center lane driving 60mph and always on the telephone. 3 hrs after that accident was another southbound with another Spanish guy who couldn’t even speak English to the trooper to tell him what happen on how he crash into a pickup and came through the guard rail