Last Updated: 8:12 p.m.
A multiple-rollover crash on I-95 just past the intersection with State Road 100 in Palm Coast shut down all three northbound lanes of the highway after 12:30 p.m. today.
There were three minor injuries and one more serious injury to a child, who was being transported to a hospital as a trauma alert. The child was being transported to Halifax hospital in Daytona Beach. Others are being transported to Florida Hospital Flagler.
The injured child, Sophia Prieto, 9, was listed in critical condition and subsequently taken to Arnold Palmer Children’s Hospital in Orlando.
Also injured were Gregory Fehrenkamp, 62, of Palm Coast, Delia Gonzalez-Rodriguez, 37, of Miami, Eduardo Prieto, 14, of Miami, all of whom were listed in serious condition. Prieto and Gonzalez-Rodriguez were taken to Halifax hospital in Daytona Beach, Fehrenkamp was taken to Florida Hospital Flagler.
The crash was caused by David Blank, 58, of Daytona Beach, who was at the wheel of a 2012 Chevy truck owned by National Tire, the road-service company. The Florida Highway Patrol reported that Blank collided with the rear of the Volkswagen Gonzalez-Rodriguez was driving, catapulting her Volkswagen into the middle lane, where she struck the Toyota Tundra Fehrenkamp was driving. Fehrenkamp’s Toyota overturned, crashing into a Honda Accord with Carla Cohen, 40, and Ana Mount, 6, both of Orlando, on board. Neither was injured. Blank was cited for careless driving.
I-95 was extremely busy with holiday traffic in both directions. The Palm Coast Fire Police was diverting northbound traffic onto State Road 100. Northbound traffic had backed up several miles, to Old Dixie Highway. Southbound traffic was not impeded, but the crash was causing rubbernecking in the southbound lanes, backing up traffic all the way to Palm Coast Parkway just 20 minutes after the crash.
Motorists were advised to avoid I-95 in both directions, exiting northbound at Old Dixie Highway, and southbound at Matanzas Woods Parkway. The Florida Highway Patrol is responding to the crash, as did the Palm Coast Fire Department and Flagler County Fire Rescue, and the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office.
At 1:22 p.m., the Fire Police re-opened I-95 northbound to traffic, at the State Road 100 intersection.
At 12:55 p.m., another crash was reported five miles south of the SR100 crash, at mile marker 277, also in the northbound lanes, causing traffic to be diverted there, onto Old Dixie Highway. That crash caused four injuries.
So stupid says
How the hell do you you wreck on the clearest day of the year wtf
Jane Gentile-Youd says
FDOT needs to be held accountable for the disgraceful condition of I-95 in our area – full of uneven pavement and pot holes, cracks and barely anything left of the road reflectors. They have known about these issues for several YEARS ( got e-mails to prove) but insist road will be resurfaced in 2019 . Of course their round abouts are all they care about. Their 5 year ‘Plan’ is a joke- they ignore the CURRENT DANGEROUS road conditions. They have also ignored pleas to lower the speed limit on the busy section of US 1 from 60mph to 50 — since 2012 despite continual accidents.
I receive idiotic stupid e-mails regarding the insane 60mph speed limit on US 1, and the tremendous amount of accidents caused by red light runners doing 80mph. Requests to lower speed limit to 50 are ignored even though US 1 is the entrance to many growing residential subdivisions. ha pregnant lady with a 4 year avoided death last week by inches when a semi blasted through a RED light at the intersection of a large subdivision. FDOT refuses to lo lower speed limit to 50 except bythe Harley Davidson dealership.
Time for a current right now plan not a pie in the sky five year fantasy plan
Jeep momma says
Is there any news on the child in this accident? So sad, and then another accident down the road and a motorcyclist is laying dead at the corner of us1 and old Dixie highway… Why can’t people just be careful when there’s so many people on the road it’s just so tragic.
Randy Jones says
Hey Jane Gentile-Youd, blaming the potholes is akin to blaming the gun when a insane criminal shoots someone. I drove 95 southbound from SR 16 to Palm Coast today. Guess what I observed? I observed insane drivers swerving in and out of traffic at 80+ miles per hour (I was doing 68 in the #3 lane). They were cutting each other off, switching lanes thus jamming themselves between other vehicles with mere feet to spare, not signaling their lane changes, etc., etc., etc. We do NOT need new laws; we need drivers that obey the current laws. Sound familiar?
You aint driving says
Clear? You must have not been on the highway today
Really says
Not surprised no respect for rules of road especially speed limits,space,blinkers,passing etc. Wheres FHP non existant on I95
Fredrick says
@jane – you obviously do not drive on interstates “up north”. Florida Interstates are like riving on glass.
We need roundabouts says
Every 2 miles on 95.
capt says
Why can’t people just slow down and pay attention.
Anonymous says
Lower the I-95 speed limit and add more enforcement. There also needs to be more education of drivers that you can’t tailgate at highway speeds because few people seem to get it.
Concerned Citizen says
The speed limit is fine for the roads. It’s the people behind the wheel of their cars. If they would just obey the laws, rules and signs, everything will be just fine. I was driving the speed of 70mph as the sign says on I-95 yesterday. All the cars passed me like I was standing still. They drive 80, 90 and 100 mph out there. They’re not realizing that people have families traveling with them and trying to be safe. The ones with their family in the car is driving even faster. I wouldn’t allow anyone yo dtive Mr that fast and dangerous. People need to SLOW DOWN and drove the SPEED LIMIT and PAY ATTENTION, stay OFF CELL PHONES, more lives would be saved. My thing is..where ever you are traveling to. That place is going to be there when you get there.
Jane Gentile-Youd says
to Randy and Fredrick
I learned to drive in my hometown, NYC, and know all about interstates up north, including icy roads and snow tires. That’s one of the reasons Floriduh has been my home since the late 70’s..
Yes, we sure do have insane drivers – speeding and texting but you are both ignoring the facts that many drivers swerve to change lanes without notice to avoid the disgraceful potholes – (neither do dark roads with no lighting or reflectors help)
Sadly, just minutes after my post above another senseless death occurred on US 1 “-Flagler Speedway”
which possibly could have been avoided had all the I-95 traffic from the accident referred to in this article not been diverted to “Flagler Speedway, a/k/a US 1”.. No reason to be discourteous
Bill says
IMO there needs to be harsher penalties for such drivers. As in this incident “Blank was cited for careless driving.” its NOT careless driving it was a intentional act to drive with disregard to the traffic laws or others on the road. Lowering speed limits is not the answer more road patrols stiffer penalties amd people NOT driving like its the Daytona 500 are.
deb says
So many clueless drivers out there. Its raining, hard and people are driving with NO lights on and driving way above the speed limit on I-95. Pay attention and slow down.
Michael Brown says
I-95 and I-4 have become deathtraps — poor law enforcement and speed limits that are far to high. It’s incredible that this state would allow the continuance of such carnage.
Pogo says
@Have a clue
Regarding the dangerous speed limits, lack of adequate traffic enforcement, etc – follow the money. What Walmart, FEDEX, UPS, and the rest of your corporate overlords want – they get.
The rest of us are peasants and/or livestock as far as the masters of the universe are concerned. And you (GOP voters) keep electing and re-electing the rodent fornicators that govern floriduh: those born to, or married to, the rulers of your existence, and the classmates and other criminals who rise up out of the hoi polloi on their own.
And so it goes.
Anonymous says
I-95 in flagler county is due to be repaved sometime January last I was told. People need to learn to pay attention , stay off the phone and learn to slow down. Blaming the asphalt is not the only solution to I 95.
John Dalton says
Bring back 55 as the maximum speed limit and put a Weigh Station on US1 to slow those trucks down!
Flagler County Citizen says
We all need to pay attention, because driving can be dangerous. That said, sometimes missteps happen. All humans can fumble, misinterpret the speed of another driver, etc. We want to blame someone, but the fact is this is a very tragic incident. A driver was found at fault. He may have misjudged. Maybe the car in front of him slowed down and he was preparing to pass. Things like this can happen with even very careful drivers.
Let us be reminded to be alert.
Ralph says
Lead follow or get out of the way. Slow movers in the fast lane cause accidents. Pass then get over don’t drive in the fast lane, left lane, then block traffic when people are behind you. Get out of the way pokey.
atilla says
Another place I’ve complained about is the on ramp to 95 off Palm Coast Pkwy going south. There is a speed limit sign for 45mph and many people obey that limit. If you enter 95 at 45mph you are an accident looking for some place to happen. Take the sign down so people can enter at the 70 mph speed posted for 95.
gmath55 says
@ John Dalton – They had that 55 mph maximum speed limit on highways and nobody did 55 mph. That is why 55 mph signs were removed and 70 mph signs put back. That was a waste of money! There is a weigh station on US1 just past Palm Coast Pkwy.
Salvatore Monella says
68 mph on i-95 when there’s only 3 lanes available?.In itself, that’s dangerous to not at least do 70 mph (posted speed limit). define”#3 lane”. Is that the slow lane or the passing lane closest to the median? If you were the one doing 68 in the passing lane closest to the median, then you used very poor judgement as you drove extremely unsafely.based on your admitted self exhalting slow speed and your criticism of the multitude of cars flying by at “80+” changing lanes without turn signals, that tells me those cars were trying to avoid colliding with you. You were the mr.Magoo creating a severe road hazard as you self righteously hamperd, hindered traffic and incited road rage. Do you ever see the police cruise in the passing lane nearest median at 68 in a 70 mph zone? no? that’s right, they don’t. why? because it’s both an extremely dangerous situation and illegal to unlawfully impede traffic. So while you wish to point fingers at what you considered dangerous speeders, they had to respond quickly and increase speed to pass you in order to avoid the multiple vehicle pile up you invariably were setting up to take place at any second. So while they certainly may have failed to signal and subsequently bunch up too close while waiting for their chance to pass you, they were desperate to quickly distance you behind them out of fear for their lives. Thank God the pile up was narrowly averted.Too bad you still think you’re a”safe”driver that clearly sees the effects of other drivers while being totally blind to your own unlawfully dangerous actions being the root cause of said effects. please do society a huge favor by
truly researching the multitude of traffic studies that clearly demonstrate the dangers of huge gaps in speed within a tight group of vehicles versus vehicles spread farther apart yet at generally the same high speed. If you wish to continue at 68 in a 70, please only do so in the far right lane only in order to minimize impeding the naturally expected faster traffic. peace.
Salvatore Monella says
gmath55, you’re absolutely correct
Sandi Lee says
Curious.. Did anyone think or check to see if the driver of that work truck was texting?????
Changes everything if he was……………………………………js
mr mister says
everyone always drives like they are in a high speed chase on i95 its ridiculous