Rachelle Horne, a 40-year-old Palm Coast woman on her way to work at Belk’s, was injured Saturday afternoon when she lost control of her PT Cruiser on U.S. 1 shortly after 1 p.m. The two northbound lanes were reduced to one until 2:02 p.m., when the road opened to normal traffic again.
Horne was reaching for her ringing cell phone immediately before the accident, a Florida Highway Patrol report states.
Horne was driving north when, a few hundred feet after the U.S. 1 intersection with Palm Coast Parkway, she struck a guardrail on the left (or west) side of the road, then was catapulted to the other side and struck the guardrail on the east side of the road before coming to a stop, perpendicular with the highway, on a concrete bridge over a small waterway.
Horne was briefly out of consciousness and slumped over her steering wheel, according to witnesses calling authorities about the scene, but was then aware and able to talk, if quite a bit distraught. She was unaccompanied in the car. Her husband arrived at the scene shortly after the wreck, and told a Florida Highway Patrol investigator that she did not suffer any medical conditions. The investigator had not determined the cause of the wreck, and said the woman was “maybe distracted.”
Horne had to be extricated from the vehicle. The extrication took more than 20 minutes, and was completed at 1:34 p.m. Fire Flight, the county’s emergency helicopter, was on stand-by during the extrication, but was not required. The woman was transported by ground to Florida Hospital Flagler, with non-life-threatening injuries.
Flagler County Fire Rescue, the Palm Coast Fire Department and the Palm Coast Fire Police responded to the call, as did Saxon’s wreckers, who removed the vehicle. The identity of the victim will be released when it is made available.
Lonewolf says
I’ll bet the cell phone was still clutched in her hand
Gia says
Was distracted with text messaging most likely……..
glad fly says
us 1 between bunnell and dupont center (206 to the new york transplants) is like the bermuda triangle. The weirdest accidents involving single vehicles on beautiful days. i’m glad she’s ok.
Andy Nonymous says
This is probably going to be another sad case of texting while driving.
Ben Blakely says
Is US-1 heading north coming into Bunnel cursed? An abnormally large number of automobile and motorcycle crashes occur on that stretch of highway.
I would believe people are lulled into a lowered state of consciousness due to the pastoral country landscape and they do not pay attention to their driving as the they should. Result: crash!
gator says
God bless her, god was with her
john says
Read the story she was not coming into bunnell…….
blondee says
Nice going Rachelle!!! You’re lucky you didn’t kill or maim some other innocent driver or bystander!
Ken Dodge says
There’s must be something about PT Cruisers …
concerned citizen says
U PEOPLE ARE SO CRUEL WHEN SOMETHING HAPPENS TO ANOTHER PERSON..U SHOULD THANK GOD SHE IS ALRIGHT AND THAT SHE DIDN’T GET HURT OR INJURED ANOTHER PERSON. INSTEAD, U WANT TO CRITIZE HER. HAVE A HEART AND THANK GOD FOR HER LIFE. THE RAILINGS CAN BE FIXED, HER LIFE COULD OF BEEN GONE….
**RACHELLE, IF U READ THIS…. REGARDLESS OF HOW IT HAPPENED, I THANK GOD U WERE ALRIGHT…GOD BLESS U.**
The Truth says
Rachelle — If you read this I would just like to say that I am glad you are okay and that you are able to live to see another day. Please let this be a lesson for you to make focusing on the road your number one priority. We are all guilty of this at some point and we all need an eye opener every now and then. Thank God your eye opener didn’t cost you your life.
God bless and I am glad you are okay.
THE VOICE OF REASON says
Let he who has not answered while driving cast the first I-phone.
Nancy N. says
Isn’t that an odd location to be driving N. on US 1 if she was on her way to Belk’s?
[We should have specified that it was Belk’s in St. Augustine.–FL]
jespo says
Wow….God was on US1 yesterday and I missed it….always happens that way…
Geezer says
Get well soon Rachelle Horne!
An unrelated story that illustrates the dangers of cellphones on the road:
I witnessed a young man run a red light on 100 and Old Kings Road last Friday afternoon (after Thanksgiving).
I was leaving Winn Dixie and waiting at the light on Old Kings facing McDonalds and the carwash, waiting to turn left on 100. The light turned green and I slowly rolled forward looking left and right (I don’t trust traffic lights). A twenty-something moron in a black 2003+ Camry blew the light and streaked across doing at least 70MPH. I caught up to him passing Town Center and my wife (passenger seat) observed the a-hole texting as he drove. He was more engrossed with his phone than driving.
This is a deadly activity that needs to end soon, even if it means outlawing and disabling texting on phones. If only there were people with the cojones to pass such legislation….
I DETEST CELL PHONES.
If you ride a motorcycle or bicycle, or jog, keep this story at the forefront of your mind.
The Geode says
Sorry, but I have the SAME amount of sympathy for her as I would the drunk-driver who runs into a ditch before he has the chance to plow into a school bus.
Geezer and The Crotchety Crowd says
“When the naysayers nay’d you picked up your pace. You said nothing’s going to stop me so get out of my face. I’m having adventures all over the place, Rachelle, Rachelle….
-Seinfeld, “The Understudy”
Rachelle says
I was not texting and driving neither I heard my phone ring then something ran cross me and i loss control. Stop twisting the story I live it I know what happened.
Charles Gardner says
It came apart didn’t it!