Six Vehicle Accident on I-4

Two people suffered serious injuries in an accident on Interstate-4 at approximately 1:30 p.m. on Saturday. The accident happened in the westbound lanes near Maitland Boulevard. A black Honda Civic flipped and the driver had to be taken by helicopter for emergent care at a trauma center. Other people with injuries were taken by ambulance to Orlando Regional Medical Center and Florida Hospital Orlando.

Precise details of how the accident happened have not yet been released. However, due to where the accident occurred and the aftermath, we can infer that either merging or changing lanes was to blame for this accident. Interstate highways can move very fast and some on-ramps do not have adequate space for vehicles to gain speed and merge. The busier the highway gets, the harder it is to merge. People will also change lanes, sometimes at their peril, to allow for merging drivers to enter the roadway. The statute on changing lanes section 316.085, Florida Statutes below:

316.085 Limitations on overtaking, passing, changing lanes and changing course.—

(2) No vehicle shall be driven from a direct course in any lane on any highway until the driver has determined that the vehicle is not being approached or passed by any other vehicle in the lane or on the side to which the driver desires to move and that the move can be completely made with safety and without interfering with the safe operation of any vehicle approaching from the same direction.

The vehicle merging has the duty to yield to oncoming traffic and must yield in a manner such as in the diagram below provided by the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles. A merger is nothing more than a lane change that is timed before you run out of pavement.