A blown tire probably would have been reported. Could have been a swerve or jerk of the wheel.
331 Bridge over bay closed due to wreck
- Thread starter GVM
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Also from the April 30, 2005 Walton Sun:
If something like this happened during a huricanne evacuation .... what a mess that would be.
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North-south artery shut down
Think we don?t need another way out of South Walton? Where were you when the 331 bridge was closed?
BY JOYCE OWEN SUN REPORTER
When the Clyde B. Wells Bridge was closed for more than seven hours Wednesday, drivers on both sides of the Choctawhatchee Bay were stranded with few options to get them to their destinations.
The bridge closed around 10:30 a.m. and did not reopen until shortly after 5:30 p.m.
On the south side of the bridge, dump trucks lined up as drivers decided to wait and see how long the road might be closed.
For Lacey and Pablo Hernandez and Sharon Santiago who stopped by the 3-Thirty-1 Caf? to grab a soda, that decision put them on the wrong side of the bridge.
Lacey?s husband Pablo, who works at the caf?, had offered to run in and get them a soda. By the time he returned to the car, the accident had occurred leaving them stranded on the south side of the bridge.
Walton County Sheriff?s deputies advised folks to detour to the Mid-Bay Bridge in Destin.
For Hernandez and Santiago, who live just north of the bridge and their 11-day old and 5-month old babies in the backseat, the detour back home was not the answer. After much debate, the two young women left Pablo at the restaurant to wait for his 1 p.m. shift and headed to Lacey?s sister?s home in Santa Rosa Beach to put the babies down for a nap.
Though deputies warned the bridge might be closed for three to four hours, folks in the parking lot at the 3-Thirty-1 caf? wondered if they should just go in for lunch and hope the road closure would be so long.
While most people took the deputies advice and went west, a few drivers headed toward Panama City Beach and the West Bay Bridge (State Road 79) over the Choctawhatchee Bay rather than following the stream of traffic west on Chat Holly to navigate the detour to the Mid-Bay Bridge in Destin.
An unidentified couple from Wisconsin who planned to meet friends for lunch at the 3-Thirty-1 Caf? learned the couple was stuck in the long lines north of the Bay. After phone calls back and forth, they decided to meet in Panama City Beach. The friends took State Road 20 to 79 and over the West Bay Bridge.
For the driver stuck on the north side of the bridge delivering meals for the South Walton Senior Center, the delay meant folks at the Center didn?t get their lunch until nearly 1 p.m.
The bridge closing did not affect Walton County School District students.
"If the kids didn?t know about the accident, they weren?t aware of any changes," said WCSD Transportation Supervisor Mac Work.
Work said several bus drivers were already on the south side of the Bay doing field trips. Two Butler Elementary School drivers who were on the north side took the Mid-Bay Bridge to make their regular runs.
"If it (the bridge) had been a four-lane, you could have shut down two lanes and gone on," Work said.
If something like this happened during a huricanne evacuation .... what a mess that would be.
===================
North-south artery shut down
Think we don?t need another way out of South Walton? Where were you when the 331 bridge was closed?
BY JOYCE OWEN SUN REPORTER
When the Clyde B. Wells Bridge was closed for more than seven hours Wednesday, drivers on both sides of the Choctawhatchee Bay were stranded with few options to get them to their destinations.
The bridge closed around 10:30 a.m. and did not reopen until shortly after 5:30 p.m.
On the south side of the bridge, dump trucks lined up as drivers decided to wait and see how long the road might be closed.
For Lacey and Pablo Hernandez and Sharon Santiago who stopped by the 3-Thirty-1 Caf? to grab a soda, that decision put them on the wrong side of the bridge.
Lacey?s husband Pablo, who works at the caf?, had offered to run in and get them a soda. By the time he returned to the car, the accident had occurred leaving them stranded on the south side of the bridge.
Walton County Sheriff?s deputies advised folks to detour to the Mid-Bay Bridge in Destin.
For Hernandez and Santiago, who live just north of the bridge and their 11-day old and 5-month old babies in the backseat, the detour back home was not the answer. After much debate, the two young women left Pablo at the restaurant to wait for his 1 p.m. shift and headed to Lacey?s sister?s home in Santa Rosa Beach to put the babies down for a nap.
Though deputies warned the bridge might be closed for three to four hours, folks in the parking lot at the 3-Thirty-1 caf? wondered if they should just go in for lunch and hope the road closure would be so long.
While most people took the deputies advice and went west, a few drivers headed toward Panama City Beach and the West Bay Bridge (State Road 79) over the Choctawhatchee Bay rather than following the stream of traffic west on Chat Holly to navigate the detour to the Mid-Bay Bridge in Destin.
An unidentified couple from Wisconsin who planned to meet friends for lunch at the 3-Thirty-1 Caf? learned the couple was stuck in the long lines north of the Bay. After phone calls back and forth, they decided to meet in Panama City Beach. The friends took State Road 20 to 79 and over the West Bay Bridge.
For the driver stuck on the north side of the bridge delivering meals for the South Walton Senior Center, the delay meant folks at the Center didn?t get their lunch until nearly 1 p.m.
The bridge closing did not affect Walton County School District students.
"If the kids didn?t know about the accident, they weren?t aware of any changes," said WCSD Transportation Supervisor Mac Work.
Work said several bus drivers were already on the south side of the Bay doing field trips. Two Butler Elementary School drivers who were on the north side took the Mid-Bay Bridge to make their regular runs.
"If it (the bridge) had been a four-lane, you could have shut down two lanes and gone on," Work said.
lenzoe said:
Thomas Hicks arrested for vehicular homicide
August 19, 2005
Thomas Jay Hicks, owner of Thomas Hicks Landscaping, was arrested by officers from the Florida Highway Patrol on Thursday for vehicular homicide.
The arrest grows out of an April 27 incident on the Clyde B. Wells Bridge in which Randall D. Sterling, DeFuniak Springs, was killed when the cab of the tractor -trailer rig he was driving went over the guardrail and crashed into the pavement below.
According to FHP, Hicks was traveling southbound on U.S. Highway 331 and towing a large trailer loaded with a bobcat he used in his business. Hicks lost control of his vehicle and trailer, crossed the centerline and collided with the Sterling vehicle.
Hicks was booked into the Walton County Jail.
August 19, 2005
Thomas Jay Hicks, owner of Thomas Hicks Landscaping, was arrested by officers from the Florida Highway Patrol on Thursday for vehicular homicide.
The arrest grows out of an April 27 incident on the Clyde B. Wells Bridge in which Randall D. Sterling, DeFuniak Springs, was killed when the cab of the tractor -trailer rig he was driving went over the guardrail and crashed into the pavement below.
According to FHP, Hicks was traveling southbound on U.S. Highway 331 and towing a large trailer loaded with a bobcat he used in his business. Hicks lost control of his vehicle and trailer, crossed the centerline and collided with the Sterling vehicle.
Hicks was booked into the Walton County Jail.
kurt said:
Wow!
Excessive speed, truck and/or trailer suspension inadequate for the task (hauling a bobcat that has a heck of a lot of mass), faulty or no trailer brakes. Doesn't take much to start a trailer oscillating at higher (+45 mph) rates of speed when there's no sway damper between the truck and the trailer.lenzoe said:
OhioBeachBum said:
Cell phones, radios, or daydreaming have all caused people to swerve off road before yanking the wheel to pull it back on the road. This could easily lead to a fishtailing trailer.
I have purchased plants from Thomas, and been out to his farm, but could not really say that I know him. In my few encounters with him, he seems like nothing more than a straight up guy. The accident happened mid-morning, and unless we get the scoop, we could only speculate what happened.
It only takes a second to run off the road and kill someone. You do not have to be an evil person to take someone's life. We all need to focus on driving, which should be the task in hand when in your vehicle, not putting on make-up, shaving, talking on our phones, etc. I know the Hick's family and the family of the driver who was killed wish that day could be rewound to replay its events in a different way.
It's my understanding that the bobcat on the trailer wasn't chained which enabled it to flip off the trailer - that may be the reason for the charge. Often in the past, haulers that don't have long distances to go will sometimes do this - though I've heard that they won't be doing it anymore.