Neighbors are scrutinizing whether the safety features at the end of Ward Basin Road in Milton are effective after a 68-year-old man drove and crashed into the Yellow River on Friday.
Florida Highway Patrol says the man died in the car. The circumstances around the crash have not been shared.
“It’s a dark, very secluded area,” neighbor Samuel Parish said.
Friday night around 7:30, the Florida Highway Patrol responded to a submerged vehicle at Brown’s Fish Camp. The driver died in the vehicle.
His truck went through a wooden gate, taking down a reflective stop sign before submerging into the Yellow River.
Skid marks from an apparent last-minute attempt to stop reach about 50 feet.
Several people have said this isn’t the first time.
Josh Yager told WEAR News he had to get a truck out of the river before because of the dead end.
One trooper on scene said he responded to a similar incident two years ago.
Samuel Parish has lived in the area for 20 years and has seen several cars crash into the river.
“There have been a few accidents where people, for whatever reason, drove off the end of the road into the river,” Parish said.
Ward Basin Road ends in a cul-de-sac where Fish Camp Road starts. It’s an abrupt end to the road where the river starts.
Some people are calling for more light on the road. Possibly a reduced speed or additional flashing lights.
“More signage, maybe more lights, and a flashing warning light somewhere between where we are and the end of the river or further up maybe to warn them it’s a dead end with poor visibility,” Parish said.
Santa Rosa County Commissioner of that area, Kerry Smith, says the county road has an appropriate speed limit.
The 45-mile-per-hour zone drops down to 35 about a mile before it ends.
Plus, the flashing yellow lights warning about an upcoming dead end have been installed since the 90’s at least.
Ward Basin Road also has several rumble strips before it hits the river.
Other neighbors agree with Smith and believe the safety features on the road are adequate.
“To me they seem really prominent; that flashing light at night is very bright, and then you’ve got a lot of reflectors down at the end and a couple dead-end signs,” neighbor Gordon Taylor said. “They’ve even added fencing down there that was pretty bright, and it had a stop sign on it with some reflectors.”
Witnesses and responding troopers say the driver was going between 75 and 85 miles per hour.
WEAR News was also told a second car was pursuing the truck that crashed into the river. In an attempt to stop it.
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Source: weartv
