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Accidents Snarl I-4 Traffic

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By CHRIS ECHEGARAY, The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 24, 2007

Updated: 10/24/2007 12:18 pm

DOVER - Interstate 4 looked like a well-lit parking lot Tuesday evening as traffic backed up five miles after a series of accidents involving more than three dozen vehicles.

About 100 people in 37 vehicles were in four accidents near the McIntosh Road exit, the Florida Highway Patrol said. Five people suffered minor injuries, said Hillsborough County Fire Rescue spokesman Ray Yeakley.

Rain and glare were at least partly to blame in the accidents that occurred just before 7 p.m., the highway patrol reported. The accidents are under investigation.

John Sheldon, 24, of Clearwater, left Altamonte Springs at 5:15 p.m. and spent more than five hours getting home.

'It was raining; the sun was right in your face,' Sheldon said. 'I saw the car hit his brakes, and I saw everybody crash into each other. I tried to go off to the side of the road. We were moving smoothly until that happened.'

Sheldon, a medical assistant, said he was in the second cluster of accidents and was not injured.

Three pile-ups occurred in the westbound lane, and one accident was in the eastbound lane.

With the westbound lane shut down, thousands of vehicles didn't move as investigators tried to figure out what happened. Tow trucks kept hauling vehicles from the scene. The road reopened by 10 p.m.

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