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More Tickets Likely In I-4 Pileup

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By GRETCHEN PARKER, The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 3, 2008

Updated: 02/02/2008 11:46 pm

BARTOW - Although blame for the Interstate 4 pileup has widely been placed on smoke and fog, the Florida Highway Patrol says at least part of the fault lies with drivers.

Troopers have issued nine tickets so far, all for the more minor crashes on the westbound side of the melee. But they say many more likely will be issued to drivers who rammed into cars in the fiery pileup on the eastbound side. Because five people died in those crashes, it could take four to six months to finish the homicide investigation and issue those citations, the patrol said.

The tickets issued as of Friday cite careless driving, after troopers on the scene determined those drivers collided with a vehicle in front of them. Investigators won't yet speculate who the not-yet-written tickets will go to and what they will cite, said Capt. Cindy Williams, the patrol's highest ranking officer in Polk County, where the crashes happened Jan. 9.

Drivers and passengers described hitting a wall of smoke and fog that wiped out visibility starting at 4 a.m. that day, and troopers acknowledge smoke from an out-of-control prescribed burn made driving more difficult. But they say drivers should have slowed down to prevent collisions.

Already, two drivers cited have pleaded not guilty. Court clerks in Polk County are bracing for more drivers to fight their tickets. Each will require a hearing and testimony from motorists and troopers.

Some drivers got their tickets the day of the wreck. As sunlight burned off the smoke, and fog lifted, troopers wrote them out and delivered them to drivers who were stranded on the side of the interstate.

Those who were injured got their tickets by certified mail a week later.

Once they get their tickets, drivers have 30 days to contest them. Each fine issued so far, for careless driving, is $121.50. The citations also carry a penalty of four points on their driving records.

Wilfredo Reveron was handed a ticket after translating for troopers who were trying to communicate with Spanish-speaking drivers.

The Orlando electrician had been on his way to Tampa when he collided with other cars in the westbound lanes.

Driver Fighting Ticket On Principle

His wife, Cecilia, helped him file the paperwork required to contest the ticket. His job requires him to drive regularly to Jacksonville, Daytona and Tampa, and he can't afford the points on his driving record, she said. Still, that's not why they're fighting the ticket and not why they hired a Miami lawyer to help, Cecilia said. It's the principle, she said.

"It's the fact that the police would have the heart, they would have the guts" to write tickets after the chaos of that morning, she said.

"I think it was a force of nature," said Wilfredo's attorney, Ronald Rodman. "I mean, if there was a typhoon that blew through at that time, would they have cited everybody for that?"

The highway patrol, though, makes the point that troopers aren't citing everybody who was involved in the series of crashes. (About 70 vehicles were involved, including the major, 43-car wreck on the eastbound side.)

They're citing only the drivers at fault. And those at fault are those who did not slow down to prevent sliding into other cars, said Trooper Larry Coggins, a patrol spokesman.

Florida law is clear. It requires drivers to operate their vehicles "in a safe and reasonable manner regardless of the circumstances and conditions at hand," Coggins said in a recent interview. He added: "If there is a curve in the road, you slow down. If it's foggy, rainy, icy or hail, you'll drive in a prudent manner. So if it's smoky, you slow down.

"If we removed fog and just said, 'heavy rainstorm,' and we had all these pileups, people would say, 'Yeah, you've got to slow down in the rain,'" he said.

As troopers walked the crashes on the westbound side, it was clear that some cars ran into other ones that had slowed.

"That's why those people were cited. They ran into the back of other traffic that slowed down to drive safely," Coggins said.

Slower Drivers 'Became Victims'

Those who slowed down "became victims of those" who didn't slow down in time, he said.

As investigators reconstruct the chaos in the eastbound lanes, they may be able to separate some crashes from the fatal ones and issue those citations sooner, Williams said. But the wrecks that killed those five motorists undergo several layers of scrutiny before they're resolved, she said. That includes a review by the state attorney's office.

Eric Rannebarger was on his way to work at a Lakeland radio station when he hit the smoke and crashed into the car in front of him. He also hired a lawyer to help him decide whether to fight the ticket he got for careless driving.

He sympathizes with troopers who had to sort out blame, and he doesn't fault them for giving tickets, he said. Still, he says drivers should not be blamed for a situation that was so far out of their control.

The truth will come out if drivers fight their tickets, Rannebarger said. "I really feel the court system will look at the circumstances surrounding it and see that the drivers were not careless," he said.

Reporter Gretchen Parker can be reached at (813) 259-7562 or gparker@tampatrib.com.

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