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Drivers Say Signs May Have Averted Sarasota County Pileup

News Channel 8 photo by ERIC HAUSMANN

This Acura was destroyed in the October crash in Sarasota.

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By TODD RUGER

Sarasota Herald-Tribune

Published: May 8, 2008

SARASOTA COUNTY — Drivers complained they did not get enough warning in October about a construction roadblock on Interstate 75 where two people died when a tractor-trailer plowed into the back of stopped cars, according to a Florida Highway Patrol report.

The report does not say whether the lack of warnings contributed to the early-morning crash.

Drivers told the patrol that they had to brake quickly for the roadblock at an overpass that moves I-75 traffic over Bee Ridge Road.

Pablo Merlos' tractor-trailer slammed into stopped cars in an 11-vehicle crash killed two men, sent one boy to a hospital in serious condition and injured at least six other people.

Merlos was cited for reckless driving and fined.

Investigators also found his brakes were out of adjustment.

At the time, a construction supervisor told reporters that his crews had posted warning signs that were moved the morning of the crash.

A supervisor for Zep Construction told investigators that the roadblock was set up and operated according to state rules.

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