UPDATED: Elderly Gainesville man and woman killed in crash north of Waldo
Staff report
WALDO, Fla. – At about 12:51 p.m. today, units from Alachua County Fire Rescue (ACFR) and Melrose Fire Rescue were dispatched to a vehicle accident with extrication on U.S. Hwy 301 and CR 225.
On arrival, crews found a Bradford County unit at the scene of a T-bone collision between a semi and a minivan, with one patient entrapped. Crews worked quickly to extricate the driver of the minivan within 10 minutes. Both patients in the minivan were classified as critical and transported to the local trauma center, where they were pronounced deceased. No injuries were reported in the semi.
According to a release from the Florida Highway Patrol, a minivan pulled out from CR 225 into the southbound lanes of U.S. Hwy 301 and was hit by a semi traveling southbound in the inside lane.
The van was driven by an 82-year-old Gainesville man, and his passenger was an 80-year-old Gainesville woman. Both were wearing seatbelts, and both were fatally injured in the crash.
The semi was driven by a 45-year-old Ocala man; he was wearing a seatbelt and was uninjured.
Well bless their hearts, they went out together and I pray they went out quick. My sincere sympathy to their family and to the semi driver, I’m sure he feels just terrible even though it doesn’t sound like it was his fault. Prayers for all involved.
I understand this couple was headed to Georgia to celebrate their wedding anniversary. Very sad.
301 traffic is terrible anymore no police any where to stop speeding ever since waldo and laudy stopped stopping people it;s an open race trac
I saw that wreck, apparently the van pulled out in front of the Semi. Vans don’t have much side Collison protection. I doubt the truck driver was at fault.
The people of Alachua County got what they asked for: no more “speed traps.”
We sat in the traffic jam that the wreck caused, I saw the Van it was obvious that the driver would be severely injured.
That is the flag of Scotland on the van.
Sad that two people died. Common vehicles offer no defense with semi trucks. I’ve seen a lot of people cut in front and pull out in front of semi trucks and a I also have seen plenty of semi trucks push their way in front of cars and cut cars off too. Everyone needs to take a deep breath and drive more defensively then offensively. You will get to the same destination just maybe a few minutes later then usual.
This is why older people need free shuttles!
I drive that road every day for work. Many times people coming out of 225 just roll on out not considering the speed limit on 301 at that point is 65 mph. There was another accident there awhile ago that was equally horrific. I am hyper aware when coming upon that area and have often had to slow down and/or slam on my brakes because some drivers just think they can pull on out without regard to oncoming traffic. Maybe it’s time for a traffic light.
you can not properly judge a vehicle’s arrival time that is approaching an intersection if the moving vehicle is going 20-30 miles OVER the speed limit, which is very common in Alachua county for some reason.