Florida Highway Patrol responded around 2:52 a.m. after a fatal Klystron 9 crash on southbound Interstate-75 in Pasco County. A 55-year-old Gainesville woman died after her Acura Sedan ran into stopped traffic near mile marker 279.
Traffic had already stopped because of an unrelated crash. That put a Toyota Camry, driven by a 34-year-old Tampa man, and a tractor-trailer, driven by a 27-year-old man from Kentucky, in the lane ahead of her.
Acura Sedan hits stopped traffic
The Gainesville woman was driving in the center lane of southbound Interstate-75 when she failed to stop. Her Acura Sedan hit the rear of the Camry and then continued into the tractor-trailer. She died at the scene from her injuries.
Camry and tractor-trailer occupants
The Tampa man and the Kentucky man were not injured. Their vehicles were already stopped when the crash unfolded, which is the detail that separates this from a simple rear-end collision. The chain of impact began with traffic held by an unrelated crash, then moved through two stopped vehicles before ending with a fatal strike.
Pasco County traffic stopped
For drivers on southbound Interstate-75, the immediate impact was a blocked lane near mile marker 279 during the early morning hours. The one unresolved piece is what caused the earlier crash that stopped traffic before the fatal collision.
