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Cantonment Highway 29 Wreck Claims One Life
November 22, 2013
For an update to this story, click here.
A wreck involving a semi-truck and a car claimed one life about 10:45 Thursday night at the intersection of Highway 29 and Muscogee Road in Cantonment.
According to the Florida Highway Patrol, 48-year old Melvin Pryear of Cantonment was traveling north on Highway 29 in a 2004 Chrysler Sebring when he turned into the path of a southbound 2000 Volvo 18-wheeler driven by 60-year old Standford Britts of Medina, OH. The FHP said that according to multiple witnesses, both north and southbound Highway 29 had a green light, but there was no green turn arrow for Pryear.
The front of the 18-wheeler struck the Chrysler, causing it to rotate onto the southbound shoulder at the Raceway gas station. A passenger in the Chrysler, 54-year old Albertina McCarty of Pensacola, was pronounced deceased at the scene by Escambia County EMS.
Pryear was transported by ambulance to Sacred Heart Hospital in Pensacola with serious injuries. Britts was not injured.
Charged in the accident are pending, according to the FHP. The Cantonment, Ensley and Molino stations of Escambia Fire Rescue and the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office also responded to the accident.
Pictured: The semi involved in a fatal crash Thursday night at Highway 29 and Muscogee Road in Cantonment. NorthEscambia.com photos by Kristi Smith, click to enlarge.
Comments
16 Responses to “Cantonment Highway 29 Wreck Claims One Life”
My heart go out to all families involved. Prayers for the Williams family. Prayers to my family as well (The Pryear Family). It hurt my heart to see a two lives taken. One being Tina’s and one being my uncle’s whom is now incarcerated. Both families are hurting and prayers are really appreciated right now.
This is so sad and I pray for both families. May the grace of God rest on the family of Tina and hold them in your arms and comfort them. Tina was always smiling and saying “I Heard that”. Tina will truly be missed.
my prayers go out to the family
My prayers go out for all of the parties involved and our families. R. I. P. Mrs. Tina. Prayers sent up for my cousin Mel.. Love you… May God continue to comfort you all.
Its not the fault of the traffic signal.
A green turn arrow means you are supposed to have the right-of-way, and a solid green means you must YIELD to on coming traffic if making a left hand turn. Going to a red signal and back to green would be terribly confusing. Some intersections, like Kingsfield Rd. and Hwy. 29 only allow the option to turn left on a green arrow. I assume this is determined by traffic Engineers based on visibility and traffic patterns at the intersection.
Prays to all and the families involved.
As far as I know, the intersections with a red arrow for the left lane are those with a divided median…I think?
This is terribly said, my heart and prayers go out to the families. May God comfort you
prayers to all the families involved
Ms Albertina McCarty will be dearly missed. Prayers to the rest of the families.
I am very sorry for all concerned who have suffered because of the MVA, including the driver of the semi who had his worst nightmare come to life that night. No one wants to be the cause of an injury or death and he will have to deal with that forever! He was not injured physically but mentally it’s going to be rough.
I have read that the lights would be safer if the arrow turned red before the green was displayed to oncoming traffic and that may indeed help, BUT, if people would FOLLOW the traffic rules it would not be a major issue! Turning it red would stop (possibly, people will still turn) people turning left when the lanes were clear and impede the flow of traffic needlessly. The driver lives in Cantonment and has been through that light ??? times? He knows how the intersection works. It was an accident and I hate to state the obvious but…..
So very sad for ALL those involved and affected by this tragedy.
The problem at a lot of traffic light intersections involving “green turn arrows” is that once the green arrow goes away, some lights go directly to solid green only (for all traffic, including those cars going straight and those cars still wanting to turn left – which they are are allowed to do if it is clear) while at other SAFER intersections, the green arrow actually turns red and stays that way until the next cycle. A lot of people wanting to turn left just see that green light and think they have the right of way and don’t realize that they only have the complete right of way when they light cycles back around to the green arrow. I am always leary and slow down at these intersections when I see cars that are coming from the opposite direction and are wanting to turn left. One intersection I know of is on Nine Mile Road where the Hwy 29 overpass is – there are two lights there at that location and both have a solid green light come on after the green arrow goes out giving the impression to drivers turning left that they have the complete right of way…and they don’t, as the on coming traffic also has a solid green light.. I know DOT does this to keep people who are turning left from having to wait if there is no on-coming traffic and to keep traffic moving, but it causes lots of wrecks, and this doesn’t have anything to do with texting or talking on the phone, it is that people don’t understand the concept. Just like they think they have to pull across the white lines at the traffic lights to make the light change. Wrong again, It’s the sensors under the road “before” you get to the white lines that make the light change. Sometimes people pull so far up across the white lines that they are completely past the sensors and then wonder why their light won’t change.
So sorry for your loss and praying for all the people involved in the accident.
This is the third very serious crash, they need to change the green arrow going north to turn red before the green light going south comes on,
. I pray for the family
prayers go out to the families
This would make the third serious wreck in less than eight hours in three mile stretch on Hwy. 29. I pray for God”s comfort for all involved. Thank you EMS and LEOs.