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FHP: One Dump Truck Driver At Fault In Six Vehicle Highway 29 Crash
October 4, 2019
Three people were injured in a crash involving six vehicles on Highway 29 Friday morning at Highway 29 and Kingsfield Road.
The Florida Highway Patrol said the entire incident was caused by 43-year old Hosie Mickles of Pensacola in Caterpillar dump truck when he failed to avoid a rear-end collision with a stopped Chevrolet Tahoe driven by 33-year old Candace Cotton of Pace. The Tahoe was pushed forward into a Toyota Camry driven by 38-year old John Caballero. The Camry was pushed into a Dodge Journey driven 67-year old Sandra Bunch of Pensacola.
After the initial impact with the Chevrolet Tahoe, Mickles’ Caterpillar dump truck traveled into the outside lane and collided with a Ford Explorer driven by 28-year old Carolyn Fitzpatrick of Cantonment before striking a Kenwood dump truck driven by 48-year old William Mercer of Milton.
Mickles, Cotton and Caballero was transported Sacred Heart Hospital with minor injuries. Bunch, Fitzpatrick and Mercer were not injured.
Mickles, who was operating the Caterpillar dump truck, was cited by the FHP for careless driving.
Highway 29 northbound was blocked by the crash for a period of time following the 10:30 a.m. crash. Escambia Fire Rescue, Escambia County EMS and the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office also responded.
Photos by Tracee Neese and Kristi Barbour for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Comments
43 Responses to “FHP: One Dump Truck Driver At Fault In Six Vehicle Highway 29 Crash”
I’m an ex school bus driver and now I drive a dump truck. We hold a major responsibility on the road but come on constantly we are cut off by passenger vehicles. Some I believe that they think are indistructible that we won’t hurt them. Well no matter what we all need to practice courtesy and safety. If it’s a passenger at fault or not(it’s on us)we need to pay more attention to those idiots or fast changing traffic lights.
As a driver who lives locally, I constantly witness these B trucks and log haulers blatantly ignoring posted speed limits and signage. For example, trucks use left lane in Century on Hwy 29 north due to high rollover potential. The DMV issues CDL’s to any joker with a pulse and they are not adequately trained. That or they come off OTR due to poor safety records and no one else will hire them. I advise you to watch your mirrors. Traffic lights don’t stop vehicles, inattentive drivers do.
Melvin Holland: are we to also allow these trucks to run us over when we are stopped at traffic lights???? No reasoning for your comments pertaining to this crash.
It does no good to call the sheriff’s dept to complain about the speeders, they can’t keep up with the shootings and drug deals going on south of Muscogee Rd. so there’s no way they can sit on your road waiting for someone to maybe, possibly speed. And they can’t do anything without evidence so you can’t expect them to sit in your neighborhood all day waiting.
If you want to make things change, force the businesses to do something.
Get a dash cam for your vehicle and start sending in the video recordings to the company boss with the vehicle numbers or tags.
If they don’t respond, start posting the videos on FB with the business tagged so other consumers can see what they’re buying into.
If they’re speeding in your neighborhood, get home video cameras to record the constant speeding or dangerous driving, and again, send them to the boss or post on social media.
Complaining to the internet newspaper doesn’t work to create change but hitting the ridiculous drivers and businesses with video evidence might.
1. Big truck drivers exceed the posted speed. It takes longer to stop loaded, but they forget about that. What did you learn in truck driving school? Evidently zero !
2. Distractions – phone calls, texting, eating, grooming, looking around. I see it constantly. This goes for passenger car drivers too.
3. Driving intoxicated, driving high on drugs and weed and I know they do it, because I’ve been on docks where shipments were being unloaded. Wobbly and speech slurred is a great indication that the driver was not normal.
ECUA trucks need to stay off the Interstate. They drive so slow on the inside lane as to back up traffic and cause people to weave in and out. They could care less about arriving to the job to get their work done. Drive the speed limit or even 5 miles less. No, they drive just over the posted minimum speed.
This past week, an Energy Services of Pensacola employee in a car didn’t have a clue about driving. He continued to drive on the inside lane for over 5 miles and had 11 cars backed up while a Semi was in the outside lane. No one could go around or move over. You can’t tell me that you don’t see a Semi riding alongside your car that you can’t speed up.
I will start phoning Companies about their sorry drivers and their actions along our roads. So if you drive stupid, I may be calling your office on you.
I’m wondering what the excuse is that Hosie Mickles gave the FHP as to why he couldn’t stop after totaling out 4 vehicles and heavy damage to 2 dump trucks.
I was at sitting at 10 mile road and 29 last week and saw a dump truck run a red light.
@ retired. It’s not to late for you to run for Sheriff. I am not a fan of the current Sheriff but would you go to a doctor who never went to school? Also I read the wrong article. Nowhere in the article did I see the sheriff driving a dumptruck.
First and foremost everyone should be required to drive a dump truck at the time of getting your permit to drive on the streets I’ve drove big trucks for years and yes I mean everyone should get behind the wheel of a dump truck and a school bus I promise you a lot of folks will have respect for those big trucks just get out of there way. They haul tires for your cars food on your table clothes on your back materials to build homes I’ve drove trucks and I know when I see one they are trying to get there to unload so move over and let them do there jobs
there’s 225 million licensed drivers in the
United States. I’m thinking about 100 million
of them shouldn’t be allowed to drive more than
a 10 horsepower riding lawnmower and only
in their own yard !
Sorry to hear the bad news for Candace Cotton. I don’t know her or any of the people involved in this accident. Candace must have been hit like a freight train by the looks of her vehicle and injuries like that.
PRAYERS for CANDACE COTTON and all those others suffering injuries from this accident.
Posters if you have any information on the anyone injured, please keep us updated so PRAYERS can be said for them. Thank You.
The only factor in this tragedy is that the dump truck plowed into the cars stopped at the red light…. he was not paying attention.. loaded or not these drivers have an extra burden While operating a vehicle that weighs more than some houses…
This driver Never even noticed the red light until it was TOO LATE!
Really..
Some of these comments are just asinine.
If you want the ECSO to do anything, you have to have people that want to work and save lives! Time for a sheriff that is not PRIOR law enforcement and not afraid to make people made, because they enforce the law.
Traffic dept. just wants to escort funerals and sit in the shade, requires extra effort to write a ticket and maybe go to court or even worse find a suspended licence, no insurance, or heaven forbid a warrant.
Regardless of how fast he was going his truck was loded it wasnt going to stop on a dime. There are a number of factors in this accide t but these roads need to be better monitored.period.
I have read all these comments and about the big trucks and I am married to a log truck driver that goes to the paper mill and y’all don’t understand how hard it is to stop one of those trucks when someone decides to cut you off a lot of those trucks drive a long ways to make a dollar they don’t make a lot of money cuz a paper mill don’t want to pay for the loads that they bring in thereso you need to have respect for those big trucks that come through there if it weren’t for big trucks you wouldn’t have your groceries you wouldn’t have your dirt for your new houses that your building y’all need to pay attention to what y’all are doing don’t cut these big trucks off cuz most of the time they will kill their self before they kill you have some respect for these big truck drivers
CANDACE COTTEN WAS Severly injured…
She suffered a BILATERAL BROKEN NECK, She was in surgery until early this morning!
She is in I C U and is being treated for spinal cord injury.
She has suffered a severe life altering injury,
Please pray for her and her young family.
Folks MUST start paying closer attention to what they’re doing!! Focus on the task at hand. Everyone (not just big trucks or passenger cars) drives like a bat out of hell up and down Hwy-29. So, what’s the difference between big trucks and cars?!? Well, only about 50-75,000lbs. These truck drivers must exercise the utmost caution when operating their vehicles. They blame the passenger car driver’s, but the bottom line is that they are in a hurry (like everyone else), they aren’t paying attention (like everyone else), AND they are driving a vehicle that weighs 50-75,000lbs more than a passenger car!!! They have a special responsibility to themsepves, their company, and everyone else around them to do everything in their power to keep as many people safe as possible. Lately, they need to tighten up.
Hello people it’s not the speed that z at fault it’s the non attentive drivers…And all the non synced stoplights that make the traffic stop and go all the time. You could go a 100 mph and if u pay attention it’d be fine. The wrecks most always occur at these intersections so let’s put some more stoplights in and change the speed limit to 25 because that will solve all problems
The driver of the white tahoe has a bilateral broken neck, thank Hod her children were not in the car. Pleas pray for their family!
Panhandle truck, they fly up and down 95A all the time. I called and reported them. My brother was a supervisor for them many years and if you got a truck # and called him they would of been gone, but I guess no one cares anymore.
I am thankful that there were not serious injuries.
There are four speed limits posted on US 29 (save Century and the Ensley construction zones):
65, 55, 45, and 40.
Follow the law.
“Keep right except to pass” is the statutory rule on a four lanes divided highway.
Follow the law.
Same goes for running red lights, unsignaled lane changes.
If EVERYONE would do that, US 29 would be a much safer road to travel. But, regardless of the accident, injury, and mortality count, it won’t change because everyone thinks laws apply to someone else, not them. Everyone.
Yes most everybody drives over the speed limit. You never see the law getting a ticket.
They drive like anyone else..City,County and troopers.
Anytime a truck is involved in a accident, folks automatically start pointing fingers about trucks speeding. I drive hwy 29 daily and see cars flying past dump trucks and these folks pointing fingers are probably the ones who slam on brakes in front of loaded trucks and expect these trucks to stop in a second. This accident was a matter of the dump truck driver not paying attention like all these folks you see in cars everyday on their cell phones.
Advice: if a dump truck is behind you, brake slowly when stopping, use turn signals far in advance, and get off the road.
A lot of comments about dump trucks and log trucks speeding up and down hey 29.. no mention of everyone else driving like a bat out of hell. Shoot sometimes I sit in my dump truck and have the green light but yet count six or more vehicles run the red light before I can go at kingsfield.
I see folks are quick to blame the Sheriff’s Deputies. How about take your state road trouble to the Florida Highway Patrol.
I wanted to make a comment, but you limit freedom of speech to the point that you should close your doors!!
Well I personally drive a dump truck every day and maybe I’m the exception, but normally I drive 5 mph under the posted speed limit. I have to drive in the left lane for long distances before making a left turn because (most of) the passenger vehicles are in to big of a hurry and will not let you over. So blame all of the big trucks for accidents, but almost daily I have to avoid an inconsiderate person driving a passenger vehicle. They pass in no passing zones and even turn lanes on an every day basis. Most truck drivers are courteous and respectful and that’s al ln we ask of the passenger vehicle drivers.
You all act as if the cars don’t speed and drive distracted.
Anyone that wants to actually find out first hand what truck drivers deal with on a daily basis, you have an open invitation to ride with me for a week. Yes 1 driver was to blame and now all drivers are bad. This is beginning to sound like a broken record.
I agree with all of you. The dump trucks speed on Highway 29 and I-110 and Interstate 10. They are out of control. They need to be slowed down by law enforcement.
I had a dump truck pull into the oncoming lane, to turn and I had to swerve to miss hitting him. This was at 11:45 this morning on 297A. Sounds like these companies need to hire better drivers before they kill someone.
I hope I’m wrong , but I think you will see the same thing when the traffic signal at Hwy 29 and Molino Rd. goes in effect. Especially on the south bound side.
Not defending the driver’s of dump trucks, however how many cars and pickups cutoff, pull out in front of, and don’t allow commercial vehicles to merge into traffic? Many many more than the commercial vehicles. Driving is a privilege not a right and should be done with courtesy to other drivers. Example I was walking my dog in the yard yesterday and witnessed a young lady blow through a four way stop, she was doing atleast 50 mph while staring at her cell phone the whole time. Those stop signs have been there for atleast 60 years and the speed limit is 30 mph on a residential street.
The P n S truck was sitting still at the red light the panhandle truck plowed over the cars and the P n S truck ! The P n S truck was not to blame for this accident. Just so ya’ll know , because ya’ll keep saying the dump trucks , no it was only one dump truck to blame on this one!
Hwy 29 all the way to Century is a joke. These log trucks, and dump trucks ride the left lane instead of getting over in the right lane and driving. They cut people off all the time. They need to slow down, and move over.
What a mess.
Just an example of why the 3rd row seats in SUVs are dangerous.
Those same trucks speed up and down west Robert’s road every day and no matter how many calls to the sheriff to get it slowed down, the sheriff’s office will not come out to enforce the traffic laws. It will only get worse unless our deputies do their job.
glad nobody was hurt too bad because that’s a HUGE mess. First thing I’d have to ask though was how fast were the dump trucks going? If’s it’s a regular day around here they were hauling butt and acting like they own the road. Anymore when you see a dump truck coming your way you might want to just move over for them because they WILL hit you! They love to tailgate and worst of all, they’ll pull out in front of you regardless of what your speed or distance is away from them. They have no worries, they’re bigger so what does it matter, right?
They just drive to dam fast on Hwy 29