Three Ejected In Munson Crash; One Dead

January 12, 2024

A 23-year-old man is dead and two others are critically injured after a crash Wednesday in Santa Rosa County.

It happened around 9:30 p.m. on Munson Highway south of Indian Ford Road.

Three Milton men — two aged 23 and another age 20 — were traveling north on Munson Highway in a pickup truck. FHP says it’s still unclear who was driving at this time.

A 66-year-old Milton woman was turning left in her sedan northbound on Munson Highway into the Lake Kristina Campground.

The driver of the truck began to pass the car on the left, but collided with the vehicle’s left front. The pickup overturned, ejecting the three men.

There were no other injuries.

Comments

7 Responses to “Three Ejected In Munson Crash; One Dead”

  1. Christopher Ciesla on January 13th, 2024 2:07 am

    Didn’t they say both vehicles were northbound?
    Truck tried to pass car that was turning left

  2. Sam on January 13th, 2024 2:02 am

    @Just Saying
    Agreed. We don’t know if it was a no passing zone or not. If it was, the deceased driver was at fault. If it was NOT a no passing zone, the lady is at fault. I would also think she would be required to have used her turn signal for it to be a legal turn. If she had the signal on, common sense should have told the young man not to pass. I hope there’s a follow up on this story. My condolences to the families of the deceased.

  3. Just Saying on January 12th, 2024 10:03 pm

    @Sam and JJ,

    The statute states that you must yield to vehicles LAWFULLY passing on the left. From the article, we don’t know if that was the case.

  4. JJ on January 12th, 2024 8:42 pm

    @jim
    Will not argue with you what our current law states.
    66 y.o. is responsible

  5. Sam on January 12th, 2024 5:03 pm

    I would normally say the 20 yr old was at fault but after researching it – I would have been in error. Florida statutes state:

    MOTOR VEHICLES
    Chapter 316
    STATE UNIFORM TRAFFIC CONTROL
    Entire Chapter
    SECTION 122
    Vehicle turning left.
    316.122 Vehicle turning left.—The driver of a vehicle intending to turn to the left within an intersection or into an alley, private road, or driveway shall yield the right-of-way to any vehicle approaching from the opposite direction, or vehicles lawfully passing on the left of the turning vehicle, which is within the intersection or so close thereto as to constitute an immediate hazard. A violation of this section is a noncriminal traffic infraction, punishable as a moving violation as provided in chapter 318.
    History.—s. 1, ch. 71-135; s. 118, ch. 99-248; s. 29, ch. 2005-164.

  6. Jim on January 12th, 2024 2:39 pm

    My heart and prayers go out for the families and loved ones of these young men. What a hard place to be so young.
    The article doesn’t say, but I imagine that seatbelts weren’t being used by those in the truck; how different today would be for those families and survivors if they had.
    @JJ – No, you do not yield to traffic behind you. Left turns yield to oncoming traffic. Not being there to know if she signaled her turn, or what the conditions were makes it hard to call, however Florida law will almost always be against the following driver. I was that driver at that same age, passing a vehicle that then made a left turn into me. Our blessing was that there were no injuries except to my driving record. That driver admitted not signaling, and still I was charged.

  7. JJ on January 12th, 2024 9:58 am

    If no yellow line in road, 66 y.o. will be ticketed.
    Tho the pickup may be speeding, Florida (stupid) law
    States ,making left turns,you MUST YIELD to trsffic behind you!!!