Traveling on I-4 between Orlando and Tampa weather conditions sometimes permit dense fog to roll in so quickly that drivers can be at great risk for car accidents. Tragically, this became all too evident this past week when fog contributed to a series of crashes that killed four people and injured 38 others in central Florida. According to investigators trying to unravel what happened, extreme fog contributed to a 70-car pileup.

While highway patrol and state transportation officials blamed motorists for not slowing down as they entered the thick veil of fog and smoke from a nearby brush fire that got out of control, this condition developed very quickly. In fact, it would appear that the road should have been closed due to such conditions. Troopers have the authority to close a road when they think public safety is in jeopardy. They can set up flares and block the road with their cars if they think the roadway is too treacherous for travel. The highway patrol then calls the Transportation Department to erect signs.

While procedurally, nothing may have been done wrong, these hazardous conditions appear to have completely overwhelmed and surprised the drivers. The series of crashes halted traffic in both directions for a 14-mile stretch of interstate for nearly 36 hours as workers removed the wreckage and then repaved a 650-foot portion of the roadway ruined by the fires that burned after the crashes.