Published on Wednesday, December 27, 2006
in the Bonita Daily News

13 killed on Fla. roads over Christmas weekend

At least 13 people were killed on Florida roadways over the 72-hour Christmas weekend, though none of the fatalities occurred in Lee or Collier counties, the Florida Highway Patrol reported Tuesday.

The fatality numbers are preliminary and only cover crashes investigated by the FHP, authorities said.

The 13 deaths occurred in eight separate traffic crashes in Jackson, Marion, Orange, Sarasota, Highlands, Duval, Indian River and St. Lucie counties. Ten of the fatalities occurred at night, the FHP reported.

Six of the people killed were not wearing seat belts, one was a pedestrian and one, a motorcycle rider, was not wearing a helmet. Investigations are still pending in all the crashes to determine if alcohol was involved.

There were 40 people killed on Florida roadways during the four-day Christmas holiday weekend in 2005, the FHP reported.