Published on Friday, April 21, 2006
in the Osceola News-Gazette

Traffic deaths up on highways

The traffic fatality count in Osceola County moved one death ahead of the same period last year when a man thrown from a vehicle in a crash on Florida’s Turnpike last week died Wednesday from his injuries.

At press time Friday, there were 29 casualties in Osceola County compared to 28 for the same period a year ago, Florida Highway Patrol reports show. There have been four deaths alone this month from wrecks on U.S. Highway 192 and Florida’s Turnpike.

“We always like to be under (the fatality number) from the previous year but again it’s a battle of trying to do traffic enforcement and respond to traffic crashes,” said Trooper Kim Miller, patrol spokeswoman.

Speeding and aggressive driving have been some of the main factors in past traffic deaths, authorities said. But another constant is lack of seat belt use.

Eduardo Gutierrez, 20, of Miami, was one of three victims who perished as a result of a rollover crash on Florida’s Turnpike on April 13. He was ejected from the vehicle in that crash. He was transported to Orlando Regional Medical Center in critical condition but died Wednesday.

Also killed were his mother, Arlene Falcon Gutierrez, 41, and his 13-year-old sister, Karina Gutierrez. No one in the vehicle was wearing a seat belt.

“This tragedy could have been prevented if the occupants had been wearing seat belts,” said Florida Highway Patrol Sgt. Jorge Delahoz.

The elder Gutierrez, a Miami-Dade County teacher, was driving a 2000 Nissan Pathfinder northbound with her family, heading toward Pensacola to visit relatives for the Easter weekend, patrol reports said.

At mile marker 225, 19 miles south of St. Cloud at about 9 p.m., the vehicle began to swerve in the left lane. Gutierrez overcorrected and lost control of the vehicle, causing it to spin and then flip four times, ejecting the occupants.

“The passenger compartment of the SUV did not collapse when the vehicle rolled, Delahoz said.

“Had the occupants not been ejected, they could have survived the crash restrained in the vehicle,” Delahoz said.

A fourth occupant, Christina Gutierrez, 18, was also ejected and was in critical, but stable condition at ORMC.

Authorities believed stronger safety measures implemented on the turnpike might have kept the death toll on the road from being much worse

Last May, the Florida Department of Transportation completed a $19 million guardrail project on the turnpike, erecting a 54-mile barrier in the grassy median inside Osceola County from mile markers 193 to 249.

A main project push was to reduce the deadly crossover crashes that had drawn much media attention in recent years. In a five-week span in 2004, seven people were killed in two turnpike traffic crashes when drivers lost control of their vehicles for different reasons and crossed over the bare median and into oncoming traffic.

There were six crossover crashes involving fatalities in 2004. In 2005, there was only one.

In a crash on U.S. Highway 192 Tuesday that killed a Michigan teenager, alcohol may have played a part.

Florida Highway Patrol troopers found about 20 empty beer bottles inside a 2005 Dodge van driven by Christopher Mareel, 18, who was killed in the crash, said Miller.

Mareel and four other students from Lake Shores High School in St. Clair Shores, Mich., were on spring break and were returning from a Daytona Beach trip to a relative’s home in St. Cloud. Three teens were taken to St. Cloud Hospital in stable condition, while the fourth was not injured.

While the number of Osceola deaths fell from 73 in 2004 to 69 in 2005, Miller said more must be done to change reckless driver behavior. Getting to young drivers early is a start, she said.

“You have to get them on the right track before they get into a bad habit,” Miller said.

Florida Safety Council spokesman Glenn Viktor recommended that parents pair their budding drivers with trained instructors.

“As adults we develop some not-so-safe driving habits,” Viktor said on parents or other relatives trying to teach adolescents how to drive. “These people are professionally trained and certified instructors. This is what they do as a profession.”