ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – An Orlando man was critically injured Monday morning when a vehicle sped through a traffic light and crashed into a retention pond in Orange County, the Florida Highway Patrol said.
The wreck happened around 6:35 a.m. at Alafaya Trail and State Road 408, forcing the closure of all northbound lanes of Alafaya Trail in the area. The lanes were later reopened.
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“The vehicle missed the traffic light, actually, traveled through traffic light at a high rate of speed,” FHP Lt. Channing Taylor said. “It (crossed) all the northbound and southbound lanes and over the curb into a retention pond area that’s on the eastside of the interchange.”
Taylor said it’s not known whether the driver suffered a medical episode.
Orange County Fire Rescue, who responded and were able to pull the whole vehicle out of the pond, said the 41-year-old man was taken to a hospital as a trauma-alert patient.
“We’re partnered with (the Florida Department of Transportation) and when we start seeing a trend, we’ll think these things out,” Taylor said. “We’ll look at the engineering of the road. We’ll look at the traffic light signal. We’ll look at all kinds of different variables in order to prevent any future crashes of this or other nature... We will partner with FDOT and see if that warrants some kind of barrier there.”
No other information is available at this time. Check back for updates.
*** ACTIVE WATER RECOVERY ***
— “Trooper Steve” Montiero (@TrooperSteve_) January 30, 2023
NB Alafaya Trail x SR-408 pic.twitter.com/OItggQnPq0