ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. — One person is dead and three others injured after a crash on I-95 in St. Johns County Wednesday.
Data from Florida Highway Patrol shows more than 50 crashes on I-95 in St. Johns County just this year. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says it's the most dangerous highway in the country.
"I think there's definitely a perception of I-95 as being the racetrack or the highway that anybody can do whatever they want on," St. Johns County Sheriff's Office Traffic Unit Deputy Walker Sims said. "The most dangerous area of I-95 is from the Duval County line all the way from State Road 16 to I-95."
About 90,000 cars travel on I-95 through St. Johns County every day.
According to the Florida Highway Patrol, since 2020, the number of injury crashes on the highway between mile markers 300-330 has dropped since 2020, but the number of overall crashes have peaked.
Fatal crashes:
- 2020 - 4 fatal crashes
- 2021 - 7 fatal crashes
- 2022 - 7 fatal crashes
Injury crashes:
- 2020 - 119 injury crashes
- 2021 - 119 injury crashes
- 2022 - 99 injury crashes
- 2023 - 7 injury crashes (so far this year)
No injury crashes:
- 2020 - 316 no injury crashes
- 2021 - 322 no injury crashes
- 2022 - 385 no injury crashes
- 2023 - 48 no injury crashes (so far this year)
Serious injury crashes:
- 2020 - 16 serious injury crashes
- 2021 - 20 serious injury crashes
- 2022 - 13 serious injury crashes
"Most of the violations that we observe are speeding, or left lane violations. There's a lot of road rage incidents that do occur," Sims said.
St. Johns County Deputy Walker Sims works in the agency's traffic unit and helps enforce road rules on the interstate.
"I've stopped people for facetiming and driving, watching Netflix while driving, scrolling on Facebook. They're supposed to be paying attention to the roadway all while traveling 20 or 30 mph over the posted speed limit," SJSO Deputy Walker Sims said.
Sims says weather is also a factor in the increasing number of crashes.
"Recently they repaved this portion of the highway. So the asphalt is fresh, which doesn't necessarily mean it's got the most grip, it could also mean that when it rains, it becomes more slick," Sims said.
The Florida Department of Transportation says improvements to Interstate I-95 from International Golf Parkway to I-295 in St. Johns County is coming soon. FDOT has plans to add more lanes, reconfigure ramps, install new storm water ponds and noise walls by 2025. The purpose of the project is to improve overall safety, address congestion, and improve mobility for delivery of goods and services.
Sims says he'd like to see added speed limit signs and reminders for how to use the left lane on the interstate.
"A lot of the times we see semi trucks that are blocking that left lane doing 65-70 miles an hour which is causing the traffic that is flowing at a higher rate of speed to either break and it creates an accordion effect all the way back through the traffic flow which can cause crashes in itself or the traffic flow to come to a dead stop. Which is obviously not good when you've got 70 miles looming at a dead stop. So definitely signage for left lane impeding the flow of traffic and more posted speed limit signs would help."
In the meantime, Sims says deputies are out and about making sure drivers on I-95 are staying safe.
"You need to be watching the cars that are coming next to you the cars that are behind you in the cars that are in front of you and main maintaining that all around awareness of what you're doing and other vehicles on the roadway."