JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Two wrong-way crashes took two lives in Jacksonville in just 24 hours. The first happened overnight Thursday in Mayport. The second collision happened just before 6 p.m. Thursday evening on the Hart Bridge.
The Florida Highway Patrol identified the victim who died from the Hart Bridge crash as 74-year-old Joan Kinsler. Four others were taken to the hospital with injuries.
FHP releases names in wrong-way crash on Hart Bridge. Sadly, 74-year-old Joan Kinsler was killed. 4 others were taken to the hospital with injuries. https://t.co/c3CJj9BN5n @FCN2go
Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Chief Robin Gainey was one of the first on the scene of the Hart Bridge crash. He says the wrong-way driver either entered using the Adams Street or Duval Street off-ramps downtown.
While FHP investigates, Chief Gainey says they watch people go the wrong way on Jacksonville roads on a daily basis, but he knew this latest crash was more severe than most.
“We had ladder trucks there to cut people out and plenty of personnel to take care of patients in the first few critical minutes,” said Gainey.
Gainey is part of JFRD’s special operations team, so he responds to some of the city’s biggest and deadliest calls for help.
“You can’t fix it, but you have to take and treat the individual with all the dignity that you can, it’s difficult,” he said.
Gainey said the wrong-way driver was in the black car on scene. It crashed into a white vehicle that was left teetering in the middle of the Hart Bridge. Four adults were inside. He believes the front passenger of that vehicle was killed immediately.
“We saw that it was an elderly lady, some of the guys are like 'This is someone’s grandma,' so it’s very disheartening to us,” Gainey said.
Hours earlier in Jacksonville, a wrong-way driver was killed in a fiery crash on the Wonderwood Bridge in Mayport.
FHP is still investigating that crash as well, but Gainey says he sees two factors most of the time in wrong-way collisions: Distracted driving causing people to miss the signs or "out-of-towners" who get turned around.
“We operate at a downtown fire station, we have one-way streets all over, we are surrounded by one-way streets, we have to tell people every day they are going the wrong way,” he said.
Gainey says the wrong-way driver on the Hart Bridge was incoherent when he approached. He was treated for severe injuries. The three other victims were also rushed to the hospital.
He says everyone was wearing a seatbelt and the airbags did deploy. From what witnesses told him, the impact was at a high rate of speed.
“You cannot change that which has occurred before we arrive, all we can do is affect change after we arrive and we want to make certain those who live to get the best treatment possible,” Gainey said.
Gainey says about a decade ago the city had installed flashing lights for drivers at on-ramps to alert them if they were going the wrong way with a sensor, but he says most, if not all, of those sensors, have been taken down over the last few years.
FHP has yet to identify the victims in these crashes.