Posted on 02/28/2023 5:58:24 AM PST by V_TWIN
Jacksonville, Fl — At least one person has died in a crash on the Buckman Bridge in Mandarin this morning.
Florida Highway Patrol says a Road Ranger was headed northbound toward Orange Park around 3:30 this morning when he hit a car, sending the car into the St. Johns River.
(Excerpt) Read more at actionnewsjax.com ...
What is a ‘Road Ranger”?..................
A friend and coworker was killed in the same way on Pensacola’s old 3 Mile Bridge back in the early 90’s.
He was driving a Ford Bronco, the older little Jeep-like ones, when a teen girl sideswiped his vehicle and made it jump the railing and into Pensacola Bay...................
The Road Ranger Service Patrol provides traffic incident management response services and limited no-cost highway assistance to motorists to improve highway safety for emergency responders and the motoring public.
If you're on the roadway and need assistance, call *347 on your mobile phone.
If you've just been hit by a Road Ranger and pushed into the river, try to hold your breath as long as possible.
It’s a guy in a pickup truck that goes back and forth over the bridge to help any stalled vehicle and try to get them off the road as quickly as possible.
I live minutes from this bridge and cross it quite often, the Road Rangers are in well marked vehicles.
at 3:30am I wonder how the accident happened, the traffic at that time of night should have been minimal, I wonder how the accident happened.
He succeeded................
Roadrangers are service vehicles deployed around the I-295 loop to assist stranded drivers with flat tires and such...ironically enough.
Not sure if this service is provided by city, county or state but I suspect somebody’s gettin’ sued.
I’ve had encounters with these vehicles on the beltway myself....some of ‘em seem to think they own the road and will cut you off and pull out in front of you from the emergency lane.......not smart when the speed limit is 65-70.
“Not sure if this service is provided by city, county or state but I suspect somebody’s gettin’ sued.”
We have similar services in OH metro areas. In Ohio’s case, insurance companies provide the service.
My wife has always said the retainer wall on the Buckman is too low.......it’s a nice view unless your seeing it from the wrong side of the barrier. 😏
This isn’t the 1st time a car has gone over by a long shot.
Having been over that bridge countless times, unless the Road Ranger was speeding or not paying attention, I don’t see how the accident happened.
The highest point of the bridge has a big rise to the top, at that time of day I can see if the guy was driving a little too fast and not paying attention, coming over the rise and the car being stalled just over the rise.
The bridge is 4 lanes in each direction, providing plenty of room, this is a freak accident.
My parents used to live just across that bridge on the river in Orangedale. Have crossed it many times. Its not particularly dangerous unless you are driving recklessly.
Been across that bridge many times...................
A similar accident happened here on Destin Bridge a couple of years ago.
Traffic was stopped on the bridge, just past the peak of the rise, and a woman came speeding up the bridge and hit the last car in the fast lane full force. She was killed instantly. She was speeding, the speed limit is 35 on the bridge but she must have been doing at least 50...................
Oh yeah me too.
31 years of crossing it 5 days a week to get to work at the Naval Air Station.......seen a lot of stuff happen on that bridge.
From the article:
“The crash happened about one-half mile onto the bridge, not at the top of the span.”
Not on the center span.......the roadranger needs a pee test.
“Road Ranger”?”
Minnesota we call them Highway Helper.
I saw that from the article, having been over that bridge countless times, it’s hard to see how the accident happened, I was trying to describe how it might have happened versus how it did happen.
At 3:30am there should be little to no traffic on the bridge, the bridge is 4 lanes wide in each direction, the Road Ranger’s job is to get stalled vehicles off the bridge, how he did not see the vehicle is hard to imagine, unless as you say, he needs a pee test.
They talked about replacing that bridge a few years ago, but they seem to have given up on the idea.
I hate the Buckman Bridge and I can’t imagine why they built it with virtually no guard rail or wall in the first place. Also, the St John’s is a very wide river at that point and people pick up speed.
Yep I’ve always noticed that.......get on that bridge and it’s a drag race to the other side.
Retired at the end of 2019 after having to cross it for 31 years twice a day for work I don’t miss it.
We live just north of there & have friends who live on the river just a 1/4 mile north of 'downtown.' Still a nice area, although development is creeping (galloping?) in that direction. Still, it's nice to watch the eagles hunt and eat fish on their dock. They're all over the place now; not nearly so rare as they once were.
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