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Driver killed in head-on crash
By CARY DAVIS, Times Staff Writer
TRINITY -- The driver of a compact car was killed Wednesday afternoon when he crossed the center line of State Road 54 and slammed head-on into a dump truck, Florida Highway Patrol investigators said. The accident happened at 4:04 p.m. in a curvy stretch of SR 54 near the West Pasco Industrial Park and Tampa Bay Executive Airport, tying up traffic for hours in both directions of the busy east-west thoroughfare. An older-model gray Honda Civic was headed east on SR 54 when, for unknown reasons, the car's driver crossed into the westbound lane, FHP Sgt. Lee Frye said. A westbound dump truck could not avoid the Civic. The driver of the Civic, whose identity was not available at press time, was killed instantly, Frye said. Investigators would only say the victim was a man. He was alone in the Civic. The dump truck driver, Jim Contie, was not injured. Contie declined to comment. Piet Van Bemden, who owns the dump truck, said Contie was driving back to New Port Richey on Wednesday afternoon from a construction site in Zephyrhills. The force of the collision bent the frame of the 12-ton truck, which was empty, Van Bemden said. Troopers said Contie was not at fault in the accident. Traffic along that stretch of SR 54 is always backed up at rush hour. On Wednesday, cars idled for miles in both directions for nearly two hours after the accident, as tow trucks hauled away the wreckage. Traffic was backed up to Little Road to the west and the Suncoast Parkway to the east.
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