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LARGO - A semitrailer truck rig carrying a seven-ton front-end loader tipped over and crushed a Nissan Altima on the Ulmerton Road on-ramp to I-275 on Monday, trapping a woman inside the car for about an hour and clogging morning rush hour traffic.
Florida Highway Patrol troopers said it was a miracle the woman in the squashed car, Linda J. Tribuzio, 43, of Indian Rocks Beach, wasn't seriously hurt or killed.
"That's a very lucky lady," said Trooper Larry Coggins. The accident occurred about 7:30 a.m. as rains began to slicken area roads.
Troopers said Sara B. Messenger, 31, of Clearwater, steered her 2000 Ford coupe from eastbound Ulmerton Road onto the on-ramp leading to northbound I-275. Messenger's coupe, which had balding tires, slid on the wet pavement and smacked into a guardrail, troopers said. Tribuzio was behind her. As she tried to avoid the coupe, her car also hit the guardrail.
Behind both of them, Mark A. Figueroa, 30, of Riverview, was driving a truck that pulled a trailer carrying a front-end loader. Figueroa also tried avoid the cars, but his trailer began to jackknife and slid toward Tribuzio's car. As the trailer's weight shifted, it overturned. The front end loader, anchored to the trailer by chains, landed on top of Tribuzio's Altima.
The loader squashed the Altima's roof, hood, trunk and windows. But Tribuzio was sitting in a pocket that was not completely smashed, Coggins said.
It took rescuers about an hour to free her. She was conscious and may have suffered a broken leg, Coggins said. Tribuzio was taken by helicopter to Bayfront Medical Center, where she was listed in good condition Monday.
The on-ramp was closed for almost three hours after the crash. Figueroa and Messenger, who was cited for having unsafe equipment, were not hurt.