State is partly to blame in I-4 fiasco

The state has many questions to answer about Wednesday's deadly pileup on Interstate 4. Among them:

Why wasn't the interstate closed? State officials said the 70-vehicle pileup, which killed four and injured 38, was caused by fog and a sudden drop in humidity, which caused the so-called "controlled" brush burn near the interstate to blanket the road with a wall of smoke. The Florida Highway Patrol said the fog swept over the road too quickly for authorities to react. But FHP knew beforehand it had a safety concern. Should more troopers have been deployed on that stretch of highway in Polk County? And why didn't FHP have a better grip on the deteriorating weather conditions behind the accident?

Was brush-burning near I-4 smart? The state agency that started the burn Tuesday said conditions were ideal. But drier air moved in almost immediately, a pattern a meteorologist with the National Weather Service said easily occurs in Florida. The state doesn't have its procedures down for burning underbrush. Nor does it have the crew or protocols in place for containing a fire once it jumps out of control. Even if these practices are improved, is burning, especially during the dry season, the best method for removing fallen trees and other brush, the fuel for wildfires?

How do we better protect motorists? After the fire jumped, transportation crews put out flasher-topped warning signs that said: "Fog Smoke." But scores of cars piled into one another because they could not see ahead. Clearly the warning system is inadequate. The FHP notes that many motorists apparently drove at unsafe speeds. That is a legitimate point. But the state has its own failures to answer for that are separate from the issue of reckless driving.

[Last modified January 13, 2008, 21:15:10]