UPDATE: Family recovering from head-on collision Friday night
Members of a Tallahassee family suffered serious injuries following a Friday evening collision on U.S. 98 that backed up traffic for about three miles.
According to information released Saturday afternoon by the Florida Highway Patrol, and by people on the scene, the two vehicles collided head-on at just after 8:30 p.m. on 98, at the intersection of Pristine Road.
The report said a 35-year-old Eastpoint man was driving a sports utility vehicle westbound along U.S. 98 when he suffered a medical episode and blacked out as the SUV was negotiating the left curve in the roadway, read the FHP report.
The SUV traveled across the double yellow center line and its front bumper struck the front left bumper of a van driving eastbound.
The driver of the van, a 36-year-old Tallahassee man “did not have any time to react,” read the report. “From the force of the impact, (the van) was forced in a southwest manner off of the roadway where it came to final rest facing north on the unpaved portion of the eastbound shoulder.
“The SUV came to final rest in the middle of the roadway facing south,” it read.
Two passengers in the van, a 36-year-old female and a 9-year-old boy, as well as the driver each suffered serious injuries. A 3-year-old boy suffered minor injuries. Only the 9-year-old boy was not wearing a seatbelt or was within a child restraint.
A family friend said the family is now at home, recovering from their injuries.
Traffic was backed up for about three miles due to a complete roadblock. The scene was cleared at 11:53 p.m., according to FHP.
Meet the Editor
David Adlerstein, The Apalachicola Times’ digital editor, started with the news outlet in January 2002 as a reporter.
Prior to then, David Adlerstein began as a newspaperman with a small Boston weekly, after graduating magna cum laude from Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts. He later edited the weekly Bellville Times, and as business reporter for the daily Marion Star, both not far from his hometown of Columbus, Ohio.
In 1995, he moved to South Florida, and worked as a business reporter and editor of Medical Business newspaper. In Jan. 2002, he began with the Apalachicola Times, first as reporter and later as editor, and in Oct. 2020, also began editing the Port St. Joe Star.