Photo by J.C. Derrick
A 64-year-old Alachua man was killed and a 41-year-old Archer man was seriously injured in a two-vehicle head-on collision Wednesday night on State Road 45 south of Newberry.
According to a Florida Highway Patrol (FHP) release, the Archer man was driving a Subaru SUV south on SR 45 near SW 215th Terrace at 7:02 p.m. when he veered into the northbound lane where the Alachua man was driving a Toyota SUV north. The two vehicles collided head-on.
Emergency responders transported both drivers to UF Health Shands Hospital in Gainesville where the Alachua man was pronounced dead.
FHP stated a traffic homicide investigation is pending.
Why can’t you write news articles in plain language?
I know the Highway Patrol likes to use numerical highway designations that are technically correct, but most of the public has no clue where they are, especially out of town UF students.
I bet 90+% of the locals have no idea where State Road 45 is. Because of local signage, locals know it as US 41.
Similarly, locals have no idea what it means when a police report says “we followed the ve-hick-le as it drove down State Road 25 and turned onto State Road 93. Every local over the age of five would say “the car drove down US 441 and turned onto I-75.”
I do not know the reason why police reports are written in a true but misleadingly confusing manner, but the choice has to be deliberate for reasons only they know. The 911 computers also use these SR designations, which does not increase public safety.
Years ago my dad had a radio that picked up government frequencies. He liked to listen at night because sometimes it was Keystone Kops level amusing. One night the old Boy Scout hut in Alachua caught fire. The 911 operator only knew what the computer said, that the fire was “off State Road 25.” The fire truck driver did not know where that road was, and kept asking 911 “which way do I turn to get to the fire?” While waiting for instructions on where to find SR 25, he was waiting in the fire station parking lot ten feet from US 441 because the fire station is on US 441. AKA SR 25. The build was burning while the 911 operator was trying to help the lost fire truck driver. If the 911 operator was a local who knew where the Boy Scout hut was, he could have told the driver “turn your head left. The hut is 1/2 mile from the fire station and you can clearly see the fire out your fire truck window.”