FHP: Blown tire on concrete mixer truck leads to four-vehicle accident that closed I-75 South for hours

SARASOTA, Fla. (WWSB) - Florida Highway Patrol says just before losing control on I-75 and causing an accident that involved three other vehicles, the front left tire of a concrete mixer truck blew out.

It happened around 11:30am Thursday at Fruitville Road (Exit 210). Troopers say 60-year-old James Wilkins of Bradenton was driving the concrete mixer truck north on I-75 in the right lane when his front left tire blew out.

Wilkins lost control of the truck and it crossed the center and left lanes, went through a steel cable barrier and into oncoming traffic on I-75 South.

The truck first hit a 2004 Pontiac Vibe driven by 37-year-old Alejandra Lucia Daniels of North Port before flipping onto its right side. The driver of a 2019 Toyota 4 Runner was unable to avoid a collision and hit the bottom of the truck and a fourth vehicle, a 2020 Toyota Camry, swerved left to avoid the crash and hit the steel cable barrier.

Wilkins and Daniels both suffered serious injuries. They were taken under a trauma alert to Sarasota Memorial Hospital. Neither of the other drivers were injured.

The crash remains under investigation.

The southbound lanes of I-75 were closed for around four hours after the accident until around 3:15pm. The concrete mixer truck involved in the accident spilled a large quantity of concrete mix spilled across the southbound lanes. Emergency crews needed to close the roadway to investigate the crash and allow for crews to cleanup the mess left behind.

Initially after the accident, only a single northbound lane was left open. But after around an hour and a half, all northbound lanes were re-opened.

We livestreamed the aftermath of the accident on our Facebook page. You can watch that stream below, which includes the investigation and cleanup process:

You can also watch the entire aftermath of the accident below in a video sped up 10,000 percent that shows the entire three hours of the livestream in one minute and 50 seconds:

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