FLORIDA:First ET death was Nov 99

The impact dented the passenger side front of the vehicle and one headlight was hanging out of its housing. No charges were laid against the driver who was determined by police to be not-at-fault.

The Sunrise toll plaza has 12 toll lanes with 2 attended cash lanes righthand side, 2 coin machine lanes in the middle and 2 ETO (Sunpass-only) lanes in the leftside, each direction. The plaza has a tunnel and staff moving from one side of the plaza to the other are advised to use stairs and the tunnel, although there are also waist-high curbside chains and lift-or-pull-inward safety arms between the lanes and marked crossings for staff walking across the lanes.

Florida Turnpike uses gates in the toll lanes that are timed to rise for 25mph-or-slower traffic, helping to control speed through the ETO lanes.

Officials say they do not know why Diorio moved into the ETO lane. His assigned duties were only in the ACM toll lanes northbound and on the east-side of the plaza. He had no job-related reason to go westward across the ETO lanes. He was walking away from the plaza administration building (and away from a bathroom/breakroom) which is on the east side when he was fatally struck. Diorio had a good record as an employee.

Like most Florida Turnpike collectors Diorio was directly employed by a toll collection contractor to the Turnpike, Barton Protective Services of Atlanta GA. Officials said he received all the standard training in safety procedures including a special safety session on ETO lanes when Sunpass was being introduced. These emphasize the need to look for and assess each vehicle and attempt to get eye contact with the driver before crossing a lane.

Reno Abbadini, toll operations manager for the Turnpike in North Broward County where the Sunrise plaza is located, said he had sent a memo on care needed in ETO lanes back in March 1999 when Sunpass began. All employees were required to sign an acknowledgment saying they had read the memo.

Apparently the proximate cause was a careless action by the collector. But perhaps “advice” to use stairs and tunnel is insufficient when there is also a marked pedestrian crossing for staff to walk across the ETO lane at grade?

Staff at the Turnpike reviewed records and said Diorio’s death was the only on-the-job fatality at a toll plaza in ten years. (Mike Washburn 954 975 4855x1106)

BACKGROUND: The Sawgrass Expressway (FL-689) 37km (23mi) long in the northwest of the Miami-Fort Lauderdale area was constructed by Broward County Expressway Authority (BCEA) opening in 1986. It is a western peripheral roadway on the edge of the Everglades and forms a boundary around the developed area. It was a failure as a toll road in its first several years and the BCEA was disbanded and the road taken over by the state and made part of the DOT turnpike system in 1990. It is now quite busy with average daily toll transactions of 105k, just over 10% of the Turnpike’s total. It garners $27m/yr in tolls, 9% of the Turnpike’s total revenue.

Carquinez bridge Calif

Delving into the archives we found a patron who killed himself electronic tolling. July 26, 1999. Herbert Glass, 40, driving east on the Bay area’s Carquinez Bridge rammed the rampart alongside the FasTrak-only toll lane. He was thrown from his van onto the toll island and killed. Glass was not wearing his seat belt. The smash occurred at 1:25am and police reported his speed was 60 to 70mph. The ET lane was posted for 30mph.