ORLANDO, Fla. — WFTV has obtained the Florida Highway Patrol's final report on the Interstate 75 crash that killed 11 people near Gainesville on January 29.
At the time, state troopers were immediately criticized for reopening an interstate that appeared to be covered in thick smoke and fog.
An image of the interstate was taken from a state trooper's dashboard camera. Failing to use dashboard cameras enough was the biggest criticism that the Highway Patrol gave itself.
But WFTV learned that the FHP's criticism contrasts with Florida Department of Law Enforcement's report, issued in April, that criticized troopers directly for how they handled the conditions.
For the people caught up in the deadly crash on I-75 there was chaos.
"Another accident. Oh my God," a caller told a 911 dispatcher that morning.
"What just happened? Tell me what happened?" the dispatcher responded.
"Another accident. Another accident. Going northbound," the caller said.
Eleven people died, and many of the victims couldn't even see what was happening around them.
But dashboard cameras in FHP trooper patrol cars could record conditions for comparison to help decide whether it was safe to reopen a road.
Better utilizing in-car video equipment was the biggest criticism out of the Highway Patrol's final report on the incident.
That report also criticized the checklist troopers use to judge conditions, saying it needed to be updated to handle a mix of smoke and fog. It didn't criticize troopers' training.
However, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement's report released in April said there was a lack of training in smoke and fog situations.
FHP was supposed to have instituted specialized training after pileups on a smoky Interstate 4 in 2008.
The FHP supervisor who ordered I-75 to reopen admitted he didn't remember the little training he had received.
One thing the FHP and the FDLE did agree on was that better communication was needed.
The Highway Patrol report said dispatchers in Jacksonville did not adequately communicate with troopers on the roads. And the potential for waves of wildfire smoke was never relayed to a FHP supervisor.
WFTV