ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. – Three crashes in less than five hours on northbound Interstate 95 left one person dead and several more injured Thursday.
A semi and a car were involved in a fatal crash on I-95 at International Golf Parkway about 10 a.m., according to the Florida Highway Patrol.
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The driver of the car, William Leroy Grant Jr., 67, of St. Augustine, was killed. His passenger, Frances Darlene Grant, 67, suffered serious injuries. She was taken to UF Health Jacksonville.
The driver of the semi, Randolph G. Jones, 54, of Eastman, Georgia, was not injured when the semi smashed into a tree after hitting the car.
The St. Johns County Sheriff's Office said the on ramp from IGP and two lanes of northbound I-95 were closed because of the crash, which happened about 9 miles away from an earlier accident at I-95 north and County Road 210.
That crash, which was reported about 8 a.m., involved a flipped truck, and traffic was slow for hours as authorities worked to clear debris from the highway. The driver of the truck was taken to Baptist South with minor injuries, deputies said.
A third crash was reported about 1 p.m., south of the deadly crash at IGP. That crash involved a tractor-trailer, a truck and at least three cars.
One person was flown to UF Health with serious injuries and three more were taken to Baptist South with minor injuries.
The semi driver in that crash told News4Jax that the accident happened in a matter of seconds. He said he was worried about the driver of a Nissan involved in the wreck. He said several drivers rushed over to comfort her.
"That was like the worst feeling, to jump out of the rig and see somebody bleeding," Tremayne Keith said. "She was just freaking out. We were trying to keep her still, just to make sure she didn't move too much. We didn't know if anything was broken. We tried to pry the door open to get in there to make sure no one was in the back seat."
Keith, who is a driver from Atlanta, said one of the drivers in his crash was speeding when traffic slowed, causing the accident.
Investigators haven't indicated whether speed was involved in the crash.
"I mean, I just hope God's with everybody's families," Keith said.
Drivers are encouraged to move over for emergency vehicles and slow down when there are accidents in the area.
Troopers said all three accidents remain under investigation.
The deadly crash at IGP damaged a "Drive Safely" sign placed along I-95 in memory of Derrick Nixon, who died a week after he was involved in a speed-related crash on Dec. 29, 2012. Nixon's car hit a tree, a light pole and a traffic sign. No other cars were involved in that accident.
St. Johns County had the most fatal crashes in the region along the I-95 corridor in 2014.
A News4Jax investigation last year showed that between April 2014 and April 2015, there were 62 accidents along that stretch of I-95 in St. Johns County, three of them deadly. The worst area was around CR 210.
Another hot spot for wrecks is near International Golf Parkway and State Road 16.
Investigators said speed was to blame for some of those accidents.