A Florida driver decided to risk the lives of fellow drivers to save a turtle crossing in the middle of a busy highway. According to the Walton County Sheriff’s Office Facebook post, the driver applied the brakes on a packed highway for a turtle and caused a major collision with several vehicles.
If it’s between people or a turtle, the man’s tender heart felt more driven to save the animal. On Tuesday morning, the crash affected a pickup truck, a semi-truck and multiple others along U.S. Route 331.
Although police understood that the driver was coming from a good place, they explained that the middle of the road isn’t the best place to display the heroism.
“We all can do better to protect the wildlife and natural inhabitants of our great state. Residents and visitors alike should marvel at the many species that call Florida home,” the sheriff’s office said. “Just preferably not in the middle of the road.”
In the video, the turtle can be seen reaching the middle of the road and cars abruptly slowing down as they passed a pickup truck stopped in the left lane of the two-lane roadway. One car wasn’t able to brake in time and swerved into the right lane in front of the semi. The semi-truck crashed into a chain of other vehicles.
Officials acknowledged that while the driver did not have ill intentions to cause injury, protecting animals on a busy roadway can lead to life-threatening injuries to motorists. “We don’t advise causing a road obstruction because of a reptilian obstruction,” the sheriff’s office said.
Fortunately, no serious injuries were reported in the crash. The humans and turtle safely made it out of this chaos. “The turtle survived and is now living happily ever after in a pond where he will (hopefully) spend the rest of his days avoiding pavement of any kind,” the sheriff’s office concluded.
Source: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?ref=saved&v=1287667682184348