JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A 23-year-old Bradford County man died Thursday night when his pickup truck was struck by another pickup going the wrong way on U.S. 301 near Maxville, the Florida Highway Patrol said.
Sean Welz, of Lawty, was killed in the crash just before 9 p.m. on the highway several miles south of Interstate 10, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.
Troopers said the other driver, 87-year-old Conrad Belluomo, from the Tampa area, was headed north in the southbound lanes when he struck Welz's pickup head-on.
Belluomo was taken to UF Health Jacksonville with serious injuries. Belluomo's son told News4Jax his dad has broken ribs and a fractured wrist.
The FHP said a third car was hit by debris from the initial collision, but no one was injured in that car. Troopers also indicated charges were pending against Belluomo.
Family and friends of Welz (pictured, right) are remembering him on social media Friday as a hunter, fisherman and outdoorsman who graduated from Union County High.
News4Jax learned that several drivers had noticed Belluomo's pickup going the wrong way for some time before it struck Welz.
FHP Sgt. Dylan Bryan said the crash is still under investigation.
"Of course, with a wrong-way crash, it typically ends up with a very severe situation, if not a fatality. So when the crashes occur, they are a big one," Bryan said. "We’re looking at whether it was impairment, confusion, fatigue. There’s a number of factors."
Troopers said the at-fault driver's age – 87 – could have also been a factor.
Records show that over the past the years, there have been 438 wrong-way crashes recorded in the nine counties that comprise the Florida Department of Transportation's Northeast Florida region. Those crashes resulted in 30 deaths and 358 people injured.
Driver Hosea Agren thinks a grassy median isn’t enough to keep people in their own lanes of 301. He wants a barrier to separate traffic and distinguish opposite lanes of traffic.
"Especially if they’re tired, they’re in a hurry," Agren said. "It will be a little extra for taxpayers, but I think it would be worth it."