Fog leads to 7 car pile-up in Polk Co.

LAKE WALES (FOX 13) - Thick fog led to dangerous driving conditions across the Bay area Wednesday morning. In Polk County alone, seven accidents with injuries were reported.

"We had a lot of crashes, we had some injuries, but fortunately, no deaths," Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said.

The worst of the accidents resulted in a seven vehicle pile-up. A semi-truck rear-ended another tractor-trailer along Westbound State Road 60 in Lake Wales around 6 a.m. The truck jack-knifed and the SUV behind it slammed into it. Then, a pick-up truck and another semi crashed into the SUV. All that was left was a mangled mess of metal and a miracle.

"It is a blessing that the driver of that vehicle is alive," Judd said Wednesday.

Somehow, the 46-year old driver survived and is in stable condition at the hospital. Two other cars were also involved after barrels of liquid inside the jack-knifed semi rolled out into eastbound lanes and struck the cars.

Judd says this could've easily ended in fatalities. He says it should send a strong message about the danger of driving in fog.

"Normally they tell you one car length per ten miles per hour. And if it's foggy, you should at least double that," he said.

State Road 60 in Lake Wales remained closed for the majority of the day as crews worked to clean up the wreckage.