Fla. patrol defends self in wrecks that killed 11

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — The Florida Highway Patrol issued a report Friday defending its actions surrounding a chain of fatal crashes on a fog-choked roadway, suggesting that unpredictable weather and motorist failures made it unlikely that any amount of planning or policy changes could have prevented the 11 deaths.

The patrol rejected many of the findings of an April report by another state agency, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, which found errors but not criminal violations were made in decisions leading to the Jan. 29 wrecks that killed 11 people along Interstate 75 near Gainesville. FHP laid significant blame on drivers themselves, not law enforcement.