At least 26 individuals have died on Marion County roadways this year, including five impaired by alcohol, four impaired by drugs, ten motorcyclists, nine pedestrians, and one bicyclist.
The fatal accident data is the latest from the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles (FLHSMV).
According to the organization, through May 24, there have been approximately 2,282 crashes resulting in approximately 1,895 injuries. More than half of the crashes (1,170) recorded at least one injury. Approximately 25 of those crashes produced a total of 26 fatalities.
Most recently, Ocala-News.com reported that two individuals were killed on Interstate 75 in Marion County. That fatal accident happened just a couple of days after two motorcyclists lost their lives within 24 hours of each other in separate accidents.
In fact, the report notes that out of the 82 motorcycle crashes that have occurred this year, approximately ten have ended with a fatality.
Additionally, out of the 49 accidents involving pedestrians that have occurred, at least nine of those ended with a death. At least four of those fatal pedestrian accidents took place on U.S. Highway 441, according to previous reporting by Ocala-News.com.
The county has also seen a total 406 hit-and-run crashes that have yielded approximately 113 injuries. Multiple suspects responsible for hit-and-run accidents in the county are still at large, including one who left a man bedridden and unable to work from his injuries.
Throughout the state of Florida, there have been approximately 1,067 fatalities from a total of 139,763 crashes. That means that, despite representing around 1.7% of the state’s population, Marion County has nearly 2.5% of all the fatalities recorded from accidents in Florida this year.
According to FLHSMV, Marion County recorded 113 fatalities as a result of motor vehicle accidents in 2024. During that year, approximately 13 motorcyclists and 21 pedestrians were killed, and the county experienced at least 1,351 hit-and-run crashes, resulting in seven hit-and-run fatalities.
Earlier this year, the state reported that Marion County had more alcohol-related traffic fatalities than 63 of 67 counties in Florida, according to the most recently available data (2023).
This year, the county has recorded at least five alcohol-related traffic fatalities, and at least four drug-related crashes. It is unclear if the individuals who died in those fatal accidents were those that were impaired or if the accidents were caused by those individuals and they survived.
The data this year follows a trend that was identified last year by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which reported that Ocala had the third-highest rate of fatal accidents in the country during the year with the most recently available data (2022).
According to the NHTSA, over the past ten years, Marion County’s fatal accident rate has been consistently higher than, and has even doubled, the average rate across the state of Florida.
For more information on the fatal accidents that occur in the county, or state, visit the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles Traffic Crash Reports online.