Two car crashes on 2-22-22 at mile marker 22. Is it the universe or something else?
What is the universe trying to tell us about this rare “Twosday” palindrome — 2/22/22 — has yielded two car crashes at mile marker 22 in the Florida Keys?
The Tuesday 2/22/22 date so rare that another Twosday palindrome — reading the same forward and backward — won’t happen again for another 400 years, according to the National Weather Service.
But really, two accidents within minutes of one another in a location with double 2s?
Florida Highway Patrol Sgt. Pedro “Rhino” Reinoso, who took the call from the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office regarding the second crash, couldn’t resist noting the numbers.
“I’m not superstitious, but what are the chances, right?”
But it turns out the location, mile marker 22, which is not far from Cudjoe Key, Summerland Key and the Square Grouper restaurant, may have another explanation for the crashes.
Blame it on the sun, Reinoso said.
Six cars were involved in the two separate crashes. One crash happened around just after 7 a.m. Tuesday, followed by the second one at about 7:20 a.m. The cars were all heading north on the Overseas Highway.
“It’s not uncommon to get traffic congestion in that area and the sun is really in your face right as you are heading north,” Reinoso said.
As deputies with the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office worked on the first three-car crash, the road blockage and congestion and sun all transpired to lead into the second 2/22 crash that damaged three other cars.
The second crash involved two stopped cars. There goes that “two” again.
A driver in a Dodge Ram rammed into a stopped Jetta. The impact sent that Jetta ricocheting into a Chevy Silverado, which was also stopped by the congestion, Reinoso said.
No one was hurt in the two incidents, Reinoso said, and the roadway is now clear.
“It’s just the area when the sun is in the right place there are frequently accidents in that area, anyways, but that’s just ironic it’s 22 on 2/22/22.”
This story was originally published February 22, 2022 at 1:08 PM.
