A 44-year-old Lakeland woman is dead after her Honda Accord left the roadway, struck a curb, and slammed into a concrete traffic barrier near the eastbound I-4 entrance ramp at Daryl Carter Parkway, catching fire following the impact. A 9-year-old girl riding in the car survived with non-life-threatening injuries.
The crash happened around 7:45 a.m. Sunday on the exit ramp near mile marker 70, according to the Florida Highway Patrol, as reported by FOX 35 Orlando. The driver was transported to Orlando Regional Medical Center, where she was later pronounced dead, according to reports. The girl, who was wearing her seat belt at the time of the crash, was taken to Arnold Palmer Hospital, while the driver was not wearing hers, per WFTV.
Investigators believe the Honda Accord may have been involved in an earlier collision near I-4 mile marker 69, roughly a mile before the fatal crash site. That first crash reportedly involved a 2019 Volkswagen Tiguan driven by a 23-year-old from Tennessee, who was uninjured, according to Orlando News Today. That earlier crash did not cause injuries, and both incidents remain under investigation.
A Newly Rebuilt Interchange Becomes the Crash Scene
The exit ramp where the fatal crash occurred connects I-4 to Daryl Carter Parkway, a key access point linking the interstate to Orlando’s International Drive tourism corridor and the O-Town West development, the same stretch of roadway Hoodline previously covered when the interchange itself opened. The Florida Department of Transportation had completed an $83.7 million overhaul of that same interchange in late 2025, converting it into a Diverging Diamond Interchange with three new connecting ramps as part of the agency’s I-4 Beyond the Ultimate program…