Vehicle plunges 50 feet while driver is distracted

Thomas Highhouse probably doesn’t know that April is Distracted Driving Awareness Month.

Highhouse, 61, of Pinellas Park, was driving a car that plunged more than 50 feet from an elevated interstate in St. Petersburg after he became distracted by the radio in his car, the Florida Highway Patrol said.

While driving his cherry red, 2016 Chevrolet Camaro south on Interstate 275 shortly after 11 a.m. Thursday, Highhouse glanced down at his radio, looked up and realized he was on the highway’s shoulder and seemingly headed for oblivion.

Highhouse told Tampa television station WFLA he looked out his windshield, saw only blue sky and thought his days were numbered.

“If I didn’t have by seat belt on, I would have been dead,” he told the station.

Highhouse survived the ordeal unscathed. His fancy car? Not so much.

A picture of the car released by St. Petersburg police shows a bashed in engine compartment, a twisted hood, at least one detached wheel and other components strewn all over the ground.

The Camaro had to be towed from where it landed — in the middle of St. Petersburg’s Fifth Avenue North.

In a story earlier this month, a Sun Sentinel analysis of about 3 million crashes in Florida found that collisions typical of texting and driving increased dramatically between 2013 and 2016.

Those crashes included drifting between lanes, sideswiping, improper passing, running stop signs and ignoring road signs or pavement markings.

ST. PETERSBURG POLICE DEPARTMENT/COURTESY Thomas Highhouse’s car plunged more than 50 feet from an elevated interstate after he became distracted by the radio in his car, the Florida Highway Patrol said.