Oversized boat cooks toll house center lane sign

May 2, 2024

By Staff Report

A driver towing an oversized boat hit and broke the electronic toll gate sign on the middle toll lane of the Gasparilla Island Bridge Authority plaza at 12:14 a.m. on April 18, causing an estimated $11,000 in damage. “The person driving the vehicle did not stop,” said Kathy Banson, GIBA executive director, at the quarterly […]

A driver towing an oversized boat hit and broke the electronic toll gate sign on the middle toll lane of the Gasparilla Island Bridge Authority plaza at 12:14 a.m. on April 18, causing an estimated $11,000 in damage.

“The person driving the vehicle did not stop,” said Kathy Banson, GIBA executive director, at the quarterly meeting of the authority this week on Tuesday, April 30.

The boat came through lane two at an illegal height. It was being towed by a 2022 Ford F250, registered in Montana. There was no pursuit, however, because it happened in Charlotte County, and there was no sheriff nearby.

“We called Lee County,” Banson said. “They couldn’t do anything because it happened in Charlotte.”

GIBA has a record of the plates and cars that come through. With that information, the boat trailer was eventually located by GIBA staff at The Inn Marina.

“We found it on our own,” Banson said.

Banson later personally went down to pay the 75 cent fee to get the incident report, which was filed on April 23.

*Above, a video capture of the toll both on the Causeway, with the truck that is reported to have hit the sign marked.*
*Photo from Charlotte Sheriff*

The report by DFC John Kranz states “V-1 was traveling west on the Boca Grande Cswy going through the toll plaza. V-1 was towing a trailer with a boat. The boat tower struck the sign above the toll plaza causing damage to the sign. It does not appear the drier was aware of the damage. The vehicle was located in Lee County and a business card was left requesting contact. At this time the driver is unknown.”

The car’s driver, listed as Person #1, was later identified in the official crash report from the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Department as Jack Vasilaros of Largo.

GIBA’s insurer will work with the driver’s insurer to recover the cost of the repairs for the sign. Currently, the sign is still at lane two, but it is bent forward where it was hit and inoperable.

The date was ironic, in that a town hall at the Boca Grande Community Center just before highlighted the need for the ability of Lee County and Charlotte County to be able to cooperate on health and safety issues.