Articles Posted in Car Accident

We all know that there are many elderly drivers out there on South Florida roadways. We’ve got to deal with vacationers, snowbirds, retirees and even our own family members. While we might want them to just get off of the road, it’s important that we’re not contributing to the carnage.

According to the most recent statistics from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), elderly individuals (those over the age of 64) accounted for more than 15 percent of all traffic fatalities in the U.S. in 2011. Throughout the year, there were more than 5,400 of our elderly residents killed in traffic accidents. In addition to these fatalities, there were close to 200,000 people who were injured in motor vehicle accidents. These are numbers that have decreased by about 2 percent in recent years. But at the same time Americans overall are driving less. So no one can be sure if this decrease is the result of better driving habits and more proactive preventative measures, or just the simple fact that we weren’t out there on our roadways facing the risks for a collision.

Our Palm City car accident lawyers understand that the safety of our elderly drivers ultimately takes a team effort. That’s why it’s important to make sure that we’re keeping an eye on our elderly loved ones and making sure that they’re not only fit to be behind the wheel, but that they’re safe while they’re there.

There were 35 million licensed older drivers in 2011. That’s a more than 20 percent increase from 2002. In contrast, the total number of licensed drivers increased by only 9 percent from 2002 to 2011. Older drivers made up 16 percent of all licensed drivers in 2011, compared with 15 percent in 2002

The good news about these drivers is that they had the lowest proportion of drivers with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of .08 or higher.

If you’re looking to help out the elderly driver in your family, your best bet is to make sure that they’re paying attending during the daytime on weekdays. This is when these accidents were most likely to happen. More than 75 percent of these accidents happened in the daytime and more than 70 percent happened on weekdays.

In the state of Florida, there were close to 2,400 people who were killed in traffic accidents in 2011. Of these people, more than 400 of them were between the ages of 55 and 69, while nearly 400 were over the age of 70. As you would imagine, we were ranked as one of the most dangerous states in the country for these kinds of accidents. But we can help to put an end to that by looking over to our elderly family members to make sure that their abilities are up to the task of driving. It’s a move that could end up saving their lives.
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We might be doing a better job in helping to form the safe driving habits of our teenage drivers, but the job is far from over.

According to the most recent statistics from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), there was a near 50 percent decrease in the number of driver fatalities among drivers age 15 to 20 from 2002 to 2011. Although that may look like good news to you, it’s important to point out that the number of teen driver fatalities actually increased from 2010 to 2011. This means that there were close to 2,000 teenage drivers who were killed in traffic accidents across the U.S. in 2011.

Our Fort Lauderdale car accident attorneys understand that traffic accidents continue to be the number one cause of death for teens across the nation, despite this recent decrease. In 2011, there were close to 212 million licensed drivers in the U.S. Our young drivers accounted for merely 6 percent of these drivers. Yet teenagers accounted for about 10 percent of all drivers involved in fatal accidents. The fact remains a large number of drivers out there are driving with little experience under their belt and are at extremely high risk for accidents. Parental and guardian involvement is one of the best ways to help to reduce these numbers.

In 2011, there were close to 4,500 young drivers involved in fatal traffic accidents. During this same time, there were close to 1,300,000 teenage drivers who were involved in police-reported collisions. There were many accidents that officials believe were not reported.

In the state of Florida, there were more than 120 teenage drivers who were killed in traffic accidents in 2011. Overall, we were ranked as the third most dangerous state in the country for these kinds of accidents. If you include all teens involved in fatal accidents, you’d come out with a fatality number of close to 350.

According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), there are no passenger restrictions in the state of Florida for newly-licensed drivers. In addition to the lack of passenger regulations, the state of Florida also has very loose restrictions for teenagers behind the wheel. These two reasons may be top contributors to why Florida saw so many teen fatalities on our roadways.

For this reason, we’re asking parents to get involved this spring. As the ruler of your family, your home and your teen, we’re asking you to enact some tougher rules in your household. Parents and guardians are some of the most influential people in their teen’s driving career. Make sure you’re setting a safe example and your providing your young drivers with all the tools they need to develop safe driving habits.
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Our Riviera Beach car accident lawyers were disheartened to learn of a fatal crash at an intersection of Interstate 95 that claimed the lives of five young people, ages 14 to 22.

The next two months, including prom and graduation, are among the deadliest times of the year for our teenagers.

The driver of the alleged at-fault vehicle was just 21 himself, and police say was speeding and driving recklessly as he barreled off the highway toward the traffic light. It was shortly after midnight, and the driver of a 2008 Mercedes flew through the red light at the off ramp. In doing so, authorities say he violently collided with a 1994 Lexus carrying five people.

The impact sent both vehicles over the median and into the oncoming, westbound lanes of traffic. Four of those in the Lexus were thrown from the vehicle as it rolled over.

Only one person in that vehicle was wearing a seat belt, according to authorities. In the end, even that didn’t matter, as all five were killed. Four were pronounced dead at the scene, while the fifth died after being emergency transported to a nearby hospital.

Those killed include: one 14-year-old girl, two 17-year-old girls, one 21-year-old male and one 22-year-old male. All were residents of Riviera Beach. The 21-year-old male had been the driver.

The at-fault driver was the sole survivor of the crash. He was transported to a nearby hospital, where he was listed soon afterward as being in serious condition, though he was expected to survive and make a full recovery.

The debris from the crash struck a third vehicle, driven by a 24-year-old, also of Riviera Beach, however he was thankfully not injured.

While investigators know speed and reckless driving were factors, it’s not yet clear whether alcohol or drugs may have been involved. Traffic homicide detectives are awaiting blood test results to determine whether DUI manslaughter charges will be filed.

The Palm Beach Post reported it’s been a very long time since a motor vehicle accident claimed the lives of so many youth in the county at once. Perhaps the most noteworthy of those was a crash in February of 1996. A 19-year-old driver had eight teen passengers in his Honda, which he wrecked just minutes later. Five of the passengers were killed, one was paralyzed and three others, who were in another car, were permanently injured.

One of those who passed was the daughter of State Rep. Irv. Slosberg, D-Boca Raton. He later ran for state office, campaigning for safer roads in Florida. He was successful in passing the Dori Slosberg Driver Education Safety Act, in her name.

While this incident is unquestionably tragic, the fact is that motor vehicle crashes are the No. 1 cause of deaths among U.S. teenagers. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that in 2010, at least seven teens died each day in this country.

Even though many teens know the dangers of drinking and driving, they may have the tendency to underestimate the potential carnage that can be caused by speeding. The National Safety Council reports that speed is a factor in some 13,000 traffic fatalities in the U.S. each year. This costs society more than $40 billion annually. Consider that every minute that is “gained” by speeding to a certain destination ends up costing society as a whole $76,000.

It’s too great a price to pay.

This lesson is especially important as we enter prom and graduation season, where our kids will be excitedly rushing off from one celebration to the next. Please, use this opportunity to talk to your teens and young adults not only about the dangers of drinking and driving, but the risks associated with speeding as well.
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Two teens from Palm Beach Gardens High School and a student from John F. Kennedy Middle School were killed in a recent car accident on Blue Heron Boulevard. Two older men in the vehicle were killed as well.

According to FOX29, a 21-year-old driver ran a red light while getting off Interstate 95 in Riviera Beach and slammed into the vehicle of five, killing them all. The 21-year-old driver was transported to St. Mary’s Medical Center and was last listed in serious condition. Officials are still looking into the cause of the accident.

Our Riviera Beach car accident lawyers understand the risks that our younger drivers face out there on South Florida roadways. Unfortunately, passengers might come with the greatest risks. The truth of the matter is that two or more peer passengers more than triple the risk of a fatal crash with a teen at the wheel. It’s not so much the driver’s fault, it’s how the passengers act in the vehicle. According to a simulator study with Teen Driver Source, just knowing the passengers are there can cause teen driver to engage in dangerous behaviors. In 2011, there were more than 930 passengers who were killed in accidents involving teen drivers.

For this reason, it’s a good idea to talk with the young driver in your family about these risks. Many pediatricians counsel and talk with teenagers about driving and talk about the importance of a seat belts and the dangers that are associated with alcohol use. However, many don’t talk about the risks associated with nighttime driving and even the risks associated with present passengers.

This is especially important if you’ve got a young, male driver in your family. According to statistics, they’re more likely to be involved in an accident with passengers present. As a matter of fact, there close to 10 times more likely to drive dangerously and about twice as likely to act aggressively behind the wheel when passengers are present.

According to Florida’s Graduated Driver’s Licensing (GDL) program, there are no passenger restrictions for our young drivers. In many states, our newly-licensed drivers are prohibited from having more than 1 passenger in the vehicle with them during their learner’s permit and restricted licensing stages. As these drivers gain more experience behind the wheel, they’re slowly allowed more passengers. Not here in Florida.

Because we have no passenger restrictions, we’re asking parents to step up and to do the dirty work. By enacting a passenger rule within your household, you can help to keep your young drivers safe. While you’re at it, you should consider enacting curfews and other safe driving regulations. It’s your talks, your enforcement and your efforts that are going to help to shape the safe driving habits of your teen for a lifetime.
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It can get frustrating out there. Our Florida roadways are busier than ever. But it’s important that we all work together — so more are not needlessly hurt.

One driver got so mad behind the wheel, that he allegedly fatally stabbed another driver and is now facing second-degree murder as well as resisting arrest with violence, according to The Miami Herald. According to incident reports, the violence and the stabbing was sparked by a traffic accident.

Officials with the Broward Sheriff’s Office are investigating.

Our Fort Lauderdale car accident lawyers understand that we all get a little heated from time to time. Our roadways are too often jam packed; there are questionable drivers sharing the road with us; and we’re also faced with some serious roadway obstacles (like construction and weather conditions). But in these instances, it’s important that we keep our minds clear and our emotions in check. Remember, we’re all out there with one goal in mind — to get to where we need to be. Let’s all work together to help to avoid the risks of aggressive driving and road rage in South Florida.

If you take a look at the statistics, we’ve all been involved in an aggressive driving incident in our time — whether we’ve displayed the aggression or have been the victim of it.

According to the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, both aggressive driving and road rage are on the rise. Statistics show that roughly 1,500 are seriously injured or killed in these kinds of accidents annually.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), road rage is “an assault with a motor vehicle or other dangerous weapon by the operator or passenger(s) of one motor vehicle on the operator or passenger(s) of another motor vehicle or is caused by an incident that occurred on a roadway.”

While many of you out there display aggressive driving habits, like speeding, tailgating, erratic or unsafe lane changes and failure to obey traffic devices. Taking it a step further may lead to a crime of violence, such as assault.

Experts say aggressive driving behaviors are triggered by a variety of stimuli. Some are provoked by the actions of another driver; others are set off by roadway congestion. But, most are caused by the drivers’ own moods and reactions when they get behind the wheel.

In most jurisdictions, road rage isn’t a specific crime. Many aggressive driving maneuvers fall under the category of traffic violations, but there are only a few districts that try to define aggressive driving or road rage as an illegal activity.

If it seems that there are more cases of rude and outrageous behavior on the road now than in the past, the observation is correct, if for no other reason than there are more drivers driving more miles on the same roads.
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Car accidents are a sad fact of life that occur every day throughout the United States. One car in particular however, has traveled more than 300,000 miles without getting involved in an accident. While this wouldn’t necessarily be a notable accomplishment in-and-of-itself, this car’s track record is amazing because it is a driverless car.

Our Fort Lauderdale car accident lawyers know that the vast majority of auto accidents occur as a direct result of driver’s making bad choices or careless decisions. When you take the driver out of the equation and put control of the car in the hands of a computer, you eliminate the human error factor that creates a lot of the risk. Of course, this isn’t to say that driverless cars are suddenly going to eliminate all car accidents in America. However, it is worth taking a look at the technology to see what it might mean for the future.

The Driverless Car Phenomenon
According to PolitiFact Florida, news of the driverless car got around nationwide after Jeb Bush commented on a prototype at a speech at CPAC in March. Bush claimed that a prototype of a driverless car had traveled for more than 300,000 miles through the crowded streets of California without ever getting into a single accident.

PolitiFact looked into the veracity of the claim and found that several car companies have autonomous or self-driving cars in the works that are controlled by computers. These cars may be at least a decade away from becoming available to the public and they may cost as much as $100,000. Yet, the cars do seem to be working well so far. A Lexus equipped with Google’s driverless car technology, for example, was able to seamlessly merge onto a highway and to account for a motorcycle and a tailgater.

Although the cars do have some limits, including the Google car’s inability to drive in heavy rain, the cars generally work by having multiple sensors and cameras that allow the vehicle to acquire data, which is then processed. The multiple sensors and data inputs are just one way in which these cars might do a better job than the average driver.

How Driverless Cars Might Save Lives
Jeb Bush indicated that driverless cars would never get lost and never have accidents. While this may be a slight overstatement, the fact is that these cars may in fact be much safer than the average vehicle driven by a person.

A driverless car with data from multiple cameras may be able to see obstacles and other cars better than a person who only has direct and peripheral vision and who deals with blind spots in vehicles. A driverless car may also not be prone to some of the common problems such as speeding; road rage; tailgating; or driver distraction. The car can operate in a logic, safe and pre-programmed manner that responds calmly and without emotion to every stimulus it encounters on the road. Pure 100 percent logic and a pure focus only on processing the data input and maintaining safe driving could be a lot safer than the current situation where drivers may not do a great job making safe choices.
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In recent years, it has become very clear that we have a distracted driving problem in the United States. In 2011 alone, there were 3,300 deaths and 387,000 injuries resulting from car crashes caused by a distracted motorist. This is a huge amount of people whose lives were cut short or who may have suffered serious injuries from which they will never be able to recover.

Our Fort Lauderdale injury attorneys know that almost everyone is aware of the dangers of distracted driving, and especially of the dangers of cell phone use. Thirty-nine out of the 50 states plus D.C. have a complete ban in place preventing all drivers from texting and another 10 states plus D.C. have a ban in place prohibiting cell phone use without a hands-free device. Unfortunately, Florida isn’t one of the states with a ban.

Some other states without complete bans also have restrictions, especially for teen or commercial drivers. There are also tons of public education and outreach campaigns including Distracted Driving Month and the Designated Texter public outreach campaign in Florida.

The vast majority of drivers in the U.S. have responded to surveys indicating they believe texting and driving is dangerous and should be banned. For example, 74 percent support a ban on hand-held cell phone use while 94 percent support a ban on texting while driving.

With all of this support for bans, widespread acknowledgement of the dangers of distracted driving and extensive education and outreach, some might question why so many people are being injured or killed by distracted driving crashes. Unfortunately, the sad reality is that almost everyone takes the do-as-I-say-not-as-I-do approach when it comes to texting/talking and driving.

Hundreds of Thousands of Drivers Are on Their Phones Right Now
According to a recent study from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), there is a huge discrepancy between people’s attitudes and their behaviors when it comes to texting and driving. For example, despite the widespread beliefs in cell phone limitations and bans, between 24 and 28 percent of drivers indicated they were willing to initiate a call when driving and between 49 and 52 percent said they’d answer one.

This adds up to a lot of drivers texting or talking on their phones. In fact, NHTSA indicated that at any given daylight moment, there may be 660,000 drivers throughout the United States using their cell phones at the same time as they are operating a vehicle.

When you consider these hundreds-of-thousands of drivers driving around right now focused on their phone and not on the road, it quickly becomes clear why there are thousands of deaths and injuries each year. These drivers endanger themselves and others and this type of behavior should be stopped through tougher laws and through drivers making a real commitment not to use their phones behind the wheel.
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This April during Distracted Driving Month, the National Safety Council (NSC) is urging everyone to sign a pledge to drive cell free. The pledge is part of a wider efforts to draw attention to the problem of texting or talking behind the wheel. Talking on a cell phone and texting are widely thought to be among the most dangerous of all distracted driving behaviors, making car accidents between 4 and 23 times as likely to occur depending upon whether you’re chatting on the phone or using it to send a text.

However, as lawmakers and public education campaigns focus on urging people not to text and drive, one recent study has indicated that cell phone use may not actually be the primary cause of distracted driving accidents after all. Our Fort Lauderdale accident attorneys know that there are lots of different types of distracted driving behavior, many of which have nothing to do with a cell phone. Still, it is not clear whether the recent study is really an accurate measure of the cause of distracted driving crashes or whether it is just one more factor to consider in trying to sort out the puzzle of solving the public health crisis that distracted driving has become.

What is the Top Cause of Distracted Driving Accidents?
According to Yahoo News, the Erie Insurance Group decided to conduct a large scale review of auto accidents in order to try to find out what the most common distracted driving problems are.

The Erie Insurance Group reviewed 65,000 case files of car accidents that occurred in 2011 and 2012. Erie Insurance Group separated out the accidents that were attributed to distracted driving, which was about 10 percent of all of the accidents total, and then took a look at the stated cause of the distracted driving crash.

Based on the review of the information, Erie Insurance Group determined that the prime cause of distracted driving was not talking on a cell phone, texting or using a mobile phone in any way. Instead the study results indicated that a full 62 percent of distracted driving crashes in the U.S. occurred because of the simple problem that drivers were “lost in thought.” Apparently, according to the study, 62 percent of all of the distracted driving crashes in 2011 and 2012 involved drivers that just happened to be daydreaming at the time of the crash. By contrast, about 12 percent of the distracted driving accidents were attributed to cell phone use.

If it seems hard to believe that 62 percent of all distracted drivers were so focused on their daydreams that they got into car accidents, there is a possible explanation that may make things a little more clear. The study focused on what the stated cause of the accident was as told to law enforcement or as determined by law enforcement based on their observations. Because many drivers may be frightened of the consequences of using a cell phone when they caused an accident, it is possible that drivers simply did not report to police that they were on the phone. As such, the incidents of simple daydreaming may have been over-reported and incidents of phone use underreported.

Regardless of whether daydreaming is the top cause of distracted driving accidents or whether cell phone use is the leading factor, it is clear that far too many of these accidents occur and that every driver needs to make a commitment to focus on the road in order to stay safe and avoid hurting others.
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A lot of motorists might think it’s annoying to wear a seat belt. It might be uncomfortable for some and it might even wrinkle your clothes. But think about being injured from a car accident — an injury that could have been prevented with a seat belt.

According to Health Canal, most driving is done locally — and most motorists don’t wear their seat belts during these local trips. Yet we see most of our accidents occurring during these local trips.

Our Vero Beach car accident lawyers understand that motorists are more likely to buckle up when they’re taking trips. According to a recent study from Accident Analysis and Prevention, drivers don’t want to buckle up for those short trips. And that’s not good news when you consider that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reports that fatalities from car accidents could be reduced by close to 50 percent if we were all buckling up during every car ride.

So who’s buckling up?

According to research, a trip at about 30 miles per hour only saw about 70 percent of motorist seat belt usage. When that speed was upped to 50 miles per hour, seat belt usage increased to about 90 percent.

Additional Study Findings:

-Younger women were more likely to buckle up than women over the age of 40.

-Motorists who had achieved a higher level of education were more likely to buckle in.

-Those who only buckled in on occasions were more likely to be aggressive drivers.

-Drivers in the infrequent-user group had an at-fault crash/near crash rate approximately double that of the other two groups.

-Those who buckled in more often took a lot fewer driving trips than those who didn’t buckle in much.

Officials aren’t done though. The Strategic Highway Research Program will be looking at seat belt usage from 2,000 vehicles.

Who’s most likely to ride unbuckled?

-Intoxicated drivers

-Teenagers

-Pickup truck drivers

-Male drivers

-Nighttime drivers

The truth of the matter is that seat belts have been able to save over 75,000 lives from 2004 to 2008, according to the National Safety Council (NSC).

In the state of Florida, children under the age of 3 are required to be secured in a federally approved child-restraint seat. Child passengers ages 4 and 5 are required to be secured by either a federally approved child restraint seat or safety belt. In addition to buckling in children, all passengers in the front seat must wear a seat belt as well as all passengers under the age of 18.

Regardless of law, or of any statistics, you want to make sure you’re buckled in during each and every car ride for your own safety. This is one decision and one move that could wind up saving your life. Start making it a habit and buckle in each time you sit down in a vehicle.
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Many drivers view seat belts to be an inconvenience during short trips around town, according to a new study conducted by the Virginia Tech, The National Highway Traffic Safety Association and the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety.

Fort Lauderdale car accident lawyers know that whatever minor, temporary annoyance seat belts may cause drivers, the risk you take by not buckling up is far greater.

The majority of trips people take are local. People are lulled into a false sense of security amid familiar roads and surroundings when the reality is that a third of all traffic crashes actually occur within a mile of home. It makes sense considering that’s where you do the most driving.

The study, published in the January edition of Accident Analysis and Prevention followed the driving habits of 100 people over the course of the year. The vehicles of these individuals were outfitted with instruments that allowed researchers to follow the driver’s routes, patterns, speed and safety belt use.

What the researchers found was this:

Overall, seat belts were worn 79 percent of the time. This is encouraging, but it’s not great. It means that at any given time, 21 out of 100 people weren’t belted in.

Drivers were then grouped into one of three categories: infrequent seat belt users, occasional seat belt users and consistent seat belt users. Infrequent users were belted in 30 percent of the time or less. Occasional users were belted in 40 to 85 percent of the time. Consistent users wore their seat belt 85 percent or more of the time.

Fortunately, most users were consistent.

But a pattern began to emerge with regard to speed correlating with use of seat belt. It seemed if drivers were traveling an average of 30 miles per hour, they were less likely to buckle up (72 percent overall). However, if the driver was traveling at speeds of more than 50 miles per hour, they were more likely to wear their seat belts (89 percent overall). So on interstates and longer trips, drivers presumed greater danger than on shorter trips on secondary roads.

As mentioned earlier, that’s a skewed and unrealistic perception, and one that clearly requires more attention from safety advocates.

The NHTSA said the results suggested that infrequent users may only be deterred by strengthened laws, such as primary safety belt laws (or those that make it a primary offense for which an individual can be pulled over by law enforcement). Occasional users, meanwhile, may require more education to understand the risk they take when they don’t buckled up while running seemingly innocuous errands.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control reports that seat belts can reduce the risk of serious crash injuries by more than 50 percent.

Florida Statute 316.614(4) holds that it is unlawful for anyone to operate a motor vehicle unless the driver and every passenger is properly buckled in.

While researchers here were quick to point out the limitations of a 100-car study, a similar but much larger version of this analysis is underway by the U.S. Strategic Highway Research Program, which will be looking at driving patterns and safety habits of some 2,000 motorists.
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