Articles Posted in Car Accident

OurSouth Florida car accident lawyers are monitoring a debate waging in Royal Palm Beach, West Boca and Boca Raton over the use of red-light cameras. Supporters say the red-light cameras act as a deterrent by decreasing the number of drivers running red lights – and the number of car accidents – while making the community a little money. Opponents complain the cameras amount to little more than an invasion of privacy, open municipalities up to lawsuits, and put moneymaking ahead of improving public safety.

In Royal Palm Beach, the tide is against keeping the cameras, the Palm Beach Post reports. City council members and even the mayor say that dealing with the flack from villagers – and the possibility of fending off lawsuits filed after issuing camera-based citations – essentially isn’t worth the hassle of keeping cameras in place at intersections where Okeechobee and Crestwood cross Royal Palm Boulevard. They are even questioning whether cameras improve safety and will vote this week whether to keep them in place or take them down.

Meanwhile, in other parts of Palm Beach County – namely West Boca, Boca Raton, West Palm Beach, Palm Springs – moves are being made to install red-light cameras or to transition from issuing warnings to issuing citations in locations where cameras exist. Some areas in Palm Beach County have already moved to issuing citations to violators captured by cameras.

According to the National Campaign to Stop Red Light Running, red-light cameras are installed in more than 400 communities in 25 states. Cities from New Orleans to Washington D.C. to Orange County, Calif. have all reported significant drops in both red-light running incidences and car accidents caused by a driver running a red light. In New Orleans, installing red-light cameras led to an 85 percent drop in drivers running lights and in Council Bluffs, there has been a 90 percent drop in car accidents caused by drivers running the light.
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According to Meteorology professor Jan Null, so far in 2010, 49 children have died due to heat stroke caused from being left in hot vehicles. In Florida alone, six children have died from hyperthermia this year – including, most recently the Miami Herald reports, a one-year-old from Miramar. On average, 37 children die heat-related deaths each year from being left in a car on a day otherwise considered mild – around 70 degrees.

Our West Palm Beach child injury attorneys know that more than half of these deaths occur because a caregiver or parent has done the unthinkable – accidentally forgetting a child in a car. Another 18 percent die after intentionally being left in a vehicle by an adult.

Even in cooler weather, it take little time for the interior of a vehicle to reach deadly temperatures, particularly in the South and particularly when the tolerance of a young child is taken into account. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, even with windows cracked and ambient outdoor temperature in the low-80s, in less than 10 minutes the interior of a vehicle can become hot enough to cause hyperthermia. Because their bodies are ill-equipped to mitigate extreme temperatures, children under age 4 are especially susceptible to heat stroke and can succumb quickly to overheating.

As mentioned, and as difficult as it may be to believe, forgetting a kid in a car is the most common contributor causing the death of a child due to hyperthermia. An exhausted parent, a distracted caregiver – all it takes is a break in a routine and tragedy can result.

The NHTSA offers a handful of prevention tips to help those who care for our youngest, most vulnerable, passengers:

~ put something you need next to the car seat – a cell phone, a wallet, a handbag.

~ simple as it sounds post a sticky-note reminder on your steering wheel or some place on the dash.

~ limit distractions when getting out of the car – don’t worry about the mail or start chatting on your cell phone.

~ have a call/check system in place with your caregiver.

~ make a habit of looking in the back seat.

~ NEVER leave a child unattended in a vehicle. Period.
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When 22-year-old Tiffiany Olson died from injuries sustained in a South Florida fatal motorcycle accident on a Palmetto road on Dec. 7, 2005, the only identification she had on her was a driver’s license with an old address. It would take law enforcement six-and-a-half hours to track down her next of kin.

Her frantic mother and brother heard she had been in an accident, but that was it. They checked the local hospitals – nothing. Two hours into their search, a police officer tracked down Tiffiany’s mom at Manatee Memorial Hospital. He handed her an evidence bag containing a few personal effects and advised her that her daughter’s body was at the morgue, which was closed. It was 1:30 in the morning.

After burying her daughter, Olson was determined that no mother should have to face such a wait to hear the fate of their child. From this experience two things emerged, the website To Inform Families First was created and the initiative for Florida’s “Register Your Emergency Contact Information Week” was born.

There are many unknowns and much uncertainty swirling around an early morning South Florida car accident on Palmetto Expressway that left one pedestrian dead and found a stunned driver flagging down a state trooper in the pre-dawn hours of Sept. 28, the Miami Herald reports.

What detail are known are sketchy at best. It is believed the Spanish-speaking foreigner flew into Miami International Airport from Laredo, Tex. and that around 3 a.m. he hailed a cab. He asked the driver to take him to a Hialeah Gardens address that authorities have determined doesn’t exist.

The cab driver, who said the victim asked to sit up front, said his passenger quickly became agitated – flailing his arms and speaking to himself in Spanish. The Florida Highway Patrol reports the victim was talking on a cell phone before he began screaming and unbuckled his seat belt and tried to open the passenger door.

The cab driver pulled off to the shoulder and scrambled to call for help. The victim then fled the vehicle and dashed blindly into traffic and then lay face down in the road. Several cars dodged the victim as the cab driver and couple other drivers attempted to divert traffic. The driver of a 2008 Nissan pickup was unable to avoid striking the man. He has not been charged.

While this case is a bizarre example, most cases handled by Fort Lauderdale pedestrian accident attorneys involve the death of a pedestrian that could have been prevented by the at-fault motorist. In fact, Florida has one of the highest rates of pedestrian fatalities in the nation. Most pedestrian-involved traffic fatalities happen in urban areas, at night, under normal weather conditions and at non-intersection locations along roadways. That in 70 percent of cases, the victim is a man.

The Florida Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles department recently reported that more pedestrians were killed in traffic accidents in the Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties than anywhere else in the state, claiming 150 lives in 2009. Throughout the state, 8,248 pedestrians were involved in Florida car accidents that left 7,676 pedestrians injured.
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The stories of distracted driving fatalities are as heartbreaking as they are endless. One young couple was Disney-bound, where they were scheduled to meet with the bride-to-be’s parents and their wedding planner. It was early 2008. Their car was struck from behind by a tractor-trailer, allegedly driven by a texting driver. He never touched his brakes. She died at the scene.

Our Fort Lauderdale Florida car accident lawyers know that distracted driving kills. As we’ve reported in an earlier post to our South Florida Injury Lawyer blog, just among teenage drivers alone, one in four admit to texting behind the wheel. In 2009, more than 16 percent of all fatal car accidents involved distracted drivers. More than 500,000 were injured and another 5,500 were killed in distracted-driving crashes nationwide.

Once again, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has hosted a distracted driving summit in Washington D.C. to address growing concerns regarding what has become an epidemic of handheld electronic devices being used by drivers behind the wheel. At the summit, U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood spoke of a multi-layered approach to changing driver habits, involving tougher laws, stepped up enforcement, promoting public awareness and personal responsibility.

Thanks to efforts at the summit, both last year and this year, there is now a nationwide texting ban in place for commercial bus and truck drivers. Also, train operators are restricted from using cell phones or other electronic devices while conducting. And, the NHTSA is currently pushing for a complete ban involving use of any electronic device while operating a commercial truck transporting hazardous materials.

In tandem with the NHTSA efforts, both the entertainment industry and state lawmakers have joined forces to raise awareness and restrict usage of handheld electronics while behind the wheel. The National Football League, the Jonas Brothers, Allstate Insurance, Oprah Winfrey and even Webster’ Dictionary, which named “distracted driving” their Word of the Year – each organization aggressively promoted an anti-technology message.

More than 270 distracted driving bills were discussed in 43 state legislatures. Currently, 30 states have banned texting while driving and 8 have banned the use of handheld electronic devices. Even Pres. Obama and the United Nations have joined the act – Obama banned 4 million federal employees from texting while driving and the U.N. enforced the same ban for their 40,000 member employees.

Florida is one of a dwindling number of states with no such law.
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On the heels of a distracted driving summit aimed at mapping legislative, law enforcement and awareness campaigns that will drive down the exploding number of distracted-driving related car accidents nationwide, Sect. Ray LaHood released two glowing NHTSA reports tracking ongoing seat-belt usage and minimum age drinking law efforts.

Our Fort Lauderdale car accident lawyers frequently report on a host of behind-the-wheel issues – from impaired driving to distracted driving to maintenance and child passenger safety – facing Florida drivers on our South Florida Injury Lawyers blog. Regarding seat belt and child restraint use, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration revealed that 12,713 lives were saved by simply buckling up in 2009 and 309 toddlers were spared thanks to proper child restraint use. Since 2005, the NHTSA estimates that the increase in seat-belt use has saved more than 72,000 lives. The recent report also estimates that more than 600 lives were spared in 2009 through the enactment and enforcement of minimum drinking age laws.

As for distracted driving, 2009 NHTSA statistics alone are staggering. Car accident crash rates have steadily declined since 2005, when the NHTSA reported 39,252 crashes that claimed 43,510 lives to 2009, when the NHTSA logged 30,797 reported crashes that led to 33,808 fatalities. Meanwhile, the number of distraction-related car accidents and fatalities has risen from 10 to 16 percent of those overall numbers. In 2005, 4,026 distraction-related car accidents were reported, causing 4,472 fatalities. By 2009, those numbers had jumped to 4,898 and 5,474, respectively.

While NHTSA Administrator David Strickland admitted the trends reflecting more ubiquitous seat-belt use and fewer cases of underage drinking and driving are impressive, his goal remains at 100 percent compliance. As for the issue of distracted driving, he said the mission of his office is to take action “on a number of fronts to address the epidemic of distracted driving in America. With the help of experts, policymakers, and safety advocates… we are going to do everything we can to put an end to distracted driving and save lives.”

Sometimes seat belts save lives. Sometimes, they don’t. But what is clear is that speeding, drunk driving and distracted driving remain the three leading causes of serious and fatal traffic accidents. Hiring an experienced Fort Lauderdale personal injury lawyer or wrongful death attorney can help determine the cause of your accident and can assist in recovering the compensation you deserve.
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According to the National Traffic Safety Board, our youngest travelers face the greatest risk of injury or death if involved in a car accident in Fort Lauderdale, Palm Beach or elsewhere in South Florida.

Florida earned the NTSB’s “most lenient” ranking because State law only requires child safety seats for children aged 3 or younger. NTSB standards recommend state child restraint laws for children up to age 8.

To back up this requirement, the NTSB reports that for children ages 4 to 8, using a booster seat and seat belt combination reduces their risk of car accident injury by 59 percent. South Florida car accident attorneys know that properly installed car seats and booster seats used in conjunction with safety belts save countless lives. Because of this simple truth, we support the NHTSA’s annual Child Passenger Safety Week efforts and provide a link to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety’s best booster ranking system.

Safe Kids USA, is a network of more than 600 organizations and coalitions across the U.S. that work together to raise awareness of child safety issues and prevent unintentional injury among children under age 14. Regarding car seats, booster seats and child safety restraints, Safe Kids USA has found:

~ Just shy of 1000 children under age 14 are killed each year in car accidents.

~ If parents and caregivers buckle up, so do child passengers.

~ Children using properly installed and appropriate child restraints are 80 percent less likely to sustain a fatal injury in a car crash than children who are not.

~ In 2005 alone, almost 700 children killed in car accidents were not using proper child restraints.

~ Children prematurely using safety belts alone are four times more likely to sustain serious head injury than those using seat belts in tandem with child safety seats or child booster seats.
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Despite an increase in road travel, in 2009 the number of fatal car accidents nationwide dropped to their lowest number since 1950 and car accident injuries also fell to lowest rates ever recorded the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration reports.

There were 442 fewer fatal Florida car accidents and Texas saw 405 fewer fatal car crashes. Overall, 41 states, Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico each experienced a drop in fatalities. In tandem with the drop in fatal car accidents and fewer injuries, the number of alcohol-related car accident deaths dropped more than 7 percent.

The NHTSA Administrator David Strickland attributes much of the decline to seat belt use and aggressive anti-drunk driving enforcement campaigns. “But we are still losing more than 30,000 lives a year on our highways, and about a third of these involve drunk driving. We will continue to work with our state partners to strictly enforce both seat belt use and anti-drunk driving laws across this nation, every day and every night.”

According to the NHTSA, motorcyclist fatalities broke a decade-long increase in fatal crashes with a 24 percent decline and now account for 13 percent of total vehicle-related fatalities. Passenger car, light truck and large-truck vehicles also each saw significant drops.

Still, despite the overall downward trend, car accidents remain the leading cause of death for Americans aged 3-34, and more drivers and passengers need to buckle up. More than half of those killed in fatal car accidents were not wearing a seat belt.
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Car accidents in Port St. Lucie are less likely to occur than any other major city in Florida, while car accidents in Fort Lauderdale and Miami are among the state’s most frequent, according to a report released by Allstate Insurance.

The list, which compares accident rates in nearly 200 cities with a population of more than 100,000, found the chance of an accident varies widely depending on where in Florida you reside. However, when it comes to Florida, one thing is certain: No place is safe. A total of 2.563 people were killed on Florida roads last year, according to the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, making it the deadliest state in the nation after California and Texas.

The report ranked Fort Collins, Colorado as the safest city in the nation with an average of 14.5 years between crashes for any given motorist. Washington, D.C. was the nation’s most dangerous city, with motorists reporting crashes every 5.1 years.

Florida ranged from a best of 10.9 years for motorists in Port St. Lucie and Cape Coral, to a worse of 7.2 years in Hialeah and 7.5 years in Miami.

“Human error is the biggest cause of accidents. It is vital for us to educate drivers across the country on the importance of being tolerant and attentive behind the wheel,” said Mike Roche of Allstate.

30) Port St. Lucie – 10.9 years
33) Cape Coral – 10.9 years
69) Jacksonville – 9.9 years
80) St. Petersburg – 9.7 years
84) Tallahassee – 9.7 years
(123) Fort Lauderdale – 8.8 years
(145) Orlando – 8.2 years
(147) Hollywood – 8.1 years
(154) Tampa – 7.9 years
(171) Miami 7.5 years
(180) Hialeah 7.2 years
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