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The Broward County Transit has been operating for years, deploying 300 buses to cover more than 400 square miles with connections to both Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties, as well as the Tri-Rail.

This is a lot of area to cover daily, and for the most part, drivers do a good job of getting passengers safely to their destination.

However, sometimes accidents occur. In 2013, a 14-year-old boy trying to get to school was left permanently brain damaged when he was trying to board and the bus accelerated before the doors had completely closed and prior to all passengers taking their seats. While prosecutors did not find the action rose to the level of culpable negligence or recklessness (as required for a criminal prosecution), there was evidence to support findings of inattentiveness and carelessness – violations of the Bus Driver Administrative Code.

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High-speed driving and even pursuits are an especially dangerous part of police work. This is why many states, including Florida, have laws barring officers from acting with reckless disregard for the safety of others – regardless of the circumstances (F.S. 316.072(5)(c)).

That said, establishing liability for injuries or death resulting from a police pursuit may prove challenging. It will depend on the circumstances. When innocent civilian drivers or pedestrians suffer personal injury or are killed as a result of a reckless or ill-advised high-speed pursuit, the chances of securing compensation are optimum.

However, if plaintiff or decedent was in any way involved in the pursuit, the case may prove more difficult.

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Florida has one of the highest rates of drivers without auto insurance in the country – nearly one in four, according to the Insurance Information Institute. That doesn’t include the significant portion of drivers who are also woefully underinsured, meaning they don’t carry enough coverage to pay for damages in the event of a significant collision.

We often talk about this problem in terms of what it means when an insured driver is struck by an uninsured driver. In these cases, insured drivers must often rely on uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage from their own insurer.

However, when an uninsured driver is struck by an insured driver, the process is slightly less complicated, so long as the uninsured driver is not at-fault. He or she may receive a citation for driving without insurance. After all, it is against the law. But in these instances, the insured, at-fault driver’s coverage should kick in to pay for coverages of injury and property damage.

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She was 20-years-old the night she reportedly got drunk with work friends, Tweeted to her boyfriend she was “2 drunk 2 care” about an argument they were having and then got behind the wheel of a car. She drove wrong way down the Sawgrass Expressway in Coral Springs traveling nearly 100 mph. She crashed into another vehicle head-on, killing the two occupants – both 21-year-old women.

In a deposition for a civil lawsuit brought against her by the victim’s families, the women, also facing 30 years in prison for DUI manslaughter, said she would take her own life in a second if it meant bringing back the two who were lost. Not a day goes by she doesn’t think of it, she told attorneys, and “It will never go away.”

Those expressions of remorse come amid one of the most dangerous times of the year for drivers. December has one of the highest rates of drunk driving injuries and fatalities, according to Florida traffic officials. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reported between 830 and 1,000 people die every year in December as a result of drunk driving. That’s why this month is also recognized as National Impaired Driving Prevention Month.

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A roaming black bear was reportedly the catalyst for a five-car crash resulting in the death of three good Samaritans and injuries to four others. Authorities report a group of duck hunters from Miami-Dade stopped to help a motorist whose vehicle was rendered disabled after a collision with a 430-pound black bear on Interstate 75 in Seminole.

As they were pulled over, a passing sport utility vehicle sideswiped one of the pickup trucks and then rolled over several times, striking several of the helpers and other vehicle as well.

Those killed – ages 43, 44 and 46 – were pronounced dead at the scene. At least two others suffered injuries classified as critical.

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Drunk drivers cause nearly one-third of all traffic fatalities nationally, or about 10,000 people each year. It’s surprising this figure isn’t higher when you consider research by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicates there were 112 million trips made by drunk drivers in 2010 alone.

We know persons injured by drunk drivers – or survivors of those killed – may seek compensation through the impaired driver’s insurance company or against the accused himself. In fact, personal injury judgments stemming from drunk driving cannot be discharged in bankruptcy, like many other kinds of debts. The law takes it pretty seriously.

But what if you are the drunk driver, and you were injured? In most cases, you may have a difficult time securing any significant recovery for damages in Florida unless you can prove your intoxication was not a major factor in the crash. For example: You were impaired, but the other driver ran a red light and caused the crash. Perhaps the other driver was impaired too.

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Most people give little thought to the guardrails that line countless highways throughout Florida and across the U.S. The purpose of these devices is to deflect vehicle occupants from careening into opposite lanes of traffic, off dangerous hillsides or from overturning. They aren’t 100 percent effective and they won’t usually prevent crashes, but they are intended to minimize the overall impact.

Unfortunately, several companies that make the rails have reportedly undertaken a cost-saving design measure that appears to have endangered public safety. Several different lawsuits against at least two major manufacturers of the devices allege designs were altered so that the edges are no longer cushioned or flat. This has reportedly resulted in the steel rails becoming “spear-like,” impaling vehicles rather than softening the blow, causing severe injuries and even deaths.

One of the largest manufacturers, Trinity Industries Inc., just lost a $175 million federal lawsuit alleging it changed the designs without the required approval from the U.S. Department of Transportation. Several more injury and wrongful death lawsuits against the company are pending, and 30 states have prohibited new installation of guardrails made by this company.

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Dram shop laws in most states allow victims of certain drunk drivers to seek recompense from those who illegally supplied alcohol to minors or intoxicated patrons who go on to cause injury or death.

However, there are sometimes allowances for the drunk driver (or surviving family) to also seek compensation for injury or wrongful death under these same statutes. The standard varies widely from state-to-state. Some states have expressly forbidden drunk drivers from tort claims relating to their own negligent acts. Others have expressly allowed it, indicating damages can be reduced by the apportionment of comparative fault.

Florida does not bar such claims, though success can be challenging.

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Umbrella insurance policies can provide great relief, both to policyholders and those injured as a result of negligence by policyholders.

While Florida law requires drivers to retain a minimal level of auto insurance, umbrella insurance policies aren’t mandated, but they can cover liability damages stemming from a crash. So if one’s auto insurance maximum isn’t enough to fully compensate injured parties for wreck-related costs, the next move would be to see if any other applicable insurance policies may be in place.

Because many people don’t carry umbrella insurance, injured parties usually go straight to their own carrier for uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage, which is supposed to cover the difference between the at-fault driver’s coverage and actual damages, up to the policy limit. But, when the negligent party does have an umbrella policy, your own carrier may require that you make a claim under that policy first, before pursuing UM coverage.

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A car accident that results in one or more vehicles being submerged in water can be terrifying for victims, and deadly. According to recent reports, Florida has the highest rate of car accident drowning deaths in the nation. Even in a minor accident, a passenger may struggle inside the vehicle to escape and thereby drown. In an Orlando case this year, witnesses saw a woman alive in her car as it sank in a lake. Authorities were not able to find the vehicle for weeks, despite witnesses who reported where it went down. This is only one example of a real threat in Florida — as the state that leads the nation in the number of individuals who drown in their cars every year.

According to reports, there were 49 victims of crash drowning in Florida between 2008 and 2012. Texas, holding the number two spot for fatality rates, had 18 crash drownings reported during the same period of time. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration suggests that these numbers may actually understate the reality of the problem. According to the NHTSA, Florida had an average of 57 deaths per year, and a total of 384 nationwide. The federal studies have a higher number of incidences reported because they also incorporate death certificates in addition to crash record. The federal agency incorporates death records that are not on public record. According to an analysis of all the documentation, Florida is leading the nation in car accident drownings, and most of the deaths are concentrated in the South Florida region. The highest rate of accidents occurred in Palm Beach County, Broward and Miami-Dade.

There are a number of reasons why Florida has the highest rate of car accident drownings. For one, the state has hundreds more mile of roads with water frontage than in other states. This includes natural waters, such as lakes, as well as man-made retention ponds that road builders are required to dig in accordance with state and local environmental laws. Experts who have studied the high rate of crash drowning accidents blame the Florida roadside canals. Critics and safety advocates also suggest that there aren’t enough guard rails and that state highways are not build to federal safety standards.

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