Fort Lauderdale Car Accident Attorney Blog

Our Fort Lauderdale car accident attorneys have been talking recently about the dangers and the risks that are associated with aggressive driving and with road rage. You may remember that we told you about the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles (DHSMV) and its efforts to crack down on these drivers through the “Ticketing Aggressive Cars and Trucks” campaign. The efforts focused on motorists’ driving behavior around large trucks in an effort to reduce the number of commercial vehicle-related accidents. You may have seen the billboards or heard the radio ads promoting this campaign. Well, the results are in.

There were three separate enforcement periods during this campaign that took place from February to May. During this time, officers were on the road looking for drivers who were displaying aggressive tendencies behind the wheel, including speeding, tailgating and changing lanes improperly. According to the DHSMV, there were nearly 5,000 citations issued during the campaign. Nearly half of those citations were directly related to aggressive driving. To help to cover the roadways better and to spread the word a little more efficiently, officials with the DHSMV teamed up with the Florida Trucking Association (FTA) for the campaign. The duo conducted a number of activities throughout the state to help to educate drivers about the risks of aggressive driving as well as to teach drivers the proper skills to use to share the roadway with commercial trucks safely.

Our Fort Lauderdale injury attorneys understand that our roadways can frustrate drivers at times. Much of the year we’ve got to deal with tourists, with heavy traffic flow and with various kinds of travelers on our roadways. These factors can cause traffic, delays and accidents. It’s super important to keep your cool behind the wheel to not only avoid a citation from an officer but to also help to prevent a potentially fatal accident.

“Whether you are driving a commercial motor vehicle or a passenger car, it is a driver’s responsibility to drive with care,” said Col. David Brierton with the Florida Highway Patrol (FHP).

Commercials trucks can be found on roadways statewide. These vehicles operate much differently than the motor vehicles that you and I drive. It’s important to practice safe and responsible driving habits around these vehicles to help to avoid an accident. Oftentimes, accidents with these vehicles can result in deadly consequences. Their size and weight bring about a lot of power. It’s important to allow these vehicles with plenty of space on our roadways. Never follow too closely or cut off a commercial vehicle. It’s most important to try to stay out of their blind spots. If you cannot see a driver, they cannot see you.

Remember to keep your cool, too. It can get frustrating on our roadways. Getting angry does nothing more than to increase your risks for accidents. Be safe and calm out there.
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Teens face some of the most dangerous risks for car accidents in Port St. Lucie and elsewhere. Much of these risks are the result of their inexperience behind the wheel. Believe it or not but much of their risks are due to a cause that’s completely preventable — distractions.

Every day, more and more teens are getting into accidents because they’re simply not paying attention behind the wheel. Just ask 18-year-old Massachusetts teen Aaron Deveau, who was recently found guilty on charges of vehicular homicide because of texting while driving, according to CNN.

Because the teen was text messaging while driving, he got into a car accident that wound up killing a 55-year-old and seriously injuring another person. The teen was charged and convicted of vehicular homicide, negligent operation of a vehicle and texting while driving because of that 2011 accident.

Our Port St. Lucie injury lawyers have been talking recently about the risks and the dangers that our young drivers face on our roadways, especially when distractions are involved. This time of the year is the most dangerous on our roadways for these motorists. We’re asking parents to share this story, the story of Massachusetts’ Aaron Deveau to let them know just how serious of a problem distracted driving is and what kind of consequences it comes with. Knowledge is key in helping to prevent these kinds of accidents.

“I made a mistake,” Deveau said. “If I could take it back, I would take it back.”

The judge in Deveau’s case sentenced him to nearly three years behind bars on the vehicular homicide charge and another two years on the texting and causing injury charge. The teen driver will be serving one year concurrently on both of the charges. The balance of both charges is suspended for five years. In addition, his driver’s license will be suspended for another 15 years.

The accident happened back in 2011 when the young driver drove his car across the center lines of a road in Haverhill. A cell phone served as the distraction and took the young driver’s eyes off of the roadway. As his car drove into oncoming traffic, he slammed head on into the victim’s vehicle killing the driver and seriously injuring the passenger. Police officers believe that the teen erased some of his texts and phone calls before officers arrived, as these young drivers are not allowed to use cell phones while driving.

That’s not the case in Florida. Drivers of all ages in the Sunshine State are allowed to text message and make phone calls as they wish, unfortunately. There are 38 states that prohibit all drivers from text messaging behind the wheel. Another 31 states have banned novice drivers from using a cell phone behind the wheel, according to the Governor’s Highway Safety Association (GHSA).
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Teen drivers are entering the 100 Deadliest Days for car accidents in West Palm Beach and elsewhere. During this time of the year, students are on summer break from school and you may have noticed the increase in young drivers on our roadways because of it.

To help to increase roadway safety, AT&T and law enforcement officials will be working through the “It Can Wait” campaign. This campaign works to get teenage drivers to hang up the phone and put off the text messaging while they’re behind the wheel. The “It Can Wait” campaign was launched last year in Massachusetts and since then officials across the country have hopped on board with its life-saving message, according to FOX 29.

“Memorial Day is the beginning of the 100 deadliest days of the year for teen drivers, and dangerous behavior like texting and driving is a contributing factor,” said area president of AT&T, Patricia Jacobs.

Our West Palm Beach car accident attorneys understand that teens know that texting while driving is extremely dangerous and it significantly increases their risks for a potentially fatal accident.

Unfortunately, these young drivers continue to send and receive text messages behind the wheel. According to a recent study by AT&T, more than 95 percent of these young drivers understand the dangers, but still about three-quarters of them continue to do it.

It’s time to really raise awareness and get them to stop, but there’s a few hurdles we’ve got to overcome first! The problem is, according to the study, that teens feel a lot of pressure to respond to messages and continue to do so even when they’re behind the wheel. Another popular explanation for this habit is parental examples, meaning too many parents are texting behind the wheel and are setting a poor example for their learning drivers.

Text Message Stats:

-Texting is the number one mode of communication for teenagers.

-Teens text, on average, about 5 times more than adults.

-Drivers who text behind the wheel are about 23 times more likely to get into an accident.

With teens out on summer break, parents and guardians are asked to talk with them about the dangers of distracted driving and other dangerous habits behind the wheel. Cell phones and text messaging devices continue to be some of the top causes of teen motor vehicle accidents in the state. Still, there’s no state law stopping them from doing so and that’s why we’re calling on you. Work to make sure your teen understands the dangers and pledges to keep distractions out of the driver’s seat.
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According to The Palm Beach Post, the number of teen car accidents in Weston and elsewhere could be reduced if state lawmakers beefed up their teen driving laws by taking steps to reinforce Graduated Driver’s Licensing (GDL) program.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) recently released a report that compared the teen driving laws in all 50 states. The report states that Florida would see a near 50 percent reduction in fatal accidents among drivers aged 15- to 17-years-old if it were to enact just a few stronger rules on its young drivers, like instituting a teen passenger restriction or raising the age to get a learner’s permit.

“If every state adopted all five components of the toughest young driver laws in the nation, more than 500 lives could be saved and more than 9,500 collisions could be prevented each year,” claims the IIHS report.

Our Weston car accident lawyers understand that there are five components to comprehensive teen driving laws. These five issues can help to reduce the risks of accidents and they include, teen passenger restrictions, nighttime driving hours, licensing age, supervised driving hours and permit age. The IIHS says that the best time to allow a driver with an intermediate license in the age of 17, which doesn’t happen in here of Florida. Drivers in our state can get a learner’s permit at 15, an operational license at 16 and then an unrestricted license at 18.

“States could see immediate reductions in fatal crashes and collision claims as soon as the beefed-up provisions are in force,” says Anne McCartt with the IIHS.

Teens throughout the country are required to complete various versions of the Graduated Driver’s Licensing (GDL) program before they can hit the road without any specialized laws. Through the GDL program, teen drivers learn valuable skills through a variety of stages with different sets of rules, exposing them to driving techniques a few at a time. When their program is completed, they’re set out on the road to abide by the same road laws as you and I.

Back in the 90s, states started to pass GDL laws. By the end of 2000, all but nine states had various GDL laws. Unfortunately, these laws and regulations vary from state to state because there is still no nationwide GDL program.

Back in 2000, the IIHS started looking at states and their GDL programs and started rating their regulations and their effectiveness. Back then, there were only six states that pulled good rankings. Nine returned poor ratings.

In 2010, there were 80 teen drivers killed in car accidents across the state. That’s a zero percent change from the year before, suggesting that state lawmakers need to beef up their laws and enforcement of them to help keep our young drivers safe.
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Our Parkland car accident attorneys have talked before about connected vehicle technology and its abilities to help to reduce accidents on roadways across the nation. Well, this technology has taken the next step in its development. The Research and Innovation Technology Administration (RITA) and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) have been working alongside automakers to research this kind of technology, which allows vehicles to “talk” to one another through Wi-Fi.

Now, the technology is being tested and those who have used it are giving it the thumbs up! Most drivers are saying that they feel the benefits of the technology and support its use, saying it has what it takes to help to make our roadways safer for everyone.

With the “vehicle-to-vehicle” technology, our cars may be able to talk to one another to help to avoid an accident in Parkland and elsewhere. The new in-car technology, currently in its research stages, was recently tested by nearly 700 drivers through six clinics throughout the country. Researchers collected feedback from the clinic participants and determined that an overwhelming majority of the participants would like to use the technology in their own cars. Nearly everyone reports that they felt that the technology has the potential to help make our roadways safer for everyone.

The clinics were designed to see how drivers would interact with the systems and to see if there were any glitches that needed to be worked out. About 80 percent of drivers said that they strongly agreed with the features and would like it in their vehicles. About 90 percent said that they feel that it would improve driving conditions in the real world, including helping to reduce the risks of forward collisions, helping to alert drivers about cars approaching an intersection and helping to notify drivers of other cars changing lanes or moving into the blind spots.

The organizations and automakers will be launching a second phase of research this summer. In this phase, there will be about 3,000 vehicles that are equipped with these various crash-avoidance technologies. These cars will be let loose in Ann Arbor, Michigan. In these vehicles, the systems will also be able to communicate with the roadway and with other cars equipped with the system, keeping vehicles where they need to be and out of accidents.

Vehicle manufacturers working with the USDOT to perfect this technology:

-Volkswagen Group of America, Inc.

-Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America, Inc.

-Nissan Technical Center North America.

-Mercedes-Benz Research and Development North America, Inc.

-Hyundai-Kia America Technical Center, Inc.

-Honda R&D Americas, Inc.

-General Motors LLC.

-Ford Motor Company

Next, the NHTSA will determine by 2013 if they’ll be proceeding on with the project and will conduct more technology development, research and activities.
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A West Palm Beach car accident landed a 48-year-old driver behind bars for nearly 23 years. The judge determined that it was the man’s road rage than contributed to the death of a 30-year-old woman involved in the accident.

The man was found guilty of charges of reckless driving, leaving the scene of a fatal crash and vehicular homicide, according to News12.

According to accident reports, it all happened when the male driver became enraged after the female accidentally pulled in front of his car. The man drove back into the female’s lane and forced her into oncoming traffic where she ran head on into an oncoming car and was killed. Another motorist followed the man’s car, took down his license plate and reported him to authorities.

Our West Palm Beach car accident attorneys understand how prevalent aggressive driving and road rage are on our roadways. According to RoadRagers.com, there are a lot of drivers who get angry behind the wheel, a little more than you may think. This type of behavior can be found on some of our roads, too. Enraged drivers are common during the tourist season and the summer travel season. Roads get awfully crowded and congested and the backup doesn’t make many happy. That’s when it gets dangerous.

Of more than 11,000 people surveyed on RoadRagers.com, nearly 60 percent revealed road rage characteristics.

Statistically speaking, young men are more prone to displaying road rage characteristics behind the wheel. Exactly why this is has yet to be determined. Some say that it’s a predisposition to aggression, others say it could be the result of lack of experience and others say it could be as simple as the fact that young men tend to drive more than older drivers. Either way, male drivers under the age of 19 most commonly display road rage characteristics on our roadways.

Nearly 60 percent of men say that they experience road rage on a daily basis while less than 45 percent of women say this. More men also admitted to retaliating against others when they felt angry or provoked on our roadways.

What is road rage?

-Road rage is a display of aggression by a driver, most commonly including physical assault or other dangerous maneuvers, in which harm or injury is the desired result.

-According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), road rage “involves a criminal act of violence, whereas aggressive driving can range from tailgating to speeding to running red lights.”

-Across the country, up to 1,200 road rage-related deaths a year have been reported as a result of road rage. Experts believe that number is much higher.

-Although more than 60 percent of drivers say that they’ve been victimized by aggressive tailgaters, only 6 percent admitted to doing it themselves. Road rage is not widely recognized in drivers’ own habits.
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If you haven’t created the habit of buckling your seat belt every time you get into the car, officials in the area suggest you start now. Local and state law enforcement officers will be on the hunt for you if you don’t.

Officials in Port St. Lucie and the surrounding areas will be working hard during this year’s “Click It or Ticket” campaign to help to keep drivers safe on our roadways. Nationwide, nearly 90 percent of drivers say they wear their seat belt. It’s that last 10 percent that’s at some serious risks for fatal car accidents in Port. St. Lucie and elsewhere.

“Between seatbelts and basic traffic education we do out here, it’s helped considerably,” said Port. St. Lucie Motor Officer Terry Russell.

Our Port St. Lucie car accident attorneys understand that officers throughout the state will be combing our roadways in search of irresponsible drivers — including those who aren’t buckled in. It’s all a part of this year’s “Click It or Ticket” campaign. Officers are looking to make our roadways as safe as possible during the launch of the summer travel season. This year’s campaign will be going on from now through the 3rd of June.

Officers in Port St. Lucie will be on the hunt for drivers who aren’t buckled up. When one is spotted in an enforcement trap, an officer will call down a few hundred yards to another officer and alert them. During the first half day of the campaign, officers in the city already snagged nearly 100 drivers. Officers though say that this isn’t just about writing tickets, according to News Channel 5.

According to Florida’s law, everyone who is under the age of 18-years-old needs to be wearing a seat belt regardless of which seat they’re sitting it. All drivers and those who are sitting in the front seat are also required to buckle up.

This campaign has been launched to get drivers into good habits before everyone hits the road for the summer travel season. In 2001, there were nearly 700 million long distance summer trips taken during the 16-weeks between Memorial Day and Labor Day, according to Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA). The average summer trip is nearly 300 miles away from motorists’ homes. One out of every 20 of these trips is more than 1,000 miles. About 90 percent of these trips are taken in personal vehicles. Half of these trips take place on Saturday and Sunday, causing seriously high risks for accidents on our roadways during the weekend. Drivers who are taking longer trips typically begin their ventures on Friday.

Regardless of where you’re going or how long you’re going for, it’s important that you plan ahead before heading out. Be sure that you know where you’re going, that you leave with plenty of time to spare, that you’ve mapped out your trip before getting on the road and that you keep your attention on the task at hand — arriving safely. Safe and responsible driving habits can help to turn your summer vacation into a safe one.
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The National Safety Council (NSC) is concluding that we’ve already seen a near 12 percent increase in the number of fatal car accidents in Vero Beach and elsewhere during the first three months of this year in comparison to the same numbers at this time in 2011.

In 2011, there were about 7,300 traffic accident fatalities through January to March. During the same time this year, we’ve already seen nearly 8,200. The increase worries officials but they’re working diligently to pinpoint the cause.
Some point to the total of vehicle miles driven for the increase. Drivers in our country have contributed to quite an increase in the number of miles driven since December of 2011. Another reason, experts believe, may be the improving economy. As our economy continues to recover, drivers feel a little more comfortable spending at the pump and hitting the open road.

Our Vero Beach car accident attorneys understand that the increase in accident fatalities predicts what we have to look forward to the rest of the year. Unfortunately, that’s not good news. Luckily, it’s not too late to help to reduce these risks. Drivers are asked to be cautious behind the wheel and to plan ahead before heading out on summer road trips to help to make travel as safe as possible.

Lastly, researchers believe that the three-month increase that’s already been recorded this year just might be a product of the mild winter season we saw. With less weather chaos, drivers may have felt more comfortable hitting the road to their winter destinations. As with all travel, an increase results in increased risks for accidents.

“The Council will be keeping a close eye on our monthly traffic fatality estimates to discern if this increase is just a temporary blip,” said Janet Froetscher, president and CEO of the NSC.

These accidents are tough. Not only do they take our loved ones from us, but they’re quite costly too! Fatal car accidents account for a significant cost in medical expenses, lost wages and productivity, employer costs, administrative expenses and property damage. In 2011, just injuries and damaged property resulted in about $260 billion.

Safe Driving Tips from the NSC to help to reverse the current trend:

-Always wear a seat belt.

-Never drive under the influence of alcohol of drugs.

-Keep your focus on the road and avoid engaging in distractions.

-Practice defensive driving habits.

-Avoid aggressive driving. Stay calm at the wheel.

-Leave early for your destination to avoid speeding.

-Make sure your vehicle is in good working order before you set out.

-Keep your gas tank at least half full.

-Be cautious when driving during evening hours.

-Avoid driving at night. Be careful if you must.

-Figure out directions before heading out.
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