Florida Injury Lawyer Blog

Officials with the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles (DHSMV) is conducting a week-long campaign targeting aggressive drivers. But even then the fight is far from over.

With the upcoming Memorial Day holiday weekend, drivers will hit the roadways and head out on weekend vacations. During this time, Florida law enforcement will be out once again looking for dangerous and aggravated drivers.

“The Florida Highway Patrol is committed to keeping our roadways safe for all motorists,” said Col. David Brierton with the Florida Highway Patrol.

Our Fort Myers car accident lawyers understand that many of you will be doing some traveling over the Memorial Day weekend. As you can expect, our roadways are going to be packed. It’s important that you keep your cool behind the wheel to help to avoid a potential accident. Yes, it can get frustrating out there. Just remember that we’re all in this together and we all want to get where we’re going safely. Love thy neighbor (or the driver of car next to you).

To help to push the importance of this campaign, officials have posted billboards around the Orlando, Tampa and Daytona Beach areas. They’re aimed at getting trucks and passenger cars to share the roadway safely with one another. Officials with the Florida Trucking Association (FTA) are also on board with this safety campaign.

Those with the FTA have partnered with the FHP to raise awareness about commercial trucks’ “No Zones” or their blind spots. When traveling around large, commercial vehicles, it’s important that we travel with care. These vehicles operate much differently than our passenger cars and may accelerate or brake more slowly or make wide turns. Just because they’re a little slower sometimes, that’s no reason to drive around them like a maniac — tailgating and cutting them off.

By definition, aggressive driving occurs when “an individual commits a combination of moving traffic offenses so as to endanger other persons or property” (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration). This behavior includes any two of the following: tailgating, speeding, cutting off another driver, improper or unsafe lane change, neglecting to yield the right of way and even failure to obey traffic signals.

Although it can get frustrating out there, there are things you can do to avoid becoming an aggressive driver. All you have to do is monitor your own state of mind to make sure you aren’t a danger to others. Allow enough time to reach your destination without speeding. Keep food in the car. Monitor your emotions; and don’t drive if you’re upset.
Continue reading ›

As we recently reported, text messaging drivers could soon be banned in the state of Florida. The decision not sits with Gov. Rick Scott.

According to Florida Today, all the governor has to do is sign the measure that made it through this year’s legislative session. Similar measures have failed to make it through the lawmaking process each year since at least 2006. The law would make it illegal for all drivers in the state of Florida to text message while driving.

Our Naples car accident lawyers understand that Florida is one of the only states left in the country to still allow drivers to engage in this dangerous behavior. And it’s risking the lives of a lot of innocent people. Under the new measure (Senate Bill 52), drivers would still be allowed to text message while stopped, like at a stop light.

In other, words, the measure is far too lenient, even should it make it into law. The governor hasn’t said if he’s going to sign it.

Under the law, drivers would only be able to be busted for text messaging and driving if they’re pulled over for something else first. So it would be a secondary enforcement law. Only then could you be cited. With a new amendment added to the bill earlier in the week by the House, police and prosecutors can seek cell phone records after an accident if an injury or death resulted.

If Scott goes ahead and approves this bill, the state of Florida would become one of the last states in the country to have any kind of restriction on text messaging while driving.

Also permitted under this measure are the use of GPS devices and other electronics. Talk-to-text services would still be allowed as long as the driver doesn’t have to manually type or read messages. In addition to texting, the bill prohibits reading or writing emails, or other messages.

Year after year, there are thousands of people who are killed in distracted driving car accidents. Still, Florida lawmakers haven’t made the moves to put an end to this dangerous driving behavior.

Drivers who use hand-held devices are close to 5 times more likely to get into crashes serious enough to injure themselves. When a driver is text messaging behind the wheel, they’re close to 25 times more likely to get into an accident.

Sending or receiving a text takes a driver’s eyes from the road for an average of 4.6 seconds, the equivalent-at 55 mph-of driving the length of an entire football field, blind.

Law or no law, there should never be a phone call or a text message that’s worth risking your own life or the lives of other innocent travelers. If you’ve got some business to attend to, make sure you do so when you’re safely stopped. No text message or phone call should be worth a human life.
Continue reading ›

Florida is an attractive retirement destination and many elderly people live within the state. Unfortunately, in Florida and in many other parts of the country, older people often have a hard time getting around. In fact, as Aging in Place Stuck Without Options points out, by 2015 there will be 15.5 million elder Americans ages 65 and up living in communities with either no public transportation or with very limited public transportation. Seniors who cannot drive and who do not have access to buses or other reliable public transportation may have no options but to move into assisted living facilities or to try to walk to their destinations.

Our Fort Myers accident attorneys know that those seniors who choose to walk will face major risks. This is because the odds of dying in a pedestrian traffic accident double for those over the age of 75 when compared with younger walkers ages 34 and under.

Seniors at Risk in Pedestrian Accidents
WMBB Panama City Florida recently published an article about the dangers that older pedestrians face. According to the article, CDC experts reviewed data on the more than 34,000 traffic accidents that occurred each year in the United States. The CDC looked at this data from 2001 to 2010 to get a better idea of how older pedestrians were faring.

What they found was that elderly pedestrians were about twice as likely to die in pedestrian crashes than people under the age of 34. The CDC experts who commented on the finding also indicated that this problem is probably going to get worse as more people age. With no public transportation in so many areas, those who want to remain independent for as long as they can will likely be forced to try to walk if they need to go somewhere.

The CDC also cautions that this higher death rate for seniors exists despite the fact that seniors actually take fewer walks than young people. This means that the higher death rate cannot necessarily be attributed to the fact that there are simply more senior walkers. Instead, there are other factors that make senior citizens more likely to die in pedestrian accidents.

Some of the factors that up the chance of a fatality for a senior walker include:

• An increased chance of an accident occurring. Due to limited mobility, cognitive and physical impairments, senior pedestrians may be more likely than their younger counterparts to get into a pedestrian accident. Seniors may also have a more difficult time getting out of the way if they are in the path of an oncoming car because they cannot move quickly enough.
• An increased chance of dying when an accident does occur. Due to weaker aged bodies as well as existing health issues, seniors in general are more likely to die if they are involved in a pedestrian crash than those who are younger.

This is a major problem that is likely to only get worse as the baby boomers age. Loved ones and family members of seniors will need to try to take action to ensure their older relatives are safe and not in danger of getting hurt in pedestrian crashes.
Continue reading ›

Recently, Mothers Against Drunk Driving targeted two campaigns at teenagers. The first was intended to keep kids safe at prom and was called Promoting Safe Behavior. The second was Alcohol Awareness Month, which took place in the month of April.

Both of these events were intended to remind parents and teenagers about the dangers of drinking while underage. Our Fort Myers accident attorneys know that a young person who drinks faces many potential dangers and also puts others at risk if he or she chooses to drive after consuming alcohol. The efforts of MADD to draw attention to the problem of teen drinking are important efforts, especially as graduation approaches and as many teens make dangerous decisions during a celebratory time in their lives.

Graduation & Summer Vacation Present Risks

Both of the MADD events came at an opportune time because now is a very risky time for teenagers. Many young teens will celebrate their graduation at parties where they consume alcohol. Often, these teens will take risks at these parties and MADD lists a number of dangerous behaviors that teens may engage in including unsafe sex and driving drunk.

Teens who go to graduation parties may drive home from those parties drunk or may do risky things at the parties including consuming too much alcohol and putting themselves in a position where their chances of sexual assault go up. When teens do these things, they not only could hurt themselves but they could also hurt innocent bystanders who happen to encounter them on the roads.

Once graduation passes, teens also take many risks in the summertime. With no school and with many parents working, teens often spend their days and nights getting into trouble that could include, drinking, taking drugs or even just joyriding around with their friends. The more teens drive and the more passengers they have in their car at once, the greater the chances of an accident occurring that results in the young driver hurting himself, his passengers and others on the road.

Staying Safe
Teens need to remember that there is lots of life beyond graduation and summer vacation. Taking dangerous and unnecessary driving risks isn’t worth it because these risks could cause them to kill or injure themselves or to end up in jail for causing a car wreck that kills or injures someone else.

Parents should also take steps to keep kids this safe during graduation and over the summer season. This means making sure that teens understand the dangers of drunk driving; that they are supervised so they don’t get into trouble; and that they are restricted from going to parties or events where there will be no supervision and where alcohol will be served.

If parents and teens both make a commitment to staying safe through graduation and summer vacation, then many lives will be saved this year.
Continue reading ›

Florida is on the verge of implementing its first distracted driving law — one of the last state’s in the nation to do so. It’s going to come down to the decision of Gov. Rick Scott, as the bill sits on his desk awaiting his signature.

Florida is one of the only states in the country to allow drivers to talk on a cell phone and text message behind the wheel. With the passing of Senate Bill 52, police will now be allowed to use drivers’ cell phone records against them when texting causes an accident that results in death or personal injury, according to NBC News.

Republican Sen. Joe Negron of Stuart was the only one to vote against the bill.

Our Fort Myers car accident lawyers understand that there are close to 40 states that ban drivers from text messaging behind the wheel. Florida is not one of those states. Even though our nation is losing thousands of lives each and every year — more than 3,300 in 2011 — drivers are still permitted to take their attention off driving without the fear of legal action. Unfortunately, accidents that are caused by cell phone-using drivers are believed to be seriously underreported nationwide, according to officials with the National Safety Council (NSC).

“We believe the number of crashes involving cellphone use is much greater than what is being reported,” said Janet Foetscher, with the NSC.

One reason that officials believe that these causes aren’t being reported is because when an officer responds to an accident, he may have no reason to suspect distraction, according to NBC2. Another reason we hardly ever hear about these kinds of accidents is because drivers are hesitant to admit that it was their fault and that they were distracted when an accident happened.

For quite some time now, officials with the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) have urged states to enact laws that would stop drivers from using any kind of electronic device in the driver’s seat. These suggestions have fallen on deaf ears in the state of Florida.

Nearly 20 percent of injury crashes in 2010 were reported as distraction-affected crashes.

These kinds of accidents are completely preventable. There is never a legitimate reason to take your eyes off of the road. Although it may not be the law here in the state of Florida, we know right from wrong. We know to get out of the water when we see a shark — because we know it’s dangerous. And we know distracted driving is dangerous, so why do we still do it?

Step up and be that change you want to see. Put down the cell phone, turn off the text messaging devices and keep the distractions to a minimum.
Continue reading ›

The nifty electronic gadgets in new vehicles might be limited in the future, if officials with the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) get their way. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), officials want navigation devices, entertainment devices and communication devices all kept to a minimum to reduce the risks of distracted driving accidents.

“Combined with good laws, good enforcement and good education, these guidelines can save lives,” said Ray LaHood with the DOT.

Our Naples car accident lawyers understand that Florida is one of the only states left in the country that has yet to enact and kind of distracted driving law. That’s right. Drivers in the state of Florida are still allowed to talk on their cell phone, send and receive text messages, shoot out emails and event surf Facebook and other social media sites, all while trying to navigate on our busy roadways. Because drivers are still participating in these dangerous activities, distractions continue to be a leading cause of car accidents nationwide — especially here in the state of Florida.

According to Distraction.gov, there were more than 3,330 people killed in crashes involving a distracted driver in 2011, compared to 3,267 in 2010. An additional, 387,000 people were injured in motor vehicle crashes involving a distracted driver, compared to 416,000 injured in 2010.

Now, the NHTSA has issued voluntary guidelines to help make sure that unnecessary distractions are ousted from new vehicles. All of the devices that require a driver to take their hands off of the road to use for more than two seconds at a time and 12 seconds total fall under the guideline. This includes:

-Any kind of manual text entry.

-Any kind of video-based entertainment or communication devices.

-Any kind of display that requires you to look.

These recommendations come with the findings of a new study, The Impact of Hand-Held and Hands-Free Cell Phone Use on Driving Performance and Safety Critical Event Risk. Researchers were able to prove in this study that these kinds of tasks increase a driver’s risk for an accident by nearly three times.

Unfortunately, there are a lot of drivers who think that they can do it all behind the wheel. They think they’ve been driving long enough to multitask. The truth of the matter is that our brains aren’t designed to multitask. Where we think we can split our attention between tasks efficiently, the truth of the matter is that our brains are only shifting from one task to another. We can’t have our full attention on two things at once. This means that our driving attention is going to fail while we’re paying attention to electronic devices in our vehicle.

Regardless of whether these regulations are put in place, we have the ability to change. There’s never a phone call or a text message that should be worth risking the lives of motorists — including our own. Stay safe out there and keep your eyes on the road.
Continue reading ›