Florida Injury Lawyer Blog

On Sunday, we turned our clocks back from 2:00 a.m. to 1:00 a.m. to mark the end of Daylight Savings Time.

We’re going to get an extra hour of sleep time, but we’re going to pay for it with increased risks for car accidents. Low-light and dark driving conditions can have some serious and dangerous effects on your vision.

Drivers are going to be more likely to experience halos and glares when driving during the early morning and evening hours. A halo is the ring that you see around a point of light and glare is difficulty in seeing in bright environments like when you’re looking into the headlights of oncoming vehicles.

These two circumstances can cause for distorted images and may make objects seem blurry or hazy, according to The Business Journals. In these cases, drivers may become distracted or they might become completely unaware of their surroundings. Since roadway dangers are already harder to see after dark, the risks increase exponentially.

Our Fort Myers car accident lawyers are asking drivers to make the proper adjustment to driving habits to help to compensate for these conditions. Drivers are asked to pay close attention to their surroundings when driving after the sun has set. Aside from having limited visibility when driving during the night, a majority of drivers are generally more fatigued at night. All of this makes it much tougher for drivers to concentrate on the road.

One of the first steps that you can take to better your nighttime driving is to talk to your eye doctor. They’ve got plenty of effective ways to help to improve your nighttime vision.

“Patients should ask their eye care professional about the solutions available, including new innovative contact lenses designed to reduce the appearance of halos and glare and/or glasses,” said Lorne Kashin, the vice president of the Optician’s Association of Canada.

There are a few other quick fixes for nighttime driving. Review the tips below to get on the road to safer nighttime driving.

Nighttime Driving Tips:

-Use your headlights. Your best driving with your headlights on at all times of the day. There’s no harm in it, and there are some serious benefits — like avoiding a car accident.

-Slow it down. You need more time to react to dangers when driving at night. Slowing down will help to increase your reaction time.

-Back off. Use a greater following distance behind other vehicles after the sun sets.

-Keep your eyes moving. Scan the road continuously to prevent your eyes from entering into an autonomous state.
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The state of Florida is lined by water and has bodies of water scattered throughout it. While it’s pleasant to live in paradise, it also comes with a lot of risks — like the risks for a submersion car accident.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reports that there are roughly 250 vehicle submersion car accidents that happen every year in the United States in which at least one person is killed.

More specifically, about 2 percent of these accidents wind up happening because of a rear-end accident. More than 10 percent of them are the result of a serious side crash, close to a 20 percent don’t involve a collision and are the result of a rollover accident and about 50 percent come from major frontal accidents.

Our Fort Myers car accident lawyers understand that these can be some of the worst accidents to happen on our roadways. It’s important that you’re prepared for these kinds of situations no matter how good of a driver you think you are. Cape Coral canals have been a particularly dangerous location for these crashes over the years.

We’re here to offer you some safety tips should you ever find yourself in a vehicle in one of Florida bodies of water. Review the safety tips listed below and share them with your friends and family members to help to increase the rate of survival in a submersion car accident.

If you vehicle drives into water:

-Stay calm. It might be difficult, but it’s important. You need to conserve your energy for the escape process and for helping others to get out of your car safely.

-As soon as you hit the water, you’ll want to try to roll down your windows, break one open or unlock your car doors.

-Most cars nowadays have power locks and windows. When these devices get into contact with water, it’s likely that they will stop working. This is why it’s important to make a move as soon as you hit the water.

-Consider buying a tool to shatter your window and to cut your seat belt. They can be purchased at any auto parts store.

-Once your vehicle starts to submerge, wait for the pressure to equalize. Once this happens, go ahead and try to open the door.

-Keep your seat belt on until you’re ready to escape. This will help to keep you sturdy and to keep you from flying around the cab while trying to open/break windows.

-Once you are out, check out the currents of the water. Always swim with the current, never against it.

The best safety precaution you can take is to try to avoid these kinds of accidents altogether. Try not to drive when there are hurricanes or major storms in the area. You also never want to travel along a roadway that’s flooded. Always adhere to road and traffic barriers and be extra cautious when driving at night, according to the National Safety Council (NSC).
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The weather in Southwest Florida can be tricky. At any moment throughout the day, rain can come pouring down. It almost comes without warning as “scattered showers” across the area can be highly unpredictable.

And, while we might be approaching the end of rainy season, that doesn’t mean we are approaching the end of these violent, sudden downpours. It’s a message state safety advocates are pushing after a recent weekend of rainy weather led to a host of serious and fatal crashes statewide.

We’re asking drivers to always be prepared for bad weather. No, we’re not talking about keeping an umbrella with you, but we’re asking to be prepared behind the wheel.

With the recent number of car accidents in rainy weather, officials with the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles (DHSMV) find it necessary to make this reminder, too. Weather was blamed for a number of car accidents along both Interstate 75 and Interstate 10 over the last few rainy weekends. Now, officials with the Florida Highway Patrol (FHP) are asking motorists to consider the weather and the condition of the road before stepping on the gas.

Our Naples car accident attorneys understand how important it is to adjust your driving habits to counteract the weather. When we get those afternoon showers, it’s important that we slow it down on our roadways. When our streets are wet and slick, the risks for our vehicles sliding out of control increase significantly. Cars can’t stop as easily and accidents are more common.

“Incidents such as these are a reminder of the precautions motorists should take while driving in extreme weather,” said Col. David Brierton, who is the director of the FHP.

FHP officials offer a few simple driving tips that can help you to stay safe during our fickle Florida weather. Review the safety tips and share them with your friends and family members, and remember to keep an umbrella with you at all times.

Safe Driving Tips:

-When the weather starts to get a little gloomy, slow it down. You need more time to react and you need better control of your vehicle when the storms roll in. Slow it down to achieve both of these.

-Never travel too closely to other vehicles. You want ample time to react to dangers. You also need more time to stop. Do this by staying away from other vehicles. You’re going to need more than the 2-second rule on wet roadways.

-If it’s raining too hard and you’re having a tough time seeing the road, pull over to the side, stop and wait it out. There’s no reason that you should drive in conditions that you can’t see through. Put on your emergency flashers and stay in your vehicle.

-Always drive with your headlights on, especially in poor weather conditions. This not only helps you to see, but it helps others to see you more easily.

-Keep an eye on the condition of your car. Make sure your tires are in good condition and your windshield wipers work well. In the middle of a storm is no time to figure out that either of these need to be replaced.

-Always wear a seat belt. Seat belts can be your saving grace in the event of an accident. Make sure that everyone in your car is properly buckled in, too.
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Recently, safe driving advocates and officials with the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles (DHSMV) joined residents nationwide in wearing white for safety.

It was all a part of this year’s Teen Driver Safety Week. By wearing white, residents helped to symbolize the effort to white out teen car accidents.

Our Cape Coral car accident lawyers understand that car crashes continue to be the number one cause of death of teenagers across the nation. This is no different in the state of Florida. As a matter of fact, there were approximately 700,000 licensed teenagers in the state of Florida last year. About 30,000 of these drivers were involved in crashes. Close to 200 of them lost their lives.

To help to spread the word about the risks and the dangers that our teens face behind the wheel, officials with the DHSMV and with the FHP visited schools across the state, including in Miami, Tampa, Apopka and Tallahassee, and are conducting presentations. These presentations showed these young drivers what exactly happens in the event of a serious car accident. The perspective is presented through the eyes of the paramedics, so our young drivers are getting a first-hand look at just how gruesome these crashes can be.

During these presentations, officers focused on the risks that are presented when teens have too many young passengers in the vehicle, when they drive while distracted, when they drive under the influence of alcohol and drugs and also the importance of wearing a seat belt during every car ride, whether you’re the driver or you’re a passenger.

“Getting your driver’s license for the first time is a rite of passage and a very exciting time for teens as they gain added independence,” said Julie L. Jones with the DHSMV.

We need to remind our young drivers that having a driver’s license is a responsibility that needs to be taken seriously and it is a privilege that can be taken away when not handled correctly.

It’s important that we teach our teens to be safe drivers from the beginning. The driving habits that they learn during their first few months behind the wheel are the driving habits that they’re most likely going to carry with them for the rest of their lives. Let’s make sure these are responsible and safe habits!

This year’s campaign is Drive with CARE (Courtesy, Attention, Responsibility and Experience). Let’s make sure that we’re instilling all of these qualities in our newly licensed drivers. Make sure they’re aware of the state’s Graduated Driver’s Licensing (GDL) program and they’re abiding by these laws as well as the other rules of the road.

Where you think these laws are lacking, create your own parent-teen driving contract to enforce in your household. Lay down additional rules for all drivers to follow and lay down the consequences for breaking these rules, too.

You want driving to be as black and white as possible. There’s no room for questions here. It’s safe driving habits or none at all.
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You better be careful out there. According to the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles (DHSMV), officials with the Florida Highway Patrol (FHP) are on the hunt for dangerous drivers as part of Operation Safe Driver.

We’ve got the beginning of season, which coincides with the busy holiday travel period. Football and the trio of year-end holidays increase the risk of drunk driving accidents. Motorcycles are hitting the road for the winter riding season. And our teenagers are behind the wheel and always benefit from proper guidance in the fight to stay safe.

During the month of October, FHP officers will be pushing the national awareness and enforcement campaign that’s used to target the unsafe driving habits of both commercial and non-commercial drivers. During this time, they’ll be conducting a number of commercial-vehicle driver-safety inspections across the state.

Our Fort Myers car accident lawyers know with the increase in traffic, we can all get a little irritated behind the wheel. t’s important that we take a step back and focus on safe and responsible driving during this time of the year. This is especially important on busy, fast-traveling roadways, like Interstate 75, where there are large commercial vehicles. Accidents involving these tractor-trailers typically result in very serious or fatal injuries to the occupants of passenger cars. Our passenger vehicles stand little to no chance against the weight, size and power of these trucks.

“The campaign aims to educate all motorists on the risks involved with aggressive and distracted driving around large trucks,” says Col. David Brierton, Director of the FHP.

Safe Driving Tips for Traveling with Trucks:

-Stay calm. These vehicles travel a lot differently than the vehicles we drive. Allow them extra time and space on our roadways.

-Make sure you never cut in front of a truck and you never follow too closely behind one. They take longer to accelerate and brake.

-Never engage in distractions behind the wheel. The road needs your full attention!

-Adjust your driving habits to accommodate the weather and traffic conditions.

-Make sure you obey all road laws, including posted speed limit signs and other traffic devices.

-Make your maneuvers in traffic as predictable as possible. Always use a blinker. You should always drive with your headlights on, too. This will help to make you more visible. Stay one step ahead of the traffic around you.

-Always wear your seat belt. These devices can mean the difference between life and death in an accident with a commercial truck.

-Never travel in a truck’s blind spots. These are the spots to the side, in the back and directly in front of a truck. In these areas, truckers cannot see you. Remember, if you can’t see the driver then they cannot see you.

FHP officials will be conducting a number of safety inspections to help to further your safety. Last year, officers conducted more than 100,000 inspections on commercial vehicles. Close to 20,000 of these trucks and these drivers were put out of service because of the safety violations that were discovered.
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You might have a new license plate on your vehicle soon as authorities look to make plates easier to read for law enforcement, red light cameras and toll booth workers.

It’s not going to cost you anything either, according to The Ledger. As a matter of fact, the new plates are expected to save the state some money in the long run, according to officials.

The new license plates are being pressed by Florida’s Governor Rick Scott. He says that the savings that we’ll make with the new plates will help to put money back in our schools. But the cost to get drivers their new plates is $30 million.

In the long run, officers will have an easier time seeing these plates on cameras and will be able to ticket drivers easier. As it stands now, only about one out of every six drivers who pass through a toll booth without paying are ever cited because the plates are declared “unreadable.” These drivers are costing taxpayers in the state of Florida about $7 million each and every year.

Our Cape Coral car accident attorneys understand that toll booths and toll evaders are a big concern for us here in the Cape. Visitors to the city are required to pay that $2 toll to help us to pay for the bridge and to help to keep our roadways safe. We can’t afford drivers sneaking through without paying. Officials are having too hard of a time determining “Q” from “O” and “8” from “B” and so on.

So what’s the new tag going to look like? Officials are reporting that the plates is going to be completely flat and it’s going to have seven black, bold letters/numbers on top of a white background. We’re not going to have the name of our county on the plates either. They’re only going to say “Sunshine State” and “In God We Trust.”

The new plates would be phased in over a two-year period, but this is only is Governor Scott and the Cabinet approve it.

Julie Jones with the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles (DHSMV) says that these new license plates aren’t going to cost drivers a thing. Not everyone’s buying it though, saying that it’s going to come out of someone’s pocket.

Transportation officials add that these new license plates are going to help the state’s red-light cameras in addition to the expected expansion of toll roads in the area that rely on video camera technology to nab cheating drivers.

Officials are expected to vote on it toward the end of October.
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