Florida Injury Lawyer Blog

Historically, 14% of motorists in the United States are uninsured. During economic downturns, when the unemployment rate rises, the uninsured rates also rise. Some states have higher uninsured rates than others do. According to the Insurance Research Council (IRC), 23% of Florida’s drivers are uninsured — almost double the national average. The IRC arrived at this statistic by analyzing the number of claims involving uninsured motorists compared to total accidents. They found that for every percentage point rise in unemployment, the number of uninsured motorists rises by ¾%.

Driving without insurance in Florida is against the law, and it can be very costly. Fines and license revocation costs are high. By the time a driver retrieves an impounded car and goes through the legal system, he will have paid more than if he’d been insured in the first place. Personal Injury Attorney, Bruce Scheiner says, ‘Driving without insurance can even lead to incarceration.” Florida’s minimum coverage is $10,000 personal injury protection (PIP) and $10,000 property damage liability (PDL).

Although not mandatory in Florida, drivers may also purchase uninsured motorist protection (UM). According to Attorney PJ Scheiner, “We strongly recommend getting uninsured motorist protection. If you’re involved in an accident, this protection will help you receive compensation for your injury. (If you’ve got UM protection, your insurance should cover medical bills and loss of wages.)”

A newly-released study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, (CDC), has found some alarming statistics involving binge drinking and alcohol-related motor vehicle accidents.

The study is thought to be the first to attempt to measure the likelihood that a person will drive after binge drinking. The result is hoped to be an increased effort to stop bars and restaurants from serving people after they are intoxicated, according to the report’s authors. Binge drinking is defined as a person who consumes 5 or more drinks on a single occasion. The study focused on 14,000 binge drinkers, and about 12% of those surveyed said they had driven within 2 hours of their last bout of heavy drinking. Of those drivers, more than half said they got behind the wheel after drinking at a bar, restaurant or other establishment licensed to sell alcohol. Half of the drivers who left the establishment reported they had 7 or more drinks, and 25% said they’d had at least 10.

James Fell, of the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation, a national research organization that is focused on alcohol policy, notes “almost everybody’s going to be intoxicated after 10 drinks”. Binge drinking is a main factor in the more than 11,000 deaths that occur annually from alcohol-related motor vehicle crashes, according to the CDC. The study’s lead author, Dr. Timothy Naimi of the CDC, said the hope is that state legislators will take a harder look at laws that supposedly prevent commercial establishments from selling alcohol to drunken patrons. While there are existing laws on the books, Naimi said most states don’t have enough enforcement personnel to stop in on bars and watch for the over-serving of customers. “These are some of the most disregarded laws in the country,” he states.

We’ve all seen it happen – the driver who is attempting to make a turn or change traffic lanes, but neglects to use their vehicle’s turn signal. Although it seems like a simple, common sense rule of the road, a surprising number of auto accidents are caused by careless drivers who fail to exercise even the most basic of safety practices. Response Insurance Company, a nationwide insurance firm, hired a polling company, Leflein Associates, to conduct a statistically valid survey of 1,000 adult drivers. The goal was to find out how many drivers do not use turn signals and, of those who don’t use them, why they don’t. The company wants to bring awareness to issues people don’t think are problems, such as turn signal use. The survey found 57 percent of respondents don’t use turn signals when changing lanes.

Jay Anderson, Executive Director of the “Stay Alive – Just Drive” motorist education program in Southwest Florida says not using your turn signal is one of the most important, yet overlooked, safety precautions a driver can use. “Sometimes you wonder if people even know they have turn signals installed in their cars”, says Anderson. “If your hands are in the correct position at 9 o’clock and 3 o’clock on the wheel, the turn signal is only an inch away. Yet so often people are just frankly too lazy or complacent to use them.”

Florida personal injury lawyers remind motorists that there is a Florida law on the books that was implemented to help ensure the use of turn signals. Florida Statute 316.156 details when using your turn signal is required: