Florida Personal Injury Lawyer Blog

In some good news for drivers throughout Florida, in hopes of preventing deadly truck accidents, the federal government enacted new regulations prohibiting commercial truckers and bus drivers from texting while driving. These overdue restrictions go into effect immediately.

While no one knows who many accidents are caused by commercial driver texting while driving, it is a certainty that such behavior is dangerous and creates a high-risk of accidents. Considering drivers who text generally take their eyes of the road for more than 4 seconds, there a known likelihood of increased collisions.

The federal ban comes on the heals of the actions of many state laws which are being enacted to hopefully curtail this deadly practice. As personal injury lawyers practicing in Miami, Ft. Lauderdale and Palm Beach, we are always glad to hear of laws which help protect fellow Floridians from deadly accidents.

The texting ban is supported by the American Trucking Associations and American Bus Association.

Not surprisingly, a recent study, done at the University of Utah, determined that texting while driving, not only increases the risk of having a car accident, but is significantly more dangerous than talking on a cell phone while driving.

The study determined that texting drivers were less likely to apply their brakes in a timely manner to avoid a car accident, that they followed other vehicles too closely and demonstrated significantly delayed reaction times. Further, the researchers determined that texting drivers were 6 times more likely to be in a car accident, as compared to drivers who were concentrating on driving.

The study found that texting to be more dangerous than simply talking on a cell phone, determining that drivers can better split their attention between a call and driving, rather than texting, which causes the driver to concentrate more upon typing or reading a message. This research, from the journal Human Factors, ultimately determined that drivers increased their risk of being in a car accident by thirty percent when texting.

As Florida Lawyers practicing personal injury and car accident law in Fort Lauderdale and Miami, we are alarmed when we learn of ongoing conduct which results in the wrongful death and injury to innocent drives. According to a recent report, car accidents caused by drop-offs along highway construction areas kill about 160 people and injure another 11,000 people each year.

Most of these deadly car accident occur when a car slips off the edge of a road onto the shoulder, causing the driver to overreact and lose control. Generally these drop-offs are the result of roadway contractors negligent failure to smooth out the sides of roads they recently paved.

Sadly, there are few regulations requiring such safety measures along highway work zones. Consequently, few fines are levied against contractors, who, due to either their own carelessness or desire to save money, continually violate these guidelines.

Given the recently enacted Federal Stimulus Package, which is intended to promote additional highway construction, we certainly hope Florida Officials will take a hard look at these dangerous and too often neglected safety issues before more Floridians are hurt.

As Florida Lawyers handling personal injury and wrongful death cases, we've learned of yet another report which demonstrates how dangerous the roadways are for pedestrians in South Florida. According to a recent report, the Miami/Ft. Lauderdale area achieved the dubious honor of being named one of the nation's most dangerous areas for pedestrians.

The study indicates that because our roads were designed to speed up traffic, people walking along any given road in Miami and Ft. Lauderdale are most at risk of being involved in a car accident. People who do walk in Miami and Fort Lauderdale face a relatively high risk of being struck by a car and killed. Our pedestrian fatality rate is 3.04, with a danger index level, which consists of the average pedestrian fatality rate per 100,000 residents over a two-year period and the percentage of residents who commute to work by foot, is 181.2.

Apparently suburban growth, with roads designed to assist vehicular traffic, many without sidewalks or adequate crosswalks, is the main reason for the increase in fatalities. Not surprisingly, more than half of fatal vehicle crashes occurred on wide, high-speed roads. We certainly hope that these statistics will convince future engineers to be mindful of the safety of pedestrians on our roadways.

According to a recent study, more than a third of all people over the age of sixty five fall each year. Unfortunately, more than one fall in 10 results in a serious injury, like a fractured hip. As Florida Lawyers, we too often seen the devistating affects such injuries from such trip and falls at stores, parking lot and shopping centers, have on our older clients.

Thankfully researchers are beginning to further study, through wireless sensors in carpets, clothing and rooms, older individual's activity. The continuous measurements allowed by simple devices, afford greater insight on the causes of fall, and how to prevent them.

Fall prevention also promises to be part of an emerging — and potentially large — worldwide industry of helping older people live independently in their homes longer. The hope is that activity patterns from the data can help identify ways to prevent falls.

In the desire to go "Green," the steady increase in hybrid cars on the road are causing a drastic increase in the number of car accidents with pedestrians and bicycle riders. According to a recently released report from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, due to the lack of noise generated from hybrid engines, pedestrians and cyclists are less likely to hear such vehicles that were turning, slowing or backing up.

Thankfully, in light of this unintended side-effect, vehicle manufacturers are apparently proposing to include a device in their vehicles which would generate noise under certain circumstances, such as the back-up warnings used on commercial trucks.

The study reviewed over 8,000 hybrid and 550,000 non-hybrid car accidents in 12 states, including Florida, and determined the collisions usually took place at low speeds, when the sound difference between a hybrid and traditional car engine is the most pronounced.

Today was a particularly dangerous day for students going to school in Broward County. Two students walking to school were injured in separate accidents, one with a car and another with a bus. The accidents happened in Hollywood and Oakland Park.

In the Hollywood car accident, police say a driver disregarded an extended school bus stop sign and struck a boy trying to get on the bus. The driver then fled the scene. The collision occurred at the intersection of Taft Street and 56th Ave., Hollywood. According to police, the victim, who attends South Broward High School, suffered serious but thankfully, not life-threatening, injuries for which rescue took him to Memorial Regional Hospital.

In the Oakland Park accident, police reported that a 16-year-old girl suffered serious injuries to her legs when a school bus struck her. The accident occurred at N.W. 21st Ave. and 39th St., Ft. Lauderdale.

As we are rapidly approaching the end of day light savings time, as personal injury attorneys handling car accident and pedestrian cases throughout Miami, Ft. Lauderdale and Palm Beach, we urge all drivers, including bus drivers, to be vigilant in watching out for innocent students trying to get to school or on their way home.

The Florida Highway Patrol announced the results of their recent efforts to further prevent deadly car accidents, by increasing enforcement at intersections by citing drivers who fail to stop at red lights. The Florida campaign was done in conjunction with the National Stop On Red Week effort to monitor drivers who disregard red traffic signals. The campaign was an attempt to prevent deadly accidents involving pedestrians, bicyclists and other motorists.

During the week long process, in which the Florida Highway Patrol Troopers cited 1,190 drivers who ran red lights, was, according to the head of the Florida Highway Patrol, “(a) campaign is a great reminder of the risks associated with red light running, as every day our troopers see the tragic consequences caused by running a red light."

Sadly, traffic crashes are the single frequent cause of preventable death and injury in the United States. Last year, Florida drivers running red lights caused 76 fatalities and more than 7,100 more accidents involving injury or property damage. The leading excuse offered by drivers for running a red light is “being in a hurry."

We certainly commend the Florida Highway Patrol's efforts to make our roadways safe.

As Florida Attorneys representing victims of car accidents who suffer personal injuries in Miami, Ft. Lauderdale and West Palm Beach, we applaud the Florida Legislature for enacting a new law which mandates that any driver who is convicted of three car accident related moving violations over a three-year time frame will have to pass a driving test, just like when they first received their license.

The new law will take into consideration all car accidents and tickets issued since January of 2009, as prior car accidents will not be counted. Regardless, AAA believes the change necessary.

Although public perception is that elderly drivers are the most likely to cause car accidents, according to the State of Florida, those most likely to be affected by the new law are white men, younger than 40, in and around major cities. Not surprisingly, Miami and Broward Counties are both in the top five counties with the greatest number of dangerous drivers.

We too hope that this new law will act as a strong deterrent to prevent future car accidents throughout Florida.

As Florida Lawyers representing victims who suffer personal injuries from car accidents, in Miami, Ft. Lauderdale and Palm each, we are certainly glad to hear that the Florida Highway Patrol is stepping up its efforts to stop aggressive drivers.

This week the Florida Highway Patrol is increasing the number of troopers along the Turnpike and Interstates hoping to reduce car accidents by stopping aggressive drivers. The Highway Patrol intends on giving tickets to those who quickly switches lanes without warning, tailgate, runs red lights, or anything else they determine to be dangerous driving, including motorists who ignore Florida's "Move Over Law."

We are glad to hear that, according to the Florida Highway Patrol, this is the first in a series of enforcement efforts which will focus on special violations.

As Florida Lawyers specializing in car accidents in Palm Beach County, we are continually amazed at the carelessness of drivers as they disregard roadside warnings, and hit and injure roadway workers. Today, a roadside construction worker was struck by a truck and suffered serious personal injuries, while he worked along a road in Palm Springs.

According to The Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office, Ernest Howell, who took the precaution of wearing a traffic vest, was struck while working in a marked construction zone, when a driver disregarded traffic cones. Mr. Howell was working on a crew which was resurfacing the roadway. Mr. Howell's injuries required him to be transported by helicopter to a Delray Beach hospital.

In the spirit of the "move over" law which was enacted to protect emergency workers from injuries along the side of roadways, we encourage all drivers to pay particular attention to, roadside construction workers. For further information, please follow link to www.FloridaCarAccidentHelp.com.

As Florida personal injury and car accident attorneys practicing in Ft. Lauderdale, we applaud the Florida Legislature for enacting a new seat-belt law, which will allow police officers to ticket drivers solely because they are not wearing seat-belts. Considering seat-belts prevent serious injuries and wrongful deaths, we believe all actions taken to insure their use is not only appropriate, but necessary.

Previously, police officers were only allowed to ticket a driver for not wearing a seat-belt, if they stopped that driver for another violation. The law, which Governor Crist signed, is named after Dori Slosberg and Katie Marchetti, both of whom lost their lives in car accidents while not wearing seat belts.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that the new bill will save 124 lives and prevent over 1,700 serious injuries every year in Florida. That statistic speaks for itself.