Florida Personal Injury Lawyer Blog

As personal injury lawyers representing seriously injured victims of truck accidents throughout the State of Florida, we are certainly glad that the Federal Motorist Carrier Safety Administration imposed a ban on cell phone use by commercial drivers. The ban began on January 1 of this year, and applies to all drivers of commercial vehicles who have commercial driver's licenses. The ban applies to all CDL licensed drivers in every state.

The intention of this new regulation is to improve safety on highways by reducing distracted driving, which will hopefully reduce the number of distracted driving caused car and truck accidents. According the the Department of Transportation, there is a three-fold increase in truck accidents when a driver is using a cell phone, whether for talking or texting. The regulation also applies to cellphones with two-way radios.

The penalties for violating this new regulation include a sixty day driver's license suspension after a second violation. As attorneys helping victims of commercial car and truck accidents, we applaud the Federal Government's actions in trying to make our roadways safer.

As personal injury attorneys helping victims of car accidents in Miami, Fort Lauderdale and the Palm Beaches, we are not surprised by the findings of a recent report which indicated that instances of aggressive driving have increased almost ten-fold over the past decade. According to Florida Law Enforcement data, citations issued for aggressive driving increased from about 4,000 in 2003, to more than 23,000 last year.

Aggressive driving involves instances of swerving between lanes of travel, tailgating and excessive speeding. The increase in such tickets is the most pronounced over the past two years, with an increase of almost 90%. The increase may be an indication of our generally impatient population.

Florida drivers who commit 2 or more aggressive driving violations are labeled "aggressive." Those "aggressive" drivers are likely to be assessed greater points against their licenses, resulting in increased insurance costs and the likelihood of having their license suspended.

Not surprisingly, the American Automobile Association determined that more than fifty percent of all wrongful deaths from car accidents and truck accidents were caused by an aggressive driver. For that reason alone, we ask everyone driving on Florida roadways to please slow down.

According to a recent report from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), car accidents involving drunk driving decreased by thirty percent over the last 5 years. Interestingly, the study links the drop in drunk driving, not to greater police enforcement, but to the current poor economy, as the costs associated with drinking at commercial establishments proves to be too expensive.

Yet, despite the significant drop, almost one in fifty of the drivers interviewed admitted that they did drove drunk during the past month. The study noted that at least three hundred thousand people drive drunk every day. Not surprisingly, men between the ages of 21 and 34 are the ones most likely to drink and drive.

The CDC's study comports to similar one conducted by the NHTSA which also showed a decrease in drunk driver, albeit a smaller reduction. Despite these decreases, someone is either killed or injured on our roadways every hour. Clearly, there is still more work to do to save lives.

In what sounds like a television episode, a recreation vehicle in western Palm Beach County, which was transporting more than a dozen senior citizens, crashed into an embankment on S.R. 80, resulting in personal injuries to two passengers. According to Palm Beach County officials, the single vehicle collision was the result of speed and the wet condition of the roadway.

While the accident itself was not unusual, how the paramedics rescued the occupants was. The crash left the bus stopped at an angle, making it difficult for the elderly occupants to be removed. So, Fire Fighters had to hitch the bus to a fire rescue truck for stability. Then rescuers placed the passengers on a stretcher affixed to a ladder and pulled the passengers out through a window to safety. Sounds like a job for CSI.

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.

According to a recent government report, many truck accidents, especially those resulting in wrongful death, particularly in Florida, are caused by truck drivers with diagnosed disabling medical conditions. Even though many of the drivers receive social security disability payments, for seizures, heart attacks or loss of consciousness, thousands of those same truck drivers also have valid commercial driver's licenses.

One such example is of a Florida bus driver who suffered from lung disease, who admitted he occasionally blacks out. The driver, despite not having a medical certificate, has a valid licenses through 2010. The bus driver apparently has received disability benefits for over fourteen years, as he losses his breath when walking.

Unfortunately, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, who is responsible for overseeing such truck drivers, admitted it has not complied with regulators' proposals, such as determining if truck drivers are medically safe to drive. We can only hope that Congress will act to insure that the necessary regulation of such truck drivers is implemented before someone else is seriously injured or killed.