Car Accidents Causing More Wrongful Deaths in 2015
As a Fort Lauderdale personal injury lawyer with over 23 years of experience helping injured victims of car accidents throughout the State of Florida, Attorney Joseph Lipsky reminds his fellow Floridians that driving is a dangerous activity. Sadly, a recent study by the National Safety Council demonstrates that wrongful deaths from car accidents have increase almost 15% since the beginning of 2015. The study shows that the rate of car accident deaths rose from 11.1 per 100,000 drivers, to 12.5.
In real-life terms, this deadly rise has accounted for more than 2,200 people needlessly losing their lives in the first six months of this year as compared to the same time period last year. While the study seems to correlate the reduced price of gas to more drivers on the road, as a cause of the dramatic increase in deadly accidents; the economic impact of the rise in accidents cannot compare to the loss of life and its affects upon families. This deadly rise reversed a seven year trend of less wrongful deaths.
The number of serious injuries caused by car accidents also increased by almost thirty percent from last year. Incredibly, the council estimates the actual financial cost of these crashes exceeds $150 billon.
Of course the council attributes the increasing number of deadly car accidents to the ever increasing scourge of distracted driving, despite the fact that most states, including Florida prohibit texting while driving. These real world results confirm another study by At&T in which seventy percent of drivers admitted to using their so-called smart phone while driving, with almost the same number admitting to regularly texting behind the wheel. As many other studies proved, a driver who is texting is 8 times more likely to be involved in a car accident.
We only hope that drivers remember that any text, call, or email can wait for them to stop and park their car. As personal injury attorney Joseph Lipsky always reminds his clients, using a smart phone while driving, is anything but smart.