Car Accidents

Arrive Alive Campaign Hopes to Reduce Deadly Florida Car Accidents

February 3, 2017 | by Joseph I. Lipsky

Due to a dramatic rise in the number of Florida car accidents resulting in wrongful deaths, the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles recently brought back their Arrive Alive safety campaign. Fort Lauderdale personal injury Lawyer Joseph Lipsky knows too well that because of its weather, rising population and ever popular destination for tourists, Florida is always one of the most-deadly states for driving.

The updated Arrive Alive campaign is a statewide safety program which brings together the resources of all police departments and the Department of Transportation, who with the use of real-time data hope to stem the residing tide of deadly car accidents. The State moved forward with its initiative after recent statistics demonstrated a rapid rise in Florida car accident caused wrongful deaths, increasing from 2500 in 2014, to more than 3000 in 2016. Incredibly, nearly 150 people have needlessly lost their lives on Florida’s roadways this year.

Not surprisingly, Florida is not alone in experiencing a rise in deadly car accidents. Nationally, car accident wrongful deaths increased more than 7 percent of the same time period. Yet, multiple studies show that Florida’s roads, due to a lack of safety laws, remains a leader in dangerousness. Some of the needed safety laws include police enforcement of passenger seat belt usage, mandatory motorcycle helmet use and a ban on texting while driving.

Bad News: Pedestrian Deaths on the Rise in Ft. Lauderdale

December 29, 2016 | by Joseph I. Lipsky

Fort Lauderdale personal injury lawyer Joseph Lipsky reports an unsettling trend about a rapid increase in the number of wrongful deaths involving pedestrians. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administrations (NHTSA) just issued their latest report of traffic deaths, and sadly they note that the number of pedestrian wrongful deaths rose by almost ten percent last year. This surprising increase in pedestrian fatalities was the largest in nearly 20 years.

Last year over 5,300 pedestrians died after being struck by a car or truck, an increase of more than 500 from the prior year. This increase was greater than the percentage of all traffic/driver or passenger fatalities, which rose just more than seven percent. Incredibly, Fort Lauderdale was the 6^th most dangerous city for pedestrian deaths. This rise in roadway wrongful deaths reversed an almost 10 year drop in the number of annual traffic related fatalities. In fact, 2014 saw a nearly 10,000 drop in deaths from just 8 years earlier. The rise in pedestrian deaths tied in with a similar rise in wrongful deaths of motorcycle and bicycle riders, of almost five percent over the past 10 years.

While government sponsored safety efforts and rapid increase in vehicle accident prevention technology, have had a beneficial effect upon vehicle occupants, by increasing seat-belt use and lowering the rate of drunk drivers, the same advances and efforts have ignored pedestrian safety.

Drowsy Driving Car Accidents Can Be Prevented – Get More Sleep

December 23, 2016 | by Joseph I. Lipsky

Miami car accident lawyer Joseph Lipsky knows most drivers are aware of the likelihood of car accidents caused by drunk drivers or distracted drivers. However, those same motorists are generally unaware of the dangers caused by drivers who get behind the wheel when they are drowsy or sleepy. Sadly, studies prove that motorists who drive with less than 5 hours of sleep are two times as likely to have a car accident when compared to drivers who get at least 7 hours of sleep a night. Basically, the less sleep a driver has, the greater likelihood of having a car accident.

Research shows that the less sleep a driver gets, the greater likelihood they will be in a car accident. In fact, drivers who have slept less than 4 hours a night have four times the number of car accidents, a ratio approaching the dangers of drunk driving. As the AAA states, anyone who has slept less than 7 hours over a 24 hour period should not drive a vehicle.

Earlier research demonstrates that nearly 20 percent of wrongful death car accidents in the United States involve a drowsy or sleepy driver. Last year, a total of over thirty-five thousand people died in car accidents across the United States according to research collected by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. This was more than a seven percent increase in car accidents resulting in wrongful deaths over the prior year. The information used by the NHTSA came directly from car accident police reports which were limited to crashes in which at least one vehicle was towed from the crash location or where an ambulance responded to provide medical care to an injured driver or passenger. The drivers involved in those car accidents informed investigators about the amount of sleep they had in the prior twenty-four hours.

Ford Owners Must Get Their Recalled Seatbelts Repaired Now

December 5, 2016 | by Joseph I. Lipsky

Fort Lauderdale car accident attorney Joseph Lipsky wants owners of Ford vehicles to be aware of a potentially dangerous problem with seat belts which can fail and cause life threatening personal injuries. Ford just announced a recall of nearly 700,000 vehicles because a vehicle defect with their seat belt anchors can overhead resulting them breaking during a crash. The anchors are part of the vehicle’s pretensioner system which is designed to tighten up seat belt webbing slack and work together with the vehicle’s air bag system.

As Ford says, the defect which affects 2016 – 2016 Fusions, 2013 – 2015 Lincoln MKZ’s and 2015 – 2016 Mondeo’s “may inadequately restrain an occupant in a crash, increasing risk of injury,” resulting in personal injuries which the seat belts were designed to prevent. To date, this known defect has resulted in at least two separate injuries. Ford’s recall is supposed to commence in early January 2017. The anticipated repair will involve a Ford dealer mechanic injecting an insulating coating around the anchor. The coating will keep the anchor cool, allowing the seat belt to restrain the occupant as designed in the event of a car accident.

According to the Centers for Disease Control not only do seat belts prevent vehicle occupants from being thrown from their vehicle during a crash, as evidenced by research of traffic death statistics which demonstrates that occupants not using seat belts are nearly thirty times more likely to be thrown from a vehicle during a crash. Not surprisingly, almost 75% of people thrown from a vehicle during a wreck are likely to suffer fatal injuries. Considering over 15,000 people’s lives are saved each year by seat belt use, Ford’s faulty design jeopardizes hundreds of thousands of vehicle occupants’ lives safety. Additionally, failing to use a seat belt greatly increases the likelihood of serious injuries caused by vehicle occupants striking the dashboard and windshield.

Teen Driver Safety Week is Here – Help Prevent Car Accidents

October 17, 2016 | by Joseph I. Lipsky

As this is National Teen Driver Safety Week, all parents of teenage drivers, including Florida car accident lawyer Joseph Lipsky, remind parents to speak with their children about the importance of safe driving. Considering car accidents are the leading cause of wrongful deaths for teenage drivers, with nearly 3,000 annually, in addition to the over 125,000 teenagers who suffer personal injuries in car accidents each year, parents need to take time this week to stress the importance of safe driving with their teenagers.

Topics parents need to discuss should include the most common causes of teenage driver accidents and injuries, to wit: alcohol use, not using a seat belt, texting while driving/distracted driving, speeding and having too many passengers in the car. The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration considers these situations as the “5 to Drive” rules for safety. The ‘5 to Drive’ rules provide a clear and simple list for parents and teenage drivers to discuss and learn from, in hopes of avoiding a crash.

As summarized by the NHTSA, the “5 to Drive” campaign “5 to Drive” campaign rules are:

A Rise in Deadly Teenage Car Accident Requires More Driver Training

October 13, 2016 | by Joseph I. Lipsky

As the parent of a teenage driver, Fort Lauderdale Car Accident Attorney Joseph Lipsky knows too well about the frequency of teenage driver related car accidents; and the ongoing need to reduce the wrongful deaths and injuries which unfortunately happen too often in those crashes. According to a recently released report from the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA), older teenage drivers, those between the ages of 18 and 20, demonstrate a higher frequency of being involved in a crashes resulting in wrongful deaths, as compared to younger teenage drivers.

These deadly increases fly in the face of continuing efforts by the State of Florida to reduce teenage driving car accidents. Yet, the plain fact is that teenage drivers account for nearly 50% more car accidents than adult driver. Sadly, wrongful deaths from teenage driving car accidents rose nearly 10 percent last year. Considering that teenage drivers are nearly three times more likely to be involved in a fatal crash, ongoing driver education is a subject which affects everyone on Florida’s roads, not just those teenage drivers.

The report, which was underwritten by Ford, advocates that states more carefully monitor the unending number of teenage driver car accident wrongful deaths and direct greater resources at those older teenage drivers. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), last year’s rise in teenage driver wrongful deaths actually reverses reductions seen over the past decade. Additionally, the majority of deadly teenage car accidents happen on Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings between 9 p.m. and midnight.

Government Finally Provides Self-Driving Car Standards

September 20, 2016 | by Joseph I. Lipsky

As a Florida personal injury attorney for over 25 years, Joseph Lipsky is concerned about the impending arrival of so-called self-driving or autonomous cars. Given the race by all automobile manufacturers to see who can get their cars on the road the fastest, as an attorney representing seriously injured victims of car accidents, Joseph Lipsky, like many of his fellow motorists, is concerned that the self-driving race will lead to dangerous situations for consumers. Now it finally appears the federal government understands this concern as they just released rules which are meant to guide car manufacturers about how they should rollout their technology on our roadways.

According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, the new rules will go into place immediately. The hope is that these rules will provide a unified understanding of what self-driving cars and trucks must have and be able to do in order to be considered safe. These rules begin with a 15 point Safety Assessment which manufactures must document in their vehicles. The 15 points include:

Operational Design Domain – How and where the vehicle is supposed to operate

Better Education About Car Accident Avoidance Technology is Needed

September 2, 2016 | by Joseph I. Lipsky

Miami car accident attorney Joseph Lipsky is a proponent for advances in car and truck technology which are intended to prevent accidents and limit injuries. This is why he is concerned that too many motorists are unware and not properly educated about the intent and effectiveness of the automatic emergency braking systems which are increasingly showing up as either standard equipment or options on new cars and trucks. As demonstrated by a recent study from AAA, researchers learned that while many people who are looking to purchase a new car have a general understanding of newer car accident avoidance technologies, many potential buyers remain unaware of many of the devices which have recently been installed in cars for the purpose of preventing car accidents versus those vehicles which only have technology intended to lessen the damage done when a crash occurs.

The AAA believes automobile manufacturers and car dealers need to make a concerted effort to educate consumers as to the why and how concerning these devices, especially because their inclusion in most vehicles will be rapidly increasing thanks to federal requirements. In fact, the majority of vehicle manufacturers will install pre-accident sensing automatic braking technology in all vehicles by the turn of the decade. Pre-accident automatic braking, in combination with lane assistance and adaptive cruise control, will enable newer cars the ability to make life saving decisions much faster than an average driver is capable of making.

It is the hope and expectation of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration that the accident avoidance technology will significantly lessen the alarming trend of rising car accident related wrongful deaths. As personal injury attorney Joseph Lipsky previously reported, according to the National Safety Council, 2016 looks to be the most deadly for traffic accident deaths in over ten years. Sadly, more than 19,000 people needlessly died through the end of June. In fact, in an effort to expedite the reduction in these fatalities, the NHTSA obtained a promise from most vehicle manufacturers to include car accident avoidance automatic braking more than three years sooner than regulations require.

Florida Had Over 90,000 Hit and Run Crashes in 2015

August 28, 2016 | by Joseph I. Lipsky

Over the past 25 years Florida personal injury attorney Joseph Lipsky has helped hundreds of seriously injured Some of the most senseless actions involving Florida car accidents actually happen after a driver hits another vehicle or a pedestrian. The senseless conduct is when the person who causes a crash, fails to stop and leaves the scene, thereby turning a routine accident, into a crime – a hit and run crash. Florida Statutes, sections 316, seq., generally define a hit and run crash is defined as one in which a driver fails to remain at the site of a vehicle crash which involves damage to another person’s property, including a vehicle, building or structure.

Not surprisingly, the high number of hit and run crashes throughout Florida remains steady at over 90,000 annually. While most hit and run accidents, nearly 80%, only result in vehicle damage, sadly nearly 200 people lost their lives in so-called hit and run collisions last year alone. Those who cause crashes, either by carelessness, by speeding or driving distracted, or by recklessness, in driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, compound their conduct by turning what would considered a bad situation to something much worse, when they panic and flee the crash scene. While common sense would tell motorists that they should stop if they cause or are involved in a crash, Florida Law does require any driver who is involved in a crash to stop, regardless of whether the accident happens on a public or private road/property.

In fact, when a driver leaves the scene of an accident, they face criminal penalties, including a felony, which may result in the loss of their driver’s license, and depending upon if someone was injured, up to four years in jail. According to the Florida Highway Patrol, more than seventy percent of drivers who flee are men between the ages of 18 and 27. Often times, those relatively inexperienced motorists claim panic is the reason why they flee; however, those who are caught generally are found to be driving with an expired or suspended license, or are also violating Florida’s mandatory insurance requirements.

Florida Drivers Some of Worst in the United States

August 19, 2016 | by Joseph I. Lipsky

As a car accident lawyer located in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Joseph Lipsky knows too well that the reputation our drivers have is not good; and now recent study demonstrates Floridians’ reputation of being poor drivers is well founded. To begin with, Florida drivers, more than those from any other state, use on-line search engines such as Google to inquire about police issued tickets, particularly those for speeding and traffic. This on-line activity is certainly due to the number of police issued traffic citations for bad and illegal driving.

And, having represented injured victims of Florida car accidents for nearly 25 years, Joseph Lipsky also knows that Florida has the 2^nd most uninsured drivers in the United States. This fact is why he tries to educate all motorists about the importance of buying uninsured motorist coverage. Uninsured motorist coverage comes into play when someone is injured in a car accident which is caused by a driver who has no or not enough insurance. In those situations, the injured person’s uninsured motorist insurance company essentially will pretend that they insure the person who caused the crash and injuries; thereby allowing the injured victim to have a source against which to seek payment of their damages.

The study was based upon data collected by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, who reviewed the circumstances surrounding the more than 32,000 car accident related wrongful deaths last year. The analysts then reviewed the number of DUI arrests, on-line searches and car insurance rates. The compilation of this data allowed the study to conclude that Florida is one of the leading states for bad drivers. And within Florida, Miami is the nation’s worst city for driving. Miami has the most vehicle wrongful deaths, the most instances of pedestrians being hit by a car or truck and sadly the most yelling or gesturing at other motorists.