Articles Posted in Auto Accident

Our Stuart car accident attorneys have been talking about the risks that teen drivers face during this time of the year on our South Florida roadways.

They’ve got prom, graduation and summer break. We recently discussed “Prom Patrol,” a program going on in South Florida to help keep teens safe behind the wheel. Now, we’re going to talk about even larger efforts, on a nationwide level. It’s the Ford Driving Skills for Life (DSFL) and it’s targeting teens across the country, according to the Governors Highway Safety Association.

“Unfortunately, safety can take a back seat to the excitement associated with the many celebrations around prom and graduation,” said Jim Graham, manager of the DSFL program.

Our Stuart injury attorneys understand that auto accidents are the number one cause of death for these young drivers between the ages of 15- and 20-years-old. Recent statistics showed an increase in the number of these fatal accidents involving these drivers during the second half of 2011. Experts believe that this increase sheds light into the trends we can expect to see throughout the year. That’s why parents and safe driving advocates nationwide are stepping up and stepping in to help get safety back to the top of the list. By revamping these young drivers’ roadway attitudes, we can help to save precious lives at the same time.

Mile for mile, teenage drivers are nearly five times as likely to get into a deadly crash as older drivers. Every year, about 3,000 of these newly-licensed drivers die in car accidents nationwide. It’s these drivers who also have the highest proportion of distracted drivers involved in fatal crashes.

The Ford Driving Skills for Life program will be reaching roughly 1,000 students across the nation through hands-on driving modules and events. Who’s reaching these kids? Conducting these programs are some of the country’s most notable professional drivers. In these events and programs, instructors will be covering speed/space management, distracted driving, vehicle handling as well as hazard and danger recognition.

The DSFL program is also working with various high schools, awarding them with grants for creating winning safety education campaigns.

Parents and guardians are urged to remind the teen drivers in their lives about the risks on our roadways during this time of the year. As students head to prom, graduation and are let out of school for summer break, they’ll be hitting the road. With their increase in travel they’ll be increasing their risks for an accident. Be sure to stick to your guns and keep driving rules tight. Make sure there’s a strict driving curfew established in your household in addition to passenger limitations and distracted driving regulations. Your intervention can help to keep your kid safe behind the wheel during this dangerous time on our roadways.
Continue reading →

Posit Science, a popular brain fitness company, recently teamed up with various AAA clubs across the country as well as the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety to launch a brand new computer program that is to be used to help elderly drivers to stay safe behind the wheel and avoid a potentially fatal accident in Hallandale Beach and elsewhere. The brain program was also designed to help extend elderly drivers’ years on our roadways.

As we’ve recently discussed, elderly drivers tend to be a little safer behind the wheel than newly-licensed drivers, but the risks of traffic accidents among elderly drivers start to increase at the age of 65. These increases are mainly the result of fragility, which is exactly what makes them less likely to survive an auto accident. In this sense, they’re more of a risk to themselves than to other motorists.

Our Hallandale Beach personal injury attorneys understand that many drivers may associate giving up their keys with giving up their independence. That’s not true! It’s important to reiterate that giving up the keys and giving up driving, when necessary, will help an elderly driver to live longer and maintain their independence for an extended amount of time. Still, it’s the talk about the dangers and the forfeiting of the driving that scares a lot of families and elderly drivers, according to Tech Zone.

“Adult children are put in a tough position having to decide between taking away the keys and fearing a harmful crash involving their elderly parents,” said Peter Kissinger with the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety.

Senior driving safety and the concern about deteriorating mobility issues fueled the pair’s DriveSharp development of the brain exercise program. With this brain exercise, drivers of all ages can actually train the brain to work faster and more efficiently behind the wheel to help to increase their performance and reduce risks of an accident.

Kissinger says that he’s read a number of articles regarding brain exercises for drivers. All of the articles and all of the studies prove that practice and exercise helps to increase brain function and it helps to decrease the risks for accidents while increasing drivers’ confidence behind the wheel. He suggests this program for all drivers, not just elderly drivers.

After completing the exercise, drivers typically saw:

-A gain of more than 20 feet in stopping time at 55 miles per hour, signifying faster reactions time.

-A near 50 percent reduction in the number of at-fault accidents in a five-year period.

-A near 40 percent reduction in dangerous maneuvers behind the wheel.

-Greater confidence in various driving scenarios.

-A 40 percent less risk of driving cessation
Continue reading →

As we recently reported on our South Florida Car Accident Attorney Blog, teenage drivers face some of the highest risks for distraction-related car accidents in the country.

Teenage girls are at the highest risks of all. But drivers of all ages are at serious risks for these kinds of accidents. As more and more drivers engage in even more distractions, our risks for collisions continue to skyrocket. To help to minimize these risks, safe driving advocates nationwide are recognizing National Distracted Driving Awareness Month 2012. Every April, the National Safety Council (NSC) launches this month-long campaign with the hopes of getting drivers to keep their eyes on the roadway and off of needless distractions.

Our Parkland injury attorneys understand that more than 3,000 people were killed in 2010 because of distracted drivers. What’s most unfortunate is that each and every single one of these accidents was preventable. These kinds of accidents are alarmingly common in the state of Florida because we have no laws on the books that are stopping drivers from making phone calls and sending texts behind the wheel. As a matter of fact, we’re one of the only states in the country that has yet to attack these dangerous driving habits.

According to WJGH, cell phones are the number one cause of distraction on our roadways. Drivers are outlawed from talking on cell phones in 26 states, but not in Florida. Florida drivers can drive whenever they want while talking on a cell phone and composing text messages.

According to the Harvard Center of Risk Analysis, cell phone-using drivers are involved in roughly 600,000 auto accidents a year. It gets worse. While these drivers face increased risks for accidents, drivers who text behind the wheel are about 23 times more likely to get into an accident. As a matter of fact, experts predict that distractions are involved in about one out of every four accidents on our roadways.

Still, bill after bill gets rejected in the state even though research shows that these kinds of laws can actually help roadway safety. The state of California recently banned the use of all hand-held communication devices. The state has already seen a more than 22 percent reduction in the number of roadway fatalities.

In honor of National Distracted Driving Awareness Month 2012, we’re asking drivers throughout the state to drive in spirit of the campaign and to take the pledge to drive distraction free. Curbing these distractions can help to save thousands of lives every year. Really no text or phone call should be worth someone’s life.
Continue reading →

Some cars may not be getting as high a safety rating this year as they’ve gotten in past years. No, car manufacturers may not be to blame for the lack of safety. It may all be blamed on researchers.

In recent crash tests, officials with the federal government took out the average-size male dummy and put in a smaller female dummy. The safety results dipped.

While these new ratings may not be the most comforting to hear, it’s a good glimpse into how the size of the vehicle occupant can affect the outcome of a car accident in Vero Beach and elsewhere.

Our Vero Beach injury attorneys understand that these findings will help improve safety going forward. Consumers have relied on these safety ratings to help them to choose the proper vehicle for their lifestyle and for their family. Now that different size crash dummies are helping to get a peek into how occupants of all sizes are affected in the event of a collision, a lot of people are reconsidering their top picks. The star-rating system’s frontal crash test only uses the male dummy behind the wheel, which concerns a lot of on-the-go moms.

Advocates for consumer safety say that the dummy’s inadequate performance in accidents shows that more needs to be done to better test these vehicles for their safety offerings to smaller people and women in the event of an accident. For more than 30 years, these tests and information have helped consumers to buy the safest cars. Could they have been deceived?

According to experts, smaller people experience few crash forces that the body is able to tolerate. When cars slam into utility poles or trees, smaller vehicle occupants typically suffer more pelvic, abdominal and head injuries. Because women have less muscular necks, they’re also more likely to suffer from whiplash.

The University of Virginia conducted a study last year that concluded that females who wore a seat belt were nearly 50 percent more likely to suffer from serious injuries in the event of an accident as a male-belted driver.

A number of safe driving advocacy groups say that they’ve been urging the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to use an average-sized male dummy. In addition, these groups say that the test should include women, elderly, obese and large child dummies.

Right now, the dummies do not match the average size of Americans.

“A lot of women do substantial (safety) research before going to buy a car,” said Joan Claybrook, a longtime consumer advocate. “Yet there’s not a whole lot of information about how cars impact women.”
Continue reading →

A recent Fort Lauderdale car accident ended up killing a pregnant woman and her unborn child. The soon-to-be mother and her husband won a free trip to South Florida through her Massachusetts church. Once their trip was completed, the two decided to stay in the area an extra day. Fort Lauderdale officers report that the woman was using the restroom at a poolside cabana at the Riverside Hotel on Las Olas Boulevard when the accident happened. A motor vehicle slammed into that very cabana. A 34-year-old driver was heading down Southeast Fourth Street when she lost control of her vehicle as she took a curve in the road, according to The Miami Herald. After losing control of her vehicle, she slammed into a fence and plowed right over the cabana building where the seven-months pregnant vacationer was sitting.

“She won a contest writing an essay on how a vacation would bless them,” said Genesis pastor Michael Davis.

Our Fort Lauderdale injury attorneys understand that the driver of the vehicle was transported to Broward Medical Center with only minor injuries. A local detective, DeAnna Garcia, says that there is now a criminal investigation into the accident and investigators may also request toxicology reports from the hospital. Currently, there have been no charges filed.

“It was shocking, just sitting there minding your own business and one almighty bang,” said one hotel guest and witness to the accident.

Our Fort Lauderdale accident attorneys usually talk about car accidents with other automobiles, pedestrians, bicyclists and motorcycles. We don’t hear about these kinds of accidents, car-structure accidents, very often. Still, these incidents do happen. When they do, it is critical for you to contact an experienced attorney. Not only are you fighting for compensation with the driver of the vehicle, but the property owner is also involved in the case as well. Make sure you have aggressive representation fighting for you.

In 2010, there were nearly 240,000 traffic accidents in the state of Florida. In these accidents, nearly 2,500 people were killed. In addition to the lives that were taken in these accidents, there were nearly 110,000 property-damage only accidents, according to the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles (FLHSMV). While many may want to point out the slight reduction in the number of accidents from the year before, we think that it’s important to point out that a number of accident categories did in fact experience an increase, including property damage accidents.

Our hearts go out to the expectant mother and her unborn child who were killed in the Fort Lauderdale accident. We urge both visitors and guests to contact an experienced attorney if you have been involved in a traffic accident of any kind.
Continue reading →

A recent head-on auto accident in Palm Beach County took the life of a 69-year-old driver. The accident happened on Hagen Ranch Road. The afternoon crash happened when an 80-year-old driver was heading south on that roadway and veered across the double-yellow line directly into the path of the 69-year-old’s oncoming vehicle. Officials were forced to shut the road down after the accident in an attempt to free the victims from their vehicles and to clean up the debris.

The 69-year-old driver was pronounced dead at the scene. The 80-year-old driver was transported to Delray Medical Center. The Palm Beach County Sheriff’s office reports that he is still in the hospital and was listed in critical condition.

Our Palm Beach County accident lawyers understand that elderly drivers are at some serious risks for accidents on our roadways. Although elderly drivers are involved in fewer accidents than drivers under the age of 25-years-old, the state’s growing population of elderly drivers is contributing to a growing number of these accidents. With the increase in these accidents, the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles (FLHSMV) is working diligently to help to address this dangerous situation and to help make sure elderly drivers are safe on our roadways.

Recommendations from the FLHSMV to help keep elderly drivers safe on our roadways:

-Help to educate elderly drivers. Help to compensate for waning abilities and to better recognize when it’s time for them to give up the keys. Safety should be their number one priority, even if that means giving up their driving privileges. It’s a decision that can save their life.

-Continuously assess elderly drivers for debilitating declines in their hearing, vision, physical skills and thinking. Identifying these characteristics of aging early on can help dangerous elderly drivers off the road and out of accidents.

-Work to provide elderly drivers with alternative forms of transportation. Offering simple and convenient transportation for these individuals will help them to get around once they’ve made the decision that it’s no longer safe for them to navigate a motor vehicle on our roadways.

Drivers who are getting older are also encouraged to take a state-approved driver improvement course. This class will not only help you to advance your driving skills, but the state also mandates insurance discounts for drivers over the age of 55-years-old who have completed this course. These classes are typically six-hour classroom courses designed specifically for elderly drivers. In these classes, like the ones that are offered by the Safety Council of Palm Beach County Inc., various driving techniques are introduced and reviewed. These techniques are used to help offset the effects of aging that contribute to higher risks of auto accidents for these older drivers.
Continue reading →

In a recent Palm Beach car accident, a 17-year-old driver died after he lost control of his Jeep, according to the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office. Reports indicate that the young driver was heading east on Forest Hill Boulevard shortly before 9 a.m. when he lost control of his SUV, swerved off the road, slammed into a pole and crashed by the entrance of Okeeheelee Park. The young driver was a student at Palm Beach Central High School. After school the next day, students and faculty members placed balloons and flowers at the scene of the accident, according to News Channel 5.

“He’s in a better place now and, you know, looking down at all [of] his friends and his family,” said Harrison Fields, a classmate and class vice president. “My heart goes out to his family. He’s a smart kid. We’re going to miss him a lot.”

Our Palm Beach injury attorneys have recently been discussing the dangers that our young, teen drivers face on our roadways. These dangers and the risks for accidents increase significantly during Spring Break, especially during Spring Break in Florida. Each year, thousands and thousands of vacationing students make South Florida their Spring Break destination. With the Spring Breakers in town and the snowbirds finishing up their time in the south, our roadways will continue to be congested for just a little while longer. That’s why it’s still important for parents to keep an eye on their teen’s driving habits. Although 17-year-old drivers are allowed to navigate our roadways without a parent or guardian present in the vehicle, they are still are required to abide by rules of the state’s Graduated Driver’s Licensing (GDL) program.

According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), 17-year-old drivers in the state of Florida with a restricted driver’s license are prohibited from driving between 1 a.m. and 5 a.m. You’d think that the state’s program would limit the number of passengers that these drivers can drive with. You’d be wrong. The state of Florida is one of the only states that doesn’t have passenger restrictions for these young drivers. As our Palm Beach injury attorneys have reported before, passengers greatly increase accident risks for young drivers.

For these reasons, we’re asking parents to step in and keep an eye on these young drivers. Law enforcement officials aren’t able to track down every young driver in the state and they’re definitely not able to ride along with each and every one of them to make sure their driving habits are progressing properly. Studies have concluded that parents are some of the most influential people in the lives of teens and in their driving habits. Create household driving rules. Create rules where you think the GDL program is lacking. Consider creating and enforcing a parent-teen driving contract between you and your teen driver to help lay down the rules and the consequences for breaking the rules. Enforce this to the fullest, especially during Spring Break and other various holidays.
Continue reading →

As we recently reported on our South Florida Injury Lawyers Blog, officers throughout the state of Florida were using the month of February to help raise awareness about Florida’s Move Over Law and to bust disobeying drivers. Throughout the month, officers were targeting drivers who weren’t moving over on our roadways for police cars and other official vehicles that were working roadside with their lights flashing. Every year, too many of these roadside workers are injured by the sheer inconsideration of motorists.

Under Florida’s law, motorists are required to move over and offer a free lane of space to help prevent collisions with these official roadside vehicles. When drivers are not able to move over a lane, they are required to slow down and travel at least 20 miles under the posted speed limit. The month-long campaign is the result of the more than 170 police officers who have been killed since 1999 while doing their job on the side of the road. Thousands more have been injured in these accidents. Officials are stepping up and fighting back, helping to protect roadside emergency workers.

Our Margate car accident attorneys would like to share the results of that month-long campaign. During the enforcement period, officers issued nearly 70,000 traffic tickets and arrested more than 600 drivers for driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Of these busts, officers were able to ticket nearly 25,000 drivers for speeding and more than 1,200 for failing to abide by the state’s Move Over Law, according to results from the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles (FLHSMV).

“Law enforcement officers are out there every day working to reduce traffic crashes and fatalities. Motorists need to know the rules of the road…and abide by them,” said Col. David Brierton with the Florida Highway Patrol (FHP).

Brierton added that there have been three FHP troopers hit on the job by passing motorists in just the last three months.

Recent accidents from motorists failing to move over:

-January 14: Trooper Richard Guzman in Hillsborough County.

-January 26: Trooper David Rodriguez in Orange County.

-February 23: Trooper Daniel Morley in Palm Beach County.

Drivers throughout the state are reminded to move a lane away from a stopped emergency vehicle when its lights are on and flashing. When you are not able to move over, you are to slow down and travel 20 miles under the speed limit. When the speed limit is just 20 miles per hour on the roadway you’re traveling, you’re required to travel at 5 miles per hour until you’ve passed the official vehicle.
Continue reading →

Our Port St. Lucie car accident lawyers have discussed the dangers of texting and driving time and time again. Now, there’s a local family trying get the message through to drivers after their lives were devastatingly impacted by a driver who had been texting. According to CBS12, a local family felt the effects of the dangerous driving habits firsthand. They are now trying to call attention to the issue before it happens to someone else.

“We’re supposed to be making more memories. Doing more things together. Not just as a family, but as a couple, and now I don’t have that,” said the woman.

You may remember the accident from August 13th of 2011. The accident in which the woman lost her husband because of a texting driver. Our Port St. Lucie car accident lawyers remember that accident. A 25-year-old driver sped through a red light while driving down Gatlin Boulevard when she slammed into the vehicle of the woman’s husband. It’s believed that the driver was texting as she went through the red light, though that has not been officially confirmed.

The victim’s wife is feeling the consequences of that alleged text message. Her life will never be the same.

According to the victim’s family, investigators believe that the red light-running driver was texting when the accident happened, but the state attorney’s office and local police can’t substantiate that because the driver hasn’t yet turned over her cell phone to authorities.

Tom Nichols with the Port St. Lucie Police Department says that they tried to determine at the time of the crash whether the driver was texting or on the phone. Nichols said that they looked all over for her phone number. They even stopped by her house in Port St. Lucie and weren’t able to get in touch with her.

The victim’s wife says it’s like the driver doesn’t even care that she killed someone.

The truth of the matter is that many accidents like that happen here in South Florida. Officers aren’t always able to prove that a driver was distracted by a text message or a phone call when an accident happens, leaving the causes of these accidents unrecorded.

At the site of the accident, faded white spray paint and flowers mark the holidays spent without the father, the husband, the victim of an accident with a driver who was allegedly distracted by a text message.

Now, the grief of their loss is replaced with a purpose. The man’s wife says she’s determined to share her story with people in the area to help them to understand the consequences that are associated with such irresponsible driving behaviors.

So far, the red light-running driver has not been charged.

Luckily, there is an anti-texting ban being proposed in Tallahassee. The bill recently made it through committee. Next, it faces a full vote in the Senate, but could be stopped by expected opposition in the House.

Currently, there are 40 states that have some kind of restriction on texting while driving, but there’s still nothing on the books here in Florida.
Continue reading →

Everyone knows there are some bad drivers on Miami roadways. These bad drivers include not only tourists and seasonal residents, but people who live in the city year-round as well. Some people have even described driving in this part of the state as a “contact sport,” according to the Miami New Times. That description is no surprise, considering the alarming number of car accidents in Miami annually.

This reputation raises some interesting questions, like what are the most dangerous roadways in the city? Perhaps not surprisingly, statistics show you’re most likely to get into an accident on a major highway or within sight of a Hooters.

Our Miami car accident attorneys remember a complaint that was submitted to the New Times discussing nonchalant drivers all around our city. Part of the complaint read “for the past three years, the city has neglected to repaint the street markings that show drivers where to drive.” What the complaint is discussing is the intersection of 19th Street and Dade Boulevard. Unfortunately, there are a lot of intersections that are poorly-constructed, overflowing with traffic and dangerous for all travelers.

This complaint raises the question — What are the most dangerous intersections in town? Public records from the Miami-Dade Public Works Department revealed that Kendall is the most dangerous area for intersection accidents. Surprisingly, this was drawn from the fact that the Public Works Department failed to return information regarding Miami Beach and the City of Miami to the Miami New Times. Not surprising. We’ll update you when the information is provided.

Kendall accounted for 6 out of the top 10 worst intersections. Doral accounted for the 3 of the top 10 worse intersections. Miami Lakes accounted for 1 of the worst. From 2006 to 2008, there were nearly 3,500 accidents in these areas.

Most Dangerous Intersections from 2006 to 2008:

-SW 152 St., Kendall and SW 137 Avenue in Kendall – More than 580 accidents.

-SW 152 Street and SW 117 Avenue in Kendall- More than 475 accidents.

-NW 12 Street and NW 107 Avenue in Doral – More than 420 accidents.

-SW 56 Street and SW 137 Avenue in Kendall – Nearly 400 accidents.

-SW 72 Street and SW 117 Avenue in Kendall – Nearly 380 accidents.

-NW 167 Street and NW 67 Avenue in Miami Lakes – More than 370 accidents.

-NW 36 Street and NW 72 Avenue in Doral – 340 accidents.

-SW 88 Street and SW 137 Avenue in Kendall – Nearly 295 accidents.

-NW 12 Street and NW 187 Avenue in Doral – Nearly 290 accidents.

-SW 72 Street and SW 107 Avenue in Kendall – Nearly 280 accidents.

Lastly, the Miami New Times wanted to note another dangerous intersection — NW 79 St and NW 27 Avenue in Liberty City. It’s clear that a vast majority of accidents in the area occur at intersections. Whether they are the result of road design or careless drivers, the fact of the matter is that these areas are dangerous and motorists need to be extremely cautious.
Continue reading →