South Florida Injury Lawyers

Florida authorities are joining forces to reduce the number of traffic accidents involving stopped emergency vehicles or construction zones, where crashes are among the leading causes of fatal South Florida road construction accidents, according to the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles.

Construction zones and stopped emergency vehicles are a break from the driving norm, and can also pose distractions for highway drivers. Consequently there is an increased risk of car accidents in West Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale and throughout South Florida.

Law enforcement agencies from throughout the southeastern United States announced a campaign aimed at motorists who violate the “Move Over” laws of each state. The Florida Highway Patrol will join the Alabama Department of Public Safety, Georgia State Patrol, Tennessee Highway Patrol and South Carolina Highway Patrol in taking enforcement action against motorists who do not move over or slow down for stopped emergency vehicle’s or road crews displaying flashing lights.

“All too often, a law enforcement officer, paramedic or wrecker operator is seriously injured or killed just doing their job because a vehicle got too close,” said Florida Highway Patrol Director, Colonel John Czernis. “That is why our law includes protection for all first responders, emergency personnel and wrecker operators. All of these people put their lives at risk. Every one of them deserves protection under the law.”

The campaign is scheduled to run from Nov. 6 to Nov. 12. While officials have not said how they will conduct enforcement, it typically involves a decoy cruiser at the side of the road with activated emergency lights. Chase vehicles are then used to stop and ticket violators.

Florida law requires motorists to vacate the lane closest to a stopped emergency vehicle or wrecker with flashing lights. If moving over is not possible, a driver must slow to 20 mph below the posted speed limit.
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For the elementary school students at Pine Joe Elementary in West Palm Beach, participating in the Oct. 6 Walk to School day event meant more than getting some fresh air and a traffic safety lessons on their way to and from school, the Sun Sentinel reports.

For them, as much as it was about exercise, it was also about remembering a popular 8-year-old classmate who was struck and killed while riding his bicycle home from school a month ago. More than 20 elementary schools in Broward and Palm Beach Counties and West Palm Beach chose to participate in this year’s event – now in its 13th year – joining 3,200 schools across the country and student from more than 40 countries around the globe.

West Palm Beach pedestrian accident lawyers know that each year more than 39,000 children aged 14 and younger are injured in pedestrian accidents and another 630 are killed in pedestrian-related traffic fatalities. But thanks to safety organizations like Safe Kids USA and awareness campaigns like International Walk to School Day and Safe Routes to School, from 1995 to 2005 the number of child pedestrians killed each year has dropped by more than 50 percent.

The Florida Department of Transportation has distributed more than $29 million in federal SRTS funds to implement and sustain projects that promote bicycle and pedestrian safety. Aside from traffic safety, SRTS also emphasizes a pro-environmental message and endorses healthy, active, lifestyle by encouraging students to skip the bus and walk or pedal from home to campus each day.

Funding can be used for sidewalk and crosswalk improvement projects, disability access ramps, school zone signage and equipment to assist crossing guards and police who work with school children.

Safe Kids offers a few top tips to help kids master safe pedestrian behaviors:

~ Before crossing any street, STOP. Look left and right twice and make sure the street is clear before crossing. Always walk, never run.

~ Always walk facing traffic and obey all traffic signals and signs.

~ Never let a child under age 10 cross streets unsupervised or unassisted. Teach children to wear bright clothing during the day, and reflective clothing if they have to walk when it is dark. Teach them to carry and use a flashlight when visibility is limited.

~ Parking lots and driveways are not safe play areas for children, neither are streets or unfenced yards that abut streets.

Even First Lady Michelle Obama is excited about this year’s month-long awareness campaign. “I know that by getting students moving, we can help ensure they will live full and healthy lives, and that is why I am so encouraged by all the events going on across our country this month,” said the First Lady.
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The Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles is urging residents to wear white on Tuesday as part of a statewide “White Out” of teen traffic accidents. The awareness effort is part of National Teen Driver Safety Week, which runs from Oct. 17 to 23.

Car accidents in Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach and elsewhere in Florida, are the number one cause of death among teenagers. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports that 6,428 motorists were killed in accidents involving teen drivers in 2008. Florida car accidents involving teen drivers killed 516. Only California and Texas reported more deaths involving young drivers.

“The number of teens who died in traffic crashes dropped 21 percent between 2008 and 2009, which signals that Florida is heading in the right direction,” said DHSMV Executive Director Julie Jones. “Despite the decline, 153 families felt the impact last year when they lost their teens to crashes. No one wants to see someone with their whole life ahead of them die, especially when the cause of death is preventable. Join us Oct. 19 as we white out teen crashes.”

Teen drivers and the risk of Florida car accidents

-772,910 teens are licensed to drive in Florida.

-29,485 crashes involved teens last year.

-153 teens died in Florida car accidents in 2009, and 19,292 teens were injured.

-Florida teens make up 5 percent of the state’s population but are involved in more than 9 percent of its traffic accidents.

The state’s Take the Wheel website is an interactive site for teen drivers. It’s Drive with CARE program teaches parents and teenagers about Courtesy, Attention, Responsibility and Experience.
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NHTSA promotes seat belt use as powerful injury-prevention tool for South Florida drivers

A two-car accident on I-385 in South Carolina between a 2006 Toyota sedan and 2011 Chevrolet SUV carrying the driver and six passengers, all from South Florida, left one dead and sent seven to an area hospital in a crash that could have had much more deadly consequences. According to WSPA-7, all but one involved were wearing seat belts at the time of the accident.

Our West Palm Beach injury attorneys recognize that sometimes seat belts save lives. Tragically, in other cases they do not. But, as we reported in an earlier post to our Fort Lauderdale Car Accident attorney blog, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reported that in 2009 alone, more than 12,000 lives were saved just by passengers and drivers choosing to buckle up.

In fact, U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood just announced that NHTSA ongoing agency-generated safety programs have been successful in encouraging seat belt usage. Since 1994, the number of passengers and drivers using seat belts has climbed from 58 percent to 85 percent as the number of unrestrained passenger vehicle fatalities has dropped from 57 percent to 44 percent. In an effort to educate the public regarding proper seat belt use, air bag deployment and even buckling up while pregnant, the NHTSA offers a few tips for drivers and passengers:

ABOUT SEAT BELTS:

~ Wearing a seat belt is the simplest and easiest way to protect vehicle occupants from impaired, distracted and aggressive driving and from injury or death in the event of a car accident.

~ Seat belt use and air bag deployment are tandem, potentially life-saving, mechanisms. An air bag alone does little protect a driver or passenger during a crash. In fact, in some cases, air bags can increase the chance of injury or death because they deploy with such force.

~ How a seat belt fits is important. The lap belt and shoulder strap should fit securely across the pelvis near the hip crease and the shoulder belt should rest across the shoulder and rib cage. For best results, all vehicle occupants should buckle up.

SEAT-BELT & AIR BAG SAFETY WHILE PREGNANT:

~ Medical professionals recommend that pregnant women always wear a seat belt and enable air bag deployment. With that said, as mentioned above, air bags without seat belts can create their own safety hazards.

~ As you belly grows, so should the space between you and the steering wheel/dashboard. As long as you can comfortably reach the pedals, pregnant drivers should maintain a 10-inch space between their abdomen and the steering wheel.
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A 12-year-old Swain Middle School student was struck and seriously injured Sept. 23 after getting off a school bus and running into the path of a northbound Mercedes-Benz, the Palm Beach Post reports.

As our West Palm Beach pedestrian accident attorneys have noted in an early post to our South Florida Injury Lawyer blog, school bus accidents are most common during the start of the school year and most school-bus related fatalities involve pedestrian accidents. In fact, on average, 14 out of 19 school transportation-related crashes annually claim the lives of school-age child pedestrians who are most frequently killed between 3 and 4 p.m.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports that most fatalities involving school transportation happen when students are getting on or off the bus and enter the 10-ft. “danger zone” encircling a bus. The NHTSA offers a few tips to making school bus travel safer for students:

~ Students need to S-L-O-W D-O-W-N and focus on their surroundings when they are getting on and off a bus. Students should never assume the bus driver or other motorists are waiting for them to act.

~ Students should NEVER bend down to retrieve an item (book-bag, jacket, lunchbox, etc.) dropped while getting on or off a bus.

~ Students should always board or disembark from a bus individually. Getting on or off a bus is not a group activity.

~ Teach students to make eye contact with the bus driver before getting on the bus and to stop and look both ways before getting off a bus.

~ Teach students about the five-step zone that surrounds a school bus where neither bus drivers nor fellow motorists can spot a child.

~ Teach students to NEVER walk or run from the edge of a bus or from beyond the “danger zone” without first stopping and looking in all directions. That only when the road is clear and the bus driver indicates it is safe should a student cross and enter a roadway.

Click here for a safety video to view with your children.
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