Law Advice

Traffic Deaths and Distracted Driving

Traffic deaths due to distracted driving including motor vehicle accidents, motorcycle accidents, bicycle accidents, pedestrian accidents, and truck accidents are on the rise. The Joe Teater tragedy is one painful example that could have been avoided.

At the tender age of 12, Joe’s life was ended in a wrongful death accident involving a distracted driver. He was an active young man in his youth church group and school clubs. On the fateful day of the tragic traffic crash, Joe and his mom were en-route to an after school event, only a few minutes from their house. The distracted driver who struck them was so busy talking on her cell phone that she just didn’t see the other cars in front or her or the school bus that was in front, until it was too late. Why aren’t people screaming from the rooftops that this is dangerous?, Judy Teater asked in tears on the issue of distracted driving.

The Rise of Distracted Driving

Every year, car passengers lose their life when a distracted driver slams into them. According to the National Public Radio story, Waging a War on Distracted Driving, you are now twenty times more likely to be in motor vehicle accidents with someone who is texting while driving than someone who is driving drunk. In 2009, Reuters reported that 5,800 traffic deaths in the US were the result of distraction.

To combat this problem that is unique to the new era of our various hand-held devices, states across the country are passing laws in an attempt to curb the rise of car accidents and other accidents stemming from distracted drivers. Thirty states now have laws of various severity prohibiting the use of cell phones, texting, or both.

Traffic and Pedestrian Accidents in Florida

Unfortunately, Florida is not one of the states with laws that curb distracted driver activities, even though the Florida DMV website readily admits one of the biggest causes of accidents in Florida is distracted drivers

How dangerous are Florida’s roadways? To get an idea, in 2009 the state of Florida experienced 702 traffic crashes each day, for a total of 235,778, which is a decrease from 2008.
The break down of the Florida Traffic accidents was as follows:

Injuries from Traffic accidents: 197,214
Alcohol-related Traffic accidents: 20,085
Drug-related Traffic accidents: 1,283
Pedestrian accidents: 8,248
Motorcycle Traffic accidents: 8,313
Teen Traffic Crashes: 29,485
Bicycle Traffic accidents: 4,774

Florida Truck Accidents caused 12 traffic fatalities when large trucks were involved and 26 were light truck accidents a light truck is a truck that carries 4,000 lbs. or less

Florida Legislation on Distracted Driving Enforcement Road Block

In 2010, several legislative measures to crack down on distracted drivers in Florida died in the Florida House or the Florida Senate. Some well known measures to crack down on distracted drivers include:

A bill preventing any type of texting that died in April 2010
A similar bill that died in a different committee in April 2010
A senate bill prohibiting any cell phone use except with hands-free devices, known as Heather’s Law,
A law that would have stopped at least school bus drivers and railroad engineers from sending text messages, also died in the Florida Senate in April 2010.

Click on the following links to read more information on this subject,
Faces of Distracted Driving – Joe Teater a 12 year old killed due to a distracted driver. – Fast Lane – A Blog by the Department of Transportation
The Traffic Crash Statistics Report – 2009 from the Florida Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles.
As a Florida Law Firm, our Palm Beach Gardens Personal Injury Lawyers, see the tragic impact on the personally injured and the surviving loved ones that have lost a loved one in a traffic accident. Many of these traffic accidents could have been avoided with the proper safety measures on the highway.
If you are driving, be extra careful when operating a vehicle and especially if you are talking on the phone or involved with some other distraction behind the wheel.

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