Ocala, Florida Personal Injury Blog

Last weekend, a man walking in the right travel lane on I-75 was hit and killed by a car. The car's driver said that it was dark and the pedestrian appeared suddenly. This is the fourth fatal car accident in Ocala / Marion County already this year.

Meanwhile, a weekend car crash in South Florida killed three individuals, including one Good Samaritan. According to the Sun Sentinel, eleven people have been killed and many more injured in the last year after leaving their cars on Florida highways.

These highway car accidents bring up two issues: 1) What can drivers do to keep an eye out for people and stalled vehicles on the side of the highways?; and 2) What should people do when their cars are disabled on the highway?

Texting and driving is not the only culprit of serious car accidents. Distracted walking and biking can also be deadly contributors.

Recent studies have looked at the impact of sidewalk distractions. A study by the Journal of Injury Prevention found that there were 116 pedestrian deaths caused by headphone use between 2004 and 2011. In nearly one third of these accidents, a car (or a train, in multiple cases) had honked its horn - to no avail. One of these fatal texting accidents involved a Florida teenager who walked in front of moving cars while texting.

A similar study by Ohio State University found that more than 1,000 pedestrian injuries (injuries from slip and falls, trip and falls, etc.) were the result of pedestrian distraction caused by cell phone use.

The Florida House Banking and Insurance Subcommittee has cleared House Bill 119, which would require victims of Florida car accidents to go to the emergency room after an accident, rather than a family doctor. In order to receive personal injury protection (PIP) benefits, an accident victim would have to visit an emergency room or a walk-in-clinic owned by a hospital within 72 hours after the car accident.

Governor Rick Scott supports the bill as a step in the right direction to combat alleged PIP insurance fraud. Opponents of the bill have pointed out that it would not only increase the number of people in already-crowded hospital waiting rooms but would also stop them from seeing doctors who already know about their general health condition and could better understand what care the accident victim should receive.

A recent survey conducted by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety shows that, while drivers want U.S. roads to be safer, many still choose to practice unsafe driving behaviors such as drunk driving and texting while driving.

The unfortunate reality is that many car accidents in Florida and around the country are caused by drivers who know they are driving dangerously.

The Florida Highway Patrol has reported that the motorcyclist injured in a Weirsdale motorcycle accident on December 14^th has died. He is the 64^th person killed in Marion County motor vehicle accidents this year. This is a drop from last year's death rate - there were 73 traffic deaths in Marion County in 2010 - and less than Marion County's 5-year average (71 traffic deaths).

While some of these fatal auto accidents were entirely accidental, many others were caused by negligent or reckless acts such as drunk driving (there were 32 fatal drunk driving accidents in Marion County in 2010, accounting for 44 percent of all fatal accidents), distracted driving, failure to watch for other motor vehicles on the road and speeding.

According to recent data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, there were 4.2 percent more pedestrian fatalities in 2010 than in 2009. Even more alarming is the rise in pedestrian injuries: there were 19,000 pedestrians injured in the U.S. in 2010, a 19 percent jump since 2009.

2010 was the first year in the last four years that saw an increase in pedestrian-and-car accidents. In fact, pedestrian fatalities had decreased 14 percent between 2000 and 2009. As we have discussed in another post on Florida pedestrian accidents, Florida remains one of the deadliest state for pedestrians, with Orlando, Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater and Jacksonville topping Transportation for America's list of most dangerous cities for pedestrians.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), cell phones killed 3092 people in car crashes in 2010. Cell phones not only take our hands off the steering wheel and eyes off the road; they also take our minds off driving. For example, someone who is texting while driving or reading an email can have a reaction time equal to - or worse! - than that of a drunk driver.

That is why the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is recommending that all states ban cell phone use while driving. While the NTSB has fought to limit cell phone use by teenage drivers, truck drivers and school bus drivers, this is the first time it has recommended a complete ban on cell phone use in every vehicle.

This recommendation comes after a serious distracted driving accident in Missouri, which injured 38 people and killed 2, including a 15-year-old riding in a school bus. According to the NTSB, the accident was caused by a pickup truck driver who had sent 11 text messages immediately before the chain-reaction crash.

A 76-year old woman accidentally caused an Ocala car accident on Monday morning when she hit the gas pedal instead of her brake. Her car crashed into a bank lobby on Maricamp Road and Southeast 36^th Avenue.

According to an article in the Ocala Star-Banner, "the timing was oddly appropriate." This week is Older Driver Safety Awareness Week, a week supported by the American Occupational Therapy Association that brings to light the increased risk of car accidents for older drivers.