The government estimates that the number of car accident deaths during the period last year from January through September rose by twelve percent compared to the same time frame in 2020, a rise which was the highest recorded in over forty years, the greatest rise since the government’s Fatality Analysis Reporting System began monitoring traffic deaths. In fact, the number of car accident deaths of the year’s first nine months was the highest during those months since 2006. As expected, Florida, which was one of the first states to lift pandemic restrictions, was one of the states which lead the rise in traffic accident deaths. The rise in fatalities correlates to 1.36 traffic deaths per 100 million vehicle miles driven, which statistically was a slight rise from the 1.35 per miles traveled measured in 2020. Interestingly, the deadly rise diminished during the third quarter of 2021 versus the same quarter of 2020.

In light of this shocking rise, the Department of Transportation vowed to roll out a nationwide plan, called the National Roadway Safety Strategy, in hopes of reversing this deadly trend. Specifically, part of the recently passed infrastructure law will encourage states to build safer roads, with dedicated bicycle and bus lanes, increase lighting along rural roads and install more crosswalks. Given the difficulties local police departments are having deploying officers for traffic patrols, plans also call for installation of speed cameras, which are disfavored by motorists, but provide for greater and more cost-effective speed enforcement. Evidence is clear that reducing speeding motorists correlates to an equivalent drop in violent crashes, meaning lives are saved.

The primary components of the Roadway Safety Strategy, according to the plan put out, including:

• Safer People: Encourage safe, responsible behavior by people who use our roads and create conditions that prioritize their ability to reach their destination unharmed.
• Safer Roads: Design roadway environments to mitigate human mistakes and account for injury tolerances, to encourage safer behaviors, and to facilitate safe travel by the most vulnerable users.
• Safer Vehicles: Expand the availability of vehicle systems and features that help to prevent crashes and minimize the impact of crashes on both occupants and non-occupants.
• Safer Speeds: Promote safer speeds in all roadway environments through a combination of thoughtful, context-appropriate roadway design, targeted education and outreach campaigns, and enforcement.
• Post-Crash Care: Enhance the survivability of crashes through expedient access to emergency medical care, while creating a safe working environment for vital first responders and preventing secondary crashes through robust traffic incident management practices.

As personal injury attorneys helping seriously injured car accident victims across Florida, we applaud and encourage the government’s efforts to reduce deadly car accidents, which is why we remind everyone to focus on driving safety and avoid using cell phones while driving.

While safety advocates had hoped for a silver-lining during Covid, that a significant drop in vehicular traffic would result in an equally impactful drop in car accident deaths; the sad part is that those who choose to drive during the lockdowns actually demonstrated riskier driving behavior, including driving at high speeds. The dangerous driving was also documented by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, which confirmed that more speeding meant deadlier crashes. Those findings seem out of place when looking back at Florida’s March and April, 2020, state of emergency and stay-at-home orders.

Most observers point to Covid-19 as significant contributing factor in the rise in deadly crashes – a statistic which is omitted from the Covid-19 reported death numbers. The safety council calculated that Americans drove nearly thirteen percent less over the past year; yet, the rate of driving deaths per 100 million vehicle miles driven increased by nearly twenty-five percent to 1.49, the greatest percentage increase in over 100 years.

While the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has not yet reported their official full-year traffic accident statistics, initial evaluations found a similar dramatic rise in the rate of car accident deaths last year. To better understand the implications of the pandemic’s affect upon traffic deaths, the Insurance Institute, the Governors Highway Safety Association and the National Road Safety Foundation, are joining forces to commence statewide projects meant to reduce excessive speeding.

The findings in the United States are shocking especially when compared to other developed countries, which had by contrast a significant drop in car accidents car accident deaths over the past year. And of course, Florida’s reputation for dangerous drivers was verified as our state was one of the deadliest during the past year. Last year more than 3,300 drivers, pedestrians or passengers died in car accidents across the State. In fact, there were over 340,000 car accidents in Florida during 2020, with an additional 212,122 reported injuries. While the number of total car accidents dropped from 2019’s number of 401,893, the number of deaths rose by nearly ten percent, which confirms the severity of those crashes.

The National Safety Council is advocating for a number of safety measures to help combat reckless driving as the country begins to climb out of the pandemic, including breath-test ignition locks for convicted drunk drivers, reducing speed limits and greater enforcement of laws which ban texting and cellphone use while driving. Fort Lauderdale personal injury lawyer Joseph Lipsky also reminds his fellow Floridians to always use your seat-belt and place children in properly installed car seats. He also urges all motorcycle riders to wear approved helmets, as they are nearly forty percent effective in preventing deadly injuries to motorcycle drivers and their passengers.

And of course, Florida again is considered one of the most deadly states for car accident deaths, partially due to some of the most lenient driving laws in the country.

Car accident dangers are evaluated in the study in 5 categories including occupant protection, child passenger safety, teen driving, drunk driving and distracted driving. Florida drivers demonstrated some of the most dangerous behaviors resulting in 2,922 fatal crashes with over three thousand car accident wrongful deaths in 2017.U.S. crash deaths fell slightly in 2017 but still reflected the second-deadliest year on the road in the last decade. As expected, given Florida’s recent rise in legal marijuana use, some of the most frequent causes of deadly car accident include drugged driving and distracted driving.

One of the ways to change the momentum and further decrease the likelihood of deadly car crashes is by more aggressive legislation. Currently Florida has minimal laws regarding seat belts and distracted driving, such as only front seat passengers being required to use seat belts, studies recommend that Florida’s legislature pass more driving safety laws, including:

▪ Rear seat passenger seat belt law.

▪ Requiring all-rider motorcycle to use a helmet. Currently motorcycle drivers over 21 with $10,000 in medical insurance coverage are permitted to ride without helmets.

▪ Rear facing child car seat requirement through age 2.

▪ Mandatory booster seat law.

▪ Changing the age from 15 to 16 for a learner’s permit.

▪ Raising the age from 16 to 18 for unrestricted license for teen drivers. Currently get a driver’s license at 16 in Florida, if written and road tests are passed.

▪ Requiring ignition locks for all DUI offenders that would stop them from driving if the user fails a breath test.

▪ Implementing text messaging restriction.

▪ Cellphone restriction. Twenty states and D.C. lack optimal laws restricting cellphone use for teen drivers.

This uptick in traffic deaths is particularly concerning with regards to the number of pedestrians killed along U.S. roadways, which rose to its highest level in nearly 30 years, with more than 6000 pedestrians were killed in 2018. The reason for the increase in pedestrian traffic deaths is significantly tied to the exponential growth of pickups and SUV on the road. These bigger and heavier vehicles cause more significant injuries.

With Florida being one of the most deadly states from pedestrians, additional legislation may prevent some of the more deadly driving behaviors. Including: Further education about drowsy driving, which is a factor in nearly ten percent of all car crashes. And, putting more restrictions of users of now legal medical marijuana.

We at the Ft. Lauderdale car accident lawyer offices of Joseph Lipsky, P.A. believe that some common sense laws by our legislature would save lives, making our roads safer for motorist, pedestrians and cyclists.

A recent study by the AAA shows that sleepy motorist are to blame for nearly ten percent of all car accidents. “Drowsy driving is a bigger traffic safety issue than federal estimates show,” said David Yang, executive director of the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety. “Drivers who don’t get enough sleep are putting everyone on the road at risk.” Plantation personal injury lawyer Joseph Lipsky could not agree more.

The AAA formulated their results after they studied nearly 4,000 drivers over a number of months. Through the use of dashboard cameras and other monitoring devices, the scientist followed motorists over a nearly three year period. The results of the study showed the driver being followed were involved in more than 700 car accidents. Drowsy driving was a contributing factor in almost ten percent of those car and truck accidents. And of those nearly 700 crashes, more than ten percent resulted in significant property damage or personal injury. Those results were much greater than the Department of Highway Safety Administration’s estimates that only 1-2 percent of car accidents involved a drowsy driver.

Incredibly nearly 30 percent of motorist admitted to driving while having a difficult time keeping their eyes open. Interestingly, men and women were equally guilty of the dangerous behavior of drowsy driving, with almost 70 percent of drowsy driving related car accidents occurring during the day, which is counter intuitive to most people’s beliefs that drowsy driving only happens during the evening. Safety advocates have largely ignored the dangerous problems associated with drowsy driving, concentrating instead on the dangers of eliminating distracted driving.

Because of the dangers, particularly with sleep deprived truck driver, some commercial trucking companies have started using in-cabin cameras which monitor drivers’ eyes and track nodding heads. When the system determines a driver may be falling asleep, a warning alarm sounds and the operator’s seat vibrates. Seeing the lifesaving benefits of this technology, GM has begun using it in their driver-assist system, including the one in their 2018 Cadillac CT6.

We agree with the AAA desire to increase public knowledge of the dangers of drowsy driving. As the AAA’s director of traffic safety said “missing just two to three hours of sleep can more than quadruple your risk for a crash, which is the equivalent of driving drunk.” We hope drivers understand the risks and dangers they pose when they get behind the wheel when they are tired.

As everyone who suffers through the daily drive upon Florida’s highways, including the Florida Turnpike, I-75, I-95 and SR 826 knows, the study could only have one “winner” once it analyzed all the data. Incredibly, while most drivers think they drive well, the data reveals that that is not the case. In Florida, that data shows that our reputation is well earned. Florida’s drivers “won” for the 2^nd year in a row, a dubious honor as the nations’ worst. Florida’s honor is attributed to the number of deadly car accidents, ranking 9^th in the nation and we also had the 9^th greatest number of internet searches for traffic tickets. Surprisingly, Florida ranked at the bottom regarding the number of DUI arrest.

In addition to being the state with the worst drivers, Florida also has the most dangerous road, U.S. 1. According to the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, U.S. 1 has a fatality rate of 2.8, with more than 1,011 car accidents with more than 1,000 wrongful deaths over the past ten years. Not too far behind I-95 running through Broward and Miami-Dade Counties with a fatality rate of 1.73 accidents per mile.

Many of the study’s findings are common sense, such as proving that states with more drivers driving more miles have a greater numbers of deadly car accidents, and those more populated states have more uninsured drivers. Given the rising costs of car insurance, it is not surprising that more drivers disregard the law and drive without insurance. It is this precise reason why we always tell our clients and friends to purchase as much uninsured motorist coverage as they can afford, to protect themselves from dangerous uninsured drivers. As Sergeant Esterhaus always said in Hill Street Blues, “let’s be careful out there,” and hopefully next year, Florida will not win this distinction again.

Research by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety demonstrated that the majority of headlights on a number of small SUV, including the Jeep Wrangler, Mitsubishi Outlander and Nissan Rogue had poorly performing headlights. Even so-called luxury vehicles such as the Mercedes C-class had poorly rated headlight systems.

Incredibly, it is actually old federal regulations which are the cause of numerous vehicles with poorly rated headlights. While many manufactures actually want to install items including adaptive beams, regulations prevent them from installing the same technology they have on vehicles being sold around the world. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has failed to take action on a number of manufactures requests to install newer headlight systems, such as curving headlights which actually turn themselves into a turn a vehicle is making. In fact, Toyota’s request which they made over four years ago, are still pending.

While headlight safety doesn’t receive the same publicity as autonomous vehicles, the IIHS believes that advances would play a vital role in reducing the increasing number of traffic wrongful deaths, which increased nearly 10% last year. The AAA found that nearly eighty percent of vehicles’ headlights are inadequate in being able to provide proper stopping visibility for vehicle driving faster than 45 m.p.h. Although some manufactures are urging the NHTSA to implement higher standards, others are more concerned with how their vehicles and headlights look rather than how they perform.

Another factor which may help headlight performance is proper driver education. Studies have found that drivers do not use their high beams often enough. According to a University of Michigan study, motorists only used their high beams about twenty-five percent of the time they actually should have used them.

As Florida car accident lawyers we only hope the Federal Government takes the necessary steps to bring car and truck headlights into the 21^st Century.

Proof of the dangers and higher mortality rates associated with driving a small vehicle are evident in a recent study from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. According to the head of research, “physics matter. The bigger the vehicle, the safer you are in an accident.” Additionally, many larger vehicles tend to be more expensive than entry level ones, meaning they generally come equipped with more safety equipment which also helps their drivers survive even highway car accidents. Some of the more prominent safety and accident prevention technology in more expensive vehicles include automatic braking, additional airbags and pre-tensioning seat-belts.

The IIHS went through 4 years of car accidents which resulted in nearly 3,000 wrongful deaths, which was a significant increase compared to the prior four year period, and analyzed that data over 200 models of vehicles, each of which have at least 100,000 models on the roads. The eye-opening results demonstrated that the Hyundai Accent and Kia Rio had the highest death rates, with over 100 Hyundai Accent drivers’ deaths. As you can imagine, Hyundai, in trying to explain away the results, claims their vehicle meets all US safety standards.

For those SUV drivers, the news is much better. Of the 11 vehicles which had no driver fatalities, SUVs, including the Jeep Cherokee, Mazda CS-9 and Mercedes M class, featured prominently. Some of the other vehicles which had no driver wrongful deaths included the Audi A7, BMW 535 and the Lexus CT 200.

The study should cause anyone in the market for a new vehicle to reconsider their choices, particularly as we are entering the so-called summer driver season, when car accident wrongful deaths tend to rise.

Many parents are in a hurry to reward their children by moving them from baby seats to boosters. Unfortunately, the desire to advance children into a more “grown up” type seat actually places that child in danger. Research indicates that almost fifteen percent of kids younger than 3 were allowed to use booster seats too soon. However, this quick graduation to boosters is better than the nearly 55% of kids who are simply allowed to ride in a vehicle with no booster, only restrained by an adult seatbelt.

Too often parents disregard well publicized safety recommendations that children between the ages of 4 and 7 should not use a booster seat until they reach a large enough weight and height. Children who have not reached at least 35 inches and a weight of at least 40 pounds should remain in their harnessed child seat. Thereafter, children should use a booster seat until they are at least 4 feet nine inches tall. Adult seatbelts are designed for an adult weighing greater than 125 pounds. When a child uses an adult seatbelt, their risk of serious injury is alarmingly high. However, when a child uses the appropriate seat and safety equipment, there is a nearly 50% decrease in the likelihood of serious injury in the event of a car accident.

Of the forty percent of improperly restrained kids, more than twenty-five percent were allowed to use adult seat belts too early. Ft. Lauderdale personal injury lawyer Joseph Lipsky finds it more concerning that more than ten percent of all children were completely unrestrained. For the safety of our most precious loved ones, we certainly hope parents resist their children’s requests, and keep them in the proper safety seat until they are really ready.

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:

1. No cell phone use or texting while driving
2. No passengers
3. No speeding,
4. No alcohol, and
5. No driving or riding without a seat belt.

The purpose of this simple list is to arrest the leading causes of teenage driving accident and injuries. Research indicates that nearly half of all passengers in teenage driving car accidents who lost their lives were not wearing a seat belt. Also, excessive speed was a cause in over one-third of teenage driving wrongful death crashes. And, although the legal drinking age in Florida is 21, dozens of teenagers lose their lives each year in alcohol related crashes.

As most parents know, peer pressure can be a negative motivating factor in poor choices teenage drivers make. Police departments report that when investigating accidents in which a teenager died and was not wearing a seat belt, that nearly all of the other occupants of that vehicle were also not using their seat belts. Also, the NHTSA knows that a teen driver is nearly three times more likely to drive in a dangerous manner when they have even one passenger in their car.

As we’ve previously commented, while most teenage driver car accidents happen between 3 and 8 p.m., reckless driving can cause a car accident and lead to a wrongful death any time of the day. While any parent of a teenager knows their young driver may be annoyed at constantly being told to drive safely, research indicates a consistent and constant message can help reduce the likelihood of a deadly crash – something with which everyone can agree.

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.

According to Ford, the proof is demonstrable that efforts in educating new drivers resulted in a reduction of young drivers being involved in car accidents. But the focus on continuing to educate older, but still teen aged drivers, needs greater resources. Considering nearly one third of teenagers do not get their driver’s license until turning 18, those new drivers avoid the state’s graduated driver licensing, which includes restrictions such as limitations on night-time driving. Because of this anomaly, the NHTSA is recommending Florida increase the age of the graduated licensing program to include new drivers through 21 years of age. Some of the recommendations include safe driving courses at colleges and parental education.

Many counties across Florida participate in the Florida Sheriffs Association Teen Driver Challenge. The program is free and includes nearly 10 hours of hands on driver training in safety skills with the purpose of reducing the likelihood of being involved in a crash. We certainly agree that all additional steps, including education, enforcement and parental engagement are necessary to help stem the tide of rising teen driver accidents and deaths. Florida car accident lawyer Joseph Lipsky hopes our representatives in Tallahassee understand this tragic increase in teenage driver deaths and take the necessary legislative actions to insure that all motorists, not only those novice teenage drivers, are properly educated about how to drive defensively. Nothing would make us happier than all motorist learning to drive safer and not having to speak to another family after one of their loved ones died in a car accident.

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.

Because the high number of injured victims of hit and run car accidents need medical care and a source of compensation for their injuries and lost wages, we strongly recommend everyone who owns a vehicle in Florida, make sure they have uninsured motorist coverage as part of their car insurance. That way, if the police cannot locate the hit and run driver, the injured victim is able to have their insurance company essentially pretend that they actually insure that unknown driver. Often times, having uninsured motorist coverage is the only precaution which saves an injured accident victim from mounting medical bills. Sadly, too many insurance agents try to convince their clients that if they have medical insurance and some type of disability insurance, that they do not need uninsured motorist coverage. This advice is wrong, and will only cause injured accident victims more difficulties.

Fort Lauderdale Car Accident Lawyer Joseph Lipsky urges all motorists, particularly those with less experience behind the wheel to follow the advice from The Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, to “keep their eyes on the road, hands on the wheel and mind on driving.” And if you happen to be involved in a car accident, don’t compound the situation by running; stay and allow the legal process to work. Often times, even those initially cited as causing an accident are able to avoid criminal liability with the assistance of a ticket defense attorney.

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.

This fact is obvious to anyone who drives along any of our State’s interstates, including I-95, SR 826, SR 836 or the Florida Turnpike. The combination of speeding motorists and those who refuse to follow the law by using their phones to text while driving are clearly the cause of too many accidents, and our State’s dubious honor.

Florida personal injury attorney Joseph Lipsky reminds his fellow motorists that your moment of carelessness, whether it is looking down at a text message or being otherwise distracted while driving, may have a life altering effect on someone else. Remember, that text or call can wait until you are stopped, and no appointment is so important as to cause you to drive well above the safe speed limit.