South Florida Injury Attorney Blog

As an Aventura wrongful death attorney, I was dismayed to see that a 14-year-old girl has died after a bad car accident with a law enforcement officer. The South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported Jan. 25 that Cara Catlin, a freshman at Northeast High School in Oakland Park, died Jan. 23 in a crash with a Broward County Sheriff’s Deputy. Catlin was riding in a car driven by her 21-year-old stepsister, Heather Meyer, who was also injured in the crash, as was Gabriel Alegria, 15. Both Meyer and Alegria were hospitalized in stable condition. The deputy, 21-year-old Frank McCurrie, was treated for minor injuries and released. Homicide investigators are looking into whether the deputy was speeding when the accident occurred.

McCurrie was going straight through the intersection of Northeast 56th Street and Dixie Highway when Meyer was making a left turn; both had green lights, but Meyer did not have a green arrow. The first reports about the accident said McCurrie didn’t have his lights and siren on when he passed through the intersection. A Broward Sheriff’s Office spokesperson later said McCurrie didn’t need the emergency signals because he wasn’t responding to an emergency. However, a witness told the newspaper that the deputy was going around 70 mph, in a 40-mph zone, before the crash happened. Investigators say it’s too early to confirm that claim, but that it will be investigated thoroughly. Meyer, Alegria and an aunt of Catlin’s, Edie Bronder, all declined comment. Bronder said the family is consulting an attorney.

This is a very sensible decision. Calling an attorney so soon may sound premature to some people, but as a Boca Raton wrongful death lawyer, I know that families need to start right away if they plan legal action against law enforcement. The Broward Sheriff’s Office is a government agency, of course, and all government agencies have special rules governing lawsuits against them. In Florida, these include shorter deadlines for filing and special administrative procedures families must complete before they can file claims. If you’re considering a lawsuit against a police department or any other government agency, it’s very important to make sure you follow these rules to the letter, because deviation can delay your case or even cause you to miss the deadline entirely. If that happens, you may be unable to sue at all, no matter how strong your case is.

Continue reading "Car Crash With Broward Sheriff’s Deputy Kills Fourteen-Year-Old Girl" »

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Posted In: automobile accidents , injuries to minors , wrongful death

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As a Davie product defect attorney, I have kept an eye on the Toyota recall. Last year, the automaker announced the largest recall in its history, of 4.3 million vehicles implicated in multiple reports of sudden and unintentional acceleration. In that recall, Toyota said improperly positioned floor mats were causing accelerator pedals to stick open, sometimes causing panicked drivers to launch into walls or over cliffs. The defect has caused at least 19 deaths, including the August death of an off-duty California Highway Patrol officer trained in vehicle safety and three members of his family. Now, the Los Angeles Times reported Jan. 23, Toyota is recalling 2.3 million more vehicles, saying a mechanical problem is causing the pedal to stick.

The new recall is raising eyebrows, the Times wrote, because Toyota had previously denied any problems other than the floor mat problem. The automaker didn’t explicitly say it no longer believed this, but most of the vehicles involved in the new recall are the same vehicles in the floor mat recall. Some safety experts quoted by the newspaper said they believe the real problem is actually Toyota’s “drive by wire” system, which controls acceleration through an onboard computer rather than mechanical parts. Toyota says the pedal can stick down when it gets worn. It doesn’t have a solution to the pedal problem yet, but has asked drivers who encounter the problem to apply the brakes and call a dealer immediately. Experts also suggest that drivers deal with unintended acceleration by turning off the car or shifting into neutral. Drivers can find more information from Toyota here and a list of vehicles involved in both recalls here.

According to the article, Toyota rejected the computer-bug theory when investigating an incident that led to the most recent recall. This recall is probably still good for drivers, but it disturbs me as a West Palm Beach defective product lawyer that Toyota didn’t investigate the idea that its drive-by-wire system could be the real culprit. In fact, it was basically forced to concede the pedal problem after a sudden-acceleration incident that seemed unrelated to floor mat problems. Mechanical parts are much cheaper to fix than computer systems -- but if computers are the problem, that hardly matters. If the expert quoted in the newspaper is right, Toyota’s failure to face the problem will continue to put people at risk until it’s impossible for the automaker to ignore it -- putting more lives in danger.

Continue reading "Toyota Announces New Recall Implicating Stuck Pedals in Sudden Acceleration" »

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Posted In: automobile accidents , product defects

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I have written here before about the terrible case of a tractor-trailer that crashed into a school bus in Ocala, killing a one middle school girl and injuring another. Because the trucker happened to be using a cell phone immediately before the crash, the incident helped raise awareness of distracted driving -- an issue important to me as a Lauderhill auto accident lawyer. Now, the Ocala Star-Banner reported Jan. 13, the mother of the girl who was killed is helping start a new, MADD-like group intended to fight distracted driving. Elissa Schee of Ocala is one of five board members of FocusDriven, all of whom lost loved ones to distracted drivers. The board met Jan. 12 with U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.

Frances “Margay” Schee was 13 when her school bus was rear-ended by a commercial trucker. The bus was pushed forward 100 yards and burst into flames, but Margay Schee was the only one killed. The truck driver told police afterward that he was using a cell phone at the time. Elissa Schee told that story when she appeared on an episode of Oprah broadcast Jan. 18 to promote FocusDriven. The group’s first priority is to pass legislation in all 50 states outlawing phoning and driving. At the moment, the newspaper said, Florida does not place any restrictions at all on phoning and driving -- although the state legislature is expected to take up a ban on texting and driving this year. In fact, no state has banned cell phone use behind the wheel entirely, although six states require headsets for all drivers and 19 ban texting and driving.

As a Coral Springs car wreck attorney, I am glad that Schee and the other FocusDriven members are raising awareness of this issue. Distracted driving has emerged as a major issue in the past six to nine months, in part because of research showing that texting and driving raises your risk of a crash significantly. In one study of truck drivers, researchers at the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute found that texting raised the crash risk by 23 times. Another recent study found that the crash risk for drivers of ordinary cars, using a simulator, was six times greater. And some research has found that texting impairs driving even more than driving under the influence of alcohol or marijuana. But until our society sees a concentrated campaign to raise awareness of the dangers, drivers will continue to take those risks for the sake of convenience.

Continue reading "Mother of Teen Killed in Semi Crash Joins Campaign Against Distracted Driving" »

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Posted In: automobile accidents , large truck accidents

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As a Deerfield Beach car crash attorney, I have been following the increased media coverage on the problem of distracted driving. On Jan. 7, the New York Times explored a new threat in its “Driven to Distraction” series: Internet browsing while driving. This is already possible to some extent thanks to “smartphones,” but the Times reported that automakers are now developing ten-inch computer screens built directly into the dashboard. These “infotainment centers” would include navigation information, controls for music and even videos and Web pages. The systems have warnings not to use them while driving, and disable some features while the car is in motion. But experts interviewed by the Times said they were concerned about the safety effects of putting the devices literally front and center in vehicles.

The systems are the result of collaboration between major computer manufacturers and automakers, and were displayed with pride at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Spokespeople for the companies say consumers want these features, especially busy consumers looking to get business done in the car. But safety and technology experts believe the dashboard-mounted screens run contrary to growing awareness of the dangers of distracted driving. A researcher at the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute said there’s already evidence that looking at a screen while driving raises the risk of a crash. That risk goes up exponentially the longer the driver looks away from the road. A professor at MIT went further, saying “[I]t is a continuation of the pursuit of profit over safety — for both drivers and pedestrians.”

I would like to believe that drivers can make safe decisions even with these options -- but as a Davie auto accident lawyer, I’ve seen far too much evidence to the contrary. Auto accidents were a leading cause of death and brain injuries even before cell phones were widely available. Unfortunately, far too many people simply don’t take their responsibilities behind the wheel seriously -- at least until they’re involved in a crash. At that point, it may be too late to prevent deaths or catastrophic injuries, both to the driver and to the other motorists and pedestrians who happen to be nearby. Because car crashes can be so serious, I believe it’s appropriate to do rigorous testing to determine whether in-car computers can be used safely. If they cannot, automakers should consider disabling distracting features while the car is on the road, and governments should consider aggressive anti-distraction laws and enforcement.

Continue reading "Internet in Car Dashboards Raises Concerns About Distracted Driving" »

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As a Fort Lauderdale car accident attorney, I was disappointed to see a short news story about a fatal accident that took place in Miami. The South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported Jan. 4 that Jean Ginst Eugene, 40, died after his SUV rolled over on Interstate 595. The newspaper said traffic slowed on the highway around 1 p.m., possibly due to a ladder left in the road. Eugene and another driver, Robert Mintz, both moved into the inside lane to avoid the problem. The right front of Eugene’s Mitsubishi Montero Sport struck the left rear of Mintz’s vehicle, causing the Mitsubishi to roll over and hit the median. Mintz pulled over into the breakdown lane and was not hurt, but Eugene suffered fatal injuries. The Florida Highway Patrol said the crash was under investigation.

There are several aspects of this accident that interest me as an attorney. First and foremost, the rollover aspect of the accident suggests that fundamental structural problems may have led Eugene’s SUV to tip over. SUVs became notorious in the late 1990s and early 2000s for being involved in rollovers at a much greater rate than smaller cars or even pickup trucks. Safety experts blamed this on their high centers of gravity, which made them prone to tip over even during ordinary driving. This is a serious safety problem because rollovers are one of the most dangerous accident types. Because rollovers throw vehicles’ occupants around and out of the vehicles, they substantially raise the likelihood of death, brain damage, spinal injuries or severe burns. This is made worse by the fact that SUVs are exempted from standard passenger-vehicle roof strength standards, making their roofs more likely to crush under the weight of the vehicles.

As a Boynton Beach car crash lawyer, I would also be interested in what happened to create the obstacle in the road in the first place. Driving with an improperly secured load is illegal in Florida. More importantly, if the driver responsible for securing the load realized the problem and drove on the highway anyway, he or she could be held legally responsible for this crash in any lawsuit the victims choose to file. This is not to say that Mintz, or Eugene himself, may not also be held partly responsible for the crash in the FHP’s report. If they are, the jury in any lawsuit filed would have to divide up responsibility between all of the parties involved. This would diminish, but by no means eliminate, the compensation available to Mintz or to Eugene’s family.

Continue reading "Miami Man Killed in SUV Rollover Crash Avoiding Obstacle in Road" »

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As a Fort Lauderdale auto accident lawyer, I’ve written here several times about tragic and preventable injuries to construction and emergency crews working at the side of the road. A Dec. 21 article from the New York Times examines that issue from another angle: work site injuries to motorists who happen to be passing by. According to the article, few laws exist to ensure that contractors working on public roads follow safety laws, and guidelines are violated. As a result, the article estimates, 4,700 Americans were killed in the past five years in work zone accidents, most of them preventable. And because the laws don’t provide much accountability, the contractors responsible often continue to be hired.

Accidents happen, the article says -- but safety experts say they don’t need to happen as often as they do. According to David Holstein, chief traffic engineer for the state of Ohio, an accident-monitoring system in that state found that crashes increase by as much as 70% in construction zones. With stimulus package money likely to fund many new construction projects, more deaths may be likely in 2010. Transportation officials focus on driver error by raising speeding fines and making “move over” laws. But 85% of deaths in construction zones are driver deaths, the article said, and federal safety officials don’t track whether and how contractors might be to blame.

One example the article gave was an accident that took place on I-75 in Sarasota. Zep Construction, the contractor, planned to use a “rolling roadblock” to slow down traffic for work on a bridge just after midnight. However, the roadblock caused traffic to stop completely rather than slow, in an area with a blind spot and a 70-mph speed limit. Drivers Manuel Ramirez and James Brashear came to a stop, but a semi truck behind them couldn’t stop in time. It jackknifed into a line of cars, killing both men and wounding 10 other people. Brashear’s son Tyler, 11 at the time, was physically unhurt but trapped in the crushed vehicle with his father. The article said Zep had followed almost none of the rolling roadblock guidelines provided by the Florida Department of Transportation, but the state still gave the contractor an excellent performance rating. The Brashears have sued Zep.

I am disturbed to read that there are so few regulations on construction zone safety in our state, or across the U.S. According to the NYT, those guidelines that do exist are mostly not mandatory or specific, and states resist changing this because of fear of litigation. Ironically, as a Miami Gardens car crash attorney, I believe states are in a worse position without such rules, because accidents, and thus lawsuits, are more likely when safety is lax. More importantly, failure to make and follow adequate safety rules means more preventable deaths, like those of James Brashear and Manuel Ramirez. No contractor sets out to create deadly accidents, but this article shows that good intentions are not enough. If government agencies and contractors are not willing to set and enforce higher standards, the accidents -- and their legal liability -- are likely to continue.

Continue reading "Article Finds Thousands Killed in Preventable Road Construction Zone Accidents" »

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Broward County car accident attorneys like me got some bittersweet news Dec. 7 from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. As the Washington Post reported, the federal government’s driving safety agency held a press conference Monday to announce its annual anti-drunk-driving campaign for the holidays and reveal national DUI statistics. Because intoxicated driving is statistically likely during the holidays, the NHTSA partners with local law enforcement to run a national anti-DUI campaign called “Over the Limit. Under Arrest.” In its press conference, however, the agency announced statistics showing that drunk driving has actually gone down in recent years. However, the accompanying report shows that driving under the influence of drugs is now a serious threat.

According a survey by the NHTSA, 11% of drivers on the road on the weekends are under the influence of an illegal drug. That number shoots up to 16% at night, traditionally the time when drunk driving rates are highest. That was the bad news in a Dec. 7 Washington Post article on the press conference. More bad news for Florida was that we are one of the ten states that did not see a drop in the rate of fatal drunk driving accidents. Florida, Delaware and Pennsylvania saw no change to fatal DUI crashes, while seven states actually saw increases: New Hampshire, Kansas, Wyoming, Rhode Island, Idaho, Oklahoma and Colorado. Drunk driving fatalities declined by 7% nationwide, the Post reported. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said the declines were biggest in states that sought and prosecuted DUI most aggressively, with checkpoints and stepped-up patrols.

I hope Florida authorities take that message to heart. The NHTSA report (PDF) shows that our rate of fatal DUI accidents is better than those of most of our neighbors in the Southeast, but it still isn’t falling as fast as that of the nation as a whole. As a Hallandale Beach auto accident lawyer, I work frequently with victims of serious car crashes, including people who were badly hurt or lost a family member in drunk driving accidents. Every single one of those accidents was the preventable result of another driver’s negligent decision to get behind the wheel while impaired. Most public education campaigns about DUI don’t differentiate between alcohol and drugs, but both will leave drivers’ judgment and motor skills impaired, harming their ability to safety control a vehicle. And driving under the influence of either can leave the innocent motorists around them equally dead.

Continue reading "Federal DOT Releases DUI Statistics, Reminds Drivers to Stay Sober During Holidays" »

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As a Fort Lauderdale car accident lawyer, I was very pleased to see an announcement that federal regulators will toughen up safety equipment requirements in new vehicles. The Detroit News reported Dec. 1 that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which regulates and tracks traffic safety issues, will require larger and stronger side curtain air bags in new vehicles starting in 2014. The new standards are intended to reduce the number of deaths each year in rollover crashes, considered one of the most deadly crash types. Vehicles with the new air bags will be tested on how well they keep occupants from being thrown from the vehicles, where they can sustain serious head and spinal injuries.

NHTSA statistics say vehicle rollovers cause about 10,400 deaths every year. The problem is worse for drivers and passengers who aren’t using seat belts or age-appropriate car seats, but the agency estimates that about 13% of the 402 lives saved by the new regulation will be the lives of people who are using seat belts. The standard applies to vehicles that weigh 10,000 pounds or less, which includes large SUVs, vans and pickup trucks as well as passenger cars. According to the article, the new standards would likely lead to larger side curtain air bags large enough to cover more of the windows; strong enough to keep passengers from being thrown through the windows; and inflated for several seconds (rather than just 0.1 second, as with frontal air bags).

I applaud this sensible move by the NHTSA. According to the article, the agency estimates that the new regulations will add approximately $54 to the cost of vehicles. As a Coral Springs auto accident attorney, I believe most people would agree that that’s a very small price to pay to reduce their risk of dying. Rollover crashes are so deadly because they throw occupants around the inside of the vehicles, where they can sustain serious head, neck and back injuries or puncture wounds from metal and glass that was deformed by the accident. In many cases, especially cases where vehicle occupants didn’t use safety restraints, they can also be thrown violently out of the vehicle. This is undoubtedly one reason why NHTSA statistics show that rollovers accounted for just 2.7% of all crashes in 2008, but 21.25% of fatal crashes.

Continue reading "Federal Safety Agency Announces Stricter Standards for Side Curtain Air Bags" »

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As a motorcyclist and a Cooper City motorcycle crash attorney, I was dismayed to see a Nov. 20 article in the Daytona Beach News-Journal about an “outbreak” of hit-and-run accidents in the region. According to the newspaper, the Florida Highway Patrol is seeing a very high number of hit-and-run accidents -- 19 on Nov. 18 alone. Florida saw five fatal hit-and-runs in the past month, the article said, including two in Central Florida. Central Florida has seen 13 fatalities from hit-and-runs in all of 2009. These crashes include all kinds of motorists as well as pedestrians. However, the focus of the article was on two motorcyclists killed in the past month on Volusia County roads, and a third left at the roadside with a broken leg. In all three cases, the responsible driver left the scene.

One of the motorcyclists the article talks about is John Eaton of DeLand. Eaton, 46, was rear-ended by the driver of a pickup truck as he left a bar in DeLeon Springs. He was thrown into traffic on U.S. 17. Other people tried to help him up, but a second vehicle ran him over and left the scene. It was the day after his first wedding anniversary. Another motorcyclist, 47-year-old Kevin Hill of Sanford, was hit head-on by a vehicle that was trying to pass another vehicle in the opposing lanes. He was conscious and sitting up after the crash, and others were trying to get him off the road, but driver Susan Norman, 40, hit him and kept on going. Her car was disabled and she was found a few miles away. Charges are pending. FHP Sgt. Kim Montes said drivers who leave the scene tend to have something to hide, such as driving under the influence, a suspended license or other legal problems.

As a Plantation motorcycle accident lawyer, I hope articles like this can help the FHP solve some of its unsolved fatal hit-and-runs. Leaving the scene of an accident might sound like a good idea to panicked motorists, but it tends to make matters worse in the long run. Hitting and running harms victims and their families twice, leaving them with no answers and no liability insurance policy to collect on. In some circumstances, victims can collect on uninsured/underinsured motorist policies -- but even that can be difficult if the insurance company sees an opportunity to deny an expensive claim. Meanwhile, drivers who get caught are nearly certain to be criminally charged with leaving the scene. And hitting and running can also make the situation worse if the driver is hit with a lawsuit, because juries are not likely to be impressed with this behavior.

Continue reading "Central Florida Police Seek Public’s Help Solving Hit-and-Run Motorcycle Crashes" »

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Posted In: automobile accidents , motorcycle accidents , pedestrian accidents

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As a Dania Beach car accident attorney, I was pleased to see a report from the Miami Herald Nov. 18 that Gov. Charlie Crist has come out in favor of a statewide ban on texting while driving. Crist, who is running for a Florida senatorial seat, also reportedly “politely prodded” Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles head Julie Jones to join him. Crist asked Jones to put the issue on the office’s legislative “wish list” for 2010. Jones told reporters that she sees a shift toward more public support for a ban, after an increasing number of fatal accidents related to texting and driving.

The ban may be a tough sell for the Florida Legislature, which has rejected multiple such bills in the past. However, momentum is growing for a ban on texting and driving, at least among national traffic safety experts. Texting and driving was the subject of a national “distracted driving summit” called by Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood in late September. Several U.S. senators have also introduced a bill that requires states to ban texting and driving to receive federal highway funding, a tactic that the federal government used successfully to raise the drinking age. Both actions, however, may have been motivated by a study issued over the summer showing that truck drivers who text have a 23 times greater risk of crashing than those who don’t. Texting took drivers’ eyes off the road for up to five seconds -- enough time for a semi at highway speeds to travel the length of a football field.

As a Miami Gardens car crash lawyer, I have followed texting and cell phone use issues for some time, which is why I know that research is just the latest of multiple studies. Without exception, all of them find that texting raises the risk of a crash, simply because it takes the driver’s eyes off the road. Other activities behind the wheel are certainly also unsafe, but none have seen the widespread increase in popularity that texting has, especially among inexperienced younger drivers. In fact, fourteen other states and Washington, D.C. already ban the practice, either entirely or by restricting the behavior of drivers under a certain age. Banning texting behind the wheel may or may not be politically popular, but it’s the smarter choice for keeping Floridians safe.

Continue reading "Governor and DHSMV Head Publicly Support Ban on Texting While Driving " »

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As a Pembroke Pines auto accident attorney, I was sorry to see reports of a serious accident affecting four students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland. According to a Nov. 16 article in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Anthony Almonte, Sean Maxey and Robert Nugent died just after midnight on Sunday morning after their vehicle crashed through a guardrail and into a canal off Broken Woods Drive in Coral Springs. The fourth teen in the car, 15-year-old Evan Sinisgalli, was able to escape and stumble to the shore, where he called to neighbors for help. The four were out celebrating their high school’s homecoming weekend.

The accident may have been a mistake by Maxey, the driver, who had had his license for less than a month. Maxey reportedly had a fender-bender with another driver when trying to make a turn from Broken Woods onto University Drive. After that crash, Maxey put the car into reverse and apparently just kept going, traveling at least 242 feet and hitting a street sign before hitting the guardrail and going over the edge. Sinisgalli told police he had unbuckled his seatbelt after the crash, expecting to get out. The other young men were all wearing seatbelts when rescue workers found them drowned. Broward County’s Chief Medical Examiner said their injuries weren’t serious enough to stop them from trying to escape and suggested that water pressure may have made it difficult to open the doors.

My heart goes out to the families and friends of these young men. The victims’ friends say that they weren’t drinking, but suggested that Maxey may have been trying to flee the scene because he was out later than teenaged drivers are allowed under Florida law. This accident may have been a panicked overreaction by an inexperienced driver. But as a Tamarac car crash lawyer, I will be very interested to see whether the investigation turns up any defects in the 2007 Volkswagen they were using. Thanks to the Toyota and Lexus recall, we already know that electronic systems in late-model vehicles are suspected of causing problems, or exacerbating mechanical problems they were not designed to handle. If the rapid backward acceleration Maxey experienced was not intentional, he and his friends may have been victims of a serious safety flaw that could affect more Volkswagen drivers.

Continue reading "Three Teenagers Dead and One Injured After Unexpected Reversing Puts Car in Canal" »

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As a Miramar auto product defects attorney, I have been watching the Toyota recall with some interest. Toyota and Lexus are recalling 3.8 million late-model vehicles, their biggest U.S. recall, because of reports that problems with the floor mats have caused accelerators to “stick” and vehicles to accelerate uncontrollably. The initial reports on the recall cited only a handful of cases. But according to a Nov. 8 article in the Los Angeles Times, more than 1,000 owners have complained to federal safety regulators since 2001 about sudden acceleration -- and regulators have dismissed or excluded most of those complaints. The Times suggested that regulators eliminated so many complaints that they may have eliminated any chance to stop the problem earlier.

When the accelerator pedal sticks open, the newspaper said, vehicles can reach three-figure speeds. The open throttle makes some braking systems useless, and the problem can be exacerbated by newer vehicle systems that make neutral gear hard to find and require a three-second delay before shutdown. According to the Times, the defect has caused 19 deaths and many more injuries, as vehicles accelerate uncontrollably into objects or over cliffs and bridges. Among the dead were California Highway Patrolman Mark Saylor and his wife, daughter and brother-in-law. Saylor was trained in handling high-speed vehicles, but that training didn’t help him when a loaner vehicle from his dealer went out of control east of San Diego, crashing over an embankment at over 100 mph.

Thanks to complaints from owners, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has undertaken eight investigations of the problem in the past seven years. But according to the Times, many complaints never got considered at all because regulators found reasons to exclude them. For example, the agency received 37 complaints about unintended acceleration in Lexus vehicles, but threw out 36 of those complaints. Complaints saying brakes didn’t stop the vehicles were thrown out because officials believed brakes could always stop a vehicle. In its reports to the NHTSA, Toyota also excluded reports of sudden acceleration lasting more than a few seconds, saying this was impossible. Exclusions for reasons like this allowed the NHTSA to close the Lexus investigation because it “found no data indicating the existence of a deficit trend.” In all, five investigations were closed for lack of enough complaints.

As a Cooper City automotive defect attorney, I am glad that the vehicles are being recalled now, regardless of what happened before. But if we learn that Toyota did cover up the unintended acceleration defect -- through carelessness or intentional deceit -- it has put itself in a very bad position in the lawsuits that are sure to follow. Under the law, manufacturers are legally responsible for all of the injuries their defective products cause, even if they didn’t know about the problems. If evidence shows that they did know about the problem and actively took steps to cover it up, they will be just as liable -- but the juries in their cases will be rightly shocked and horrified. In my experience, this tends to lead to very large recoveries for the people suing -- in this case, the people who were permanently injured or lost loved ones to defective Toyota and Lexus vehicles.

Continue reading "Report Raises Doubts About Regulators’ Response to Sudden Acceleration Complaints" »

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As a Fort Lauderdale car crash attorney, I have followed with interest the ongoing national debate over whether to outlaw text messaging while driving. That’s why a report on an accident in Polk County from Tampa Bay Online Nov. 10 caught my eye. According to the article, Stephen Horne, 26, is charged with reckless driving causing serious bodily injury in an Aug. 25 accident that took place in Bartow. He allegedly was texting when he ran his car into 20-year-old Emmanuel “Manny” Mejia, who was working behind a trash truck for Florida Refuse. The resulting accident cost Mejia both legs, a finger and a thumb.

The charge specifically links Horne’s text messaging to the crash. That makes it the first of its kind in the 10th Judicial Circuit, which includes Polk County as well as Highlands and Hardee Counties. The state’s attorney, Jerry Hill, said Horne made an intentional choice to focus on texting rather than on his driving. This may have been the rationale for charging Horne with felony reckless driving rather than a lesser misdemeanor charge. Horne faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted.

My heart goes out to Mejia, a young father whose life has radically changed because of someone else’s unsafe choices behind the wheel. As a Coral Springs auto accident lawyer, I am pleased that the state’s attorney’s office is treating texting while driving with the seriousness it deserves. A series of studies over the summer exposed just how dangerous the practice can be. Possibly as a result, the federal Department of Transportation called a “distracted driving summit” at the end of September, which focused largely on texting while driving. Legislation to ban the practice has been introduced in Congress, and safety experts urge states without such a ban (including Florida) to do likewise. Strict enforcement of any ban, along with existing recklessness laws, could do a lot to convince drivers to take these dangers seriously.

Continue reading "Tampa Man Loses Both Legs to Accident Caused by Texting Driver" »

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Ten people were hurt in a multi-vehicle crash in Davie involving schoolchildren, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported Sept. 21. According to the paper, a van belonging to Nob Hill Academy, a preschool and after-school care center, failed to stop when it approached a stopped school bus in the right-hand lane of Stirling Road. However, a minivan and a car had stopped for the bus; the Nob Hill van hit those vehicles. The crash pushed the minivan into a median and caused the van to go over the median into the westbound lanes of the road. Seven children sustained minor injuries; three adults were hurt, with one woman hospitalized in critical condition. Thirteen other people were treated and released at the scene.

My best wishes go out to the woman who was seriously hurt. As a Cooper City car crash attorney, I am pleased that this accident was not worse, particularly since Nob Hill Academy cares for very young and vulnerable children. But by the same token, the crash calls the judgment of the van’s driver into serious question. All drivers should stop for school buses -- because it’s the law and because children may be walking nearby -- but drivers of other school vehicles ought to be especially aware of that rule. And even without a school bus in the picture, drivers should pay enough attention to slow for stopped traffic ahead.

Legally, the driver of the van is likely at fault for apparently failing to do those things. But because the van’s driver was probably at work at the time, the school may be held legally liable for the crash as well, under a legal doctrine called vicarious liability. The school may also be held responsible if victims can show that it was negligent in its hiring and supervision of the driver. Legally, employers are responsible for the actions of employees working in the “course and scope” of their employment. That includes the actions of drivers who are performing job duties, driving a company vehicle -- or both, as in this case. This means the school and its insurance company are financially responsible in any Hallandale auto accident lawsuit the victims choose to file.

Continue reading "Ten Hurt, One Seriously, When School Van Crashes Into Stopped Traffic in Davie" »

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A recent article about a crash caused by a police car chase piqued my interest as a Pembroke Pines auto accident lawyer. WFOR (CBS4) here in Broward County reported Sept. 21 that an older man who was hit by the police car has recovered enough to speak to the media, and he is not happy. Richard Sanzare, 78, told the station he has a broken arm and wrist, staples and stitches in his head, trouble moving and pain. His wife, Dorothy, remains in the intensive care unit at a Broward County hospital. Police Officer George Law suffered neck and back injuries and was in stable condition.

According to the article, Law was chasing a motorcyclist believed to have a gun. Witnesses and Sanzare say that Law was driving very fast without using his siren or lights; a Fort Lauderdale Police spokesperson said he couldn’t confirm that. During the chase, the Sanzares entered northbound I-95 at the Oakland Park Drive entrance and was hit by Law’s police vehicle. The crash caused the couple’s vehicle to roll over; Law’s car ran off the road and hit a tree. Despite the crash, the police spokesperson said Law is still on duty while the incident is investigated. Sanzare said he was upset that a police representative hadn’t stopped by to apologize; he told the station he was planning a lawsuit.

As a Plantation car crash attorney, I happen to know that Sanzare has a complicated road ahead if he does file a legal claim. Suing any government agency is difficult, but there are special rules laid out in Florida law for suing a police agency over injuries sustained in a car chase. Police agencies may not be sued for such injuries if the officers:

1. were not behaving in a way “so reckless or wanting in care as to constitute disregard of human life, human rights, safety, or the property of another.”
   
2. reasonably believed they were chasing someone guilty of committing a forcible felony, as defined here
   
3. were acting pursuant to their department’s written policy on high-speed pursuits, and had received training on the policy.

It’s impossible to say from the article whether Law was following his department’s car chase policy or reasonably believed the suspect had committed a forcible felony. However, if the witnesses are right that Law was speeding without using his sirens or lights, I believe Sanzare’s Fort Lauderdale car wreck lawyer could make a compelling case that he was acting with reckless disregard for safety. As I have noted here before, speeding is a common cause of car crashes. In fact, emergency vehicles have lights and sirens specifically to tell other drivers that they should get out of the way because a speeding vehicle is coming. A jury could reasonably decide that failure to use those tools met the requirements of the law, by being unnecessarily and predictably dangerous.

Continue reading "Older Couple Hit by Fort Lauderdale Police Officer Pursuing Suspect With Gun" »

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The Miami city commission has approved a law making it illegal to drive in school zones while sending text messages, NBC Miami reported Sept. 11. The station said the council introduced and approved the measure Sept. 10 during a meeting that was mainly about the budget. The Miami Herald said the measure was introduced by Commission Chair Joe Sanchez, who said he was inspired after seeing a near-miss firsthand. While dropping his child off at school, Sanchez said he saw another parent nearly hit a student because the parent was distracted by texting. NBC did not report any details about the enforcement or penalties allowed by the law.

As a Pembroke Pines auto accident attorney, I am pleased to see that city governments are taking this problem seriously, even if our state government does not. As the article notes, a statewide ban on texting and driving has been introduced several times in the Florida Legislature, but has never passed. The most recent version, co-sponsored by Rep. Frederica Wilson of Miami, would have been called “Heather’s Law” after a young woman who was killed in an accident on her way to meet a wedding planner. Her car was hit by a truck driver who was so distracted by text messaging that he never had time to brake. Also not passed during that session was a bill that echoes the Miami ordinance -- it would have outlawed talking on cell phones while driving in a school zone.

Despite the reticence of the Florida Legislature, momentum is growing nationwide for a ban on texting while driving. In fact, four Senators have introduced federal legislation that would deny states access to federal highway funds unless they make laws banning texting while driving. As a Plantation car crash lawyer, I happen to know that similar top-down federal legislation is responsible for several other driving-related rules that are now uniform across the U.S., including the legal age for drinking, speed limit laws and the 0.08% legal limit for blood-alcohol content. The federal texting and driving legislation came on the heels of research by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute showing that texting while driving increased the chances of an accident by 23 times, at least for the drivers in that study, and took their eyes off the road for an average of five seconds at a time.

Continue reading "Miami Passes Ordinance Making Texting and Driving in School Zones a Crime" »

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I wrote last week about a drunk driving accident in which an allegedly drunk driver hit and killed a motorcyclist in Miramar, dragging him nearly 200 feet before stopping. Despite having a BAC of 0.236, nearly three times the legal limit, driver Robert Jones was driving his stepdaughter to school -- and after the crash, he tried to continue the journey by foot. The Miami Herald followed up on that story Sept. 11 with another surprising and disappointing piece of news: Jones had a valid Florida license even though he was wanted in Maryland for failing to appear in court on another DUI case.

According to the Herald, Jones was on probation in Cecil County, Maryland after serving ten days for driving under the influence and leaving the scene of an accident involving bodily injury. He apparently violated his probation, an offense for which he was supposed to attend a hearing in late 2006 -- but left the state instead. About four months later, he arrived in Florida and applied for a special Florida-only driver’s license using an apparently valid license from Delaware; the DMV does not check criminal records. After Jones was arrested for the Miramar crash, Broward County officers did not find any warrants for his arrest. Nonetheless, Jones is languishing in Broward County jail with nine charges against him, including DUI manslaughter.

As a Lauderhill car accident lawyer, I am not surprised to see that this driver has a history. Statistically, a large minority of intoxicated driving deaths are caused by chronic drunk drivers with several past DUI convictions. Procedures like license checks are supposed to catch this kind of history when drivers move to a new state -- but in this case, the system in Florida failed. An official is quoted in the article saying her agency is only as good as the information provided by other states -- and she’s right. That’s why, as a North Miami Beach car wreck attorney, I would like to see a better information-sharing system between the state DMVs, or even a national licensing program, if appropriate.

Continue reading "DUI Suspect Who Killed Motorcyclist Wanted in Maryland for Drunk Driving Offense" »

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As a Pembroke Pines car accident lawyer, I watch new traffic accident research and have written numerous times on this blog about the dangers of texting and driving. That’s why I was pleased Aug. 17 when I saw an article in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel about a city commissioner in Parkland, who wants to make texting while driving illegal within the city limits. Commissioner Jared Moskowitz planned to propose a law to the full City Commission on Aug. 19. It was unclear exactly how the law would work, but the article did say that there would be a fine for motorists caught breaking the law.

Moskowitz said his proposal was driven by concerns about safety; he said it’s the most dangerous thing people can do behind the wheel, aside from drinking. He believes texting while driving should be illegal throughout the state, not just in Parkland. That’s a belief shared by Democratic state Senator Ted Deutsch of Boca Raton, who has sponsored similar legislation at the state level for the past two years and expects to take it up again next year. Deutsch praised the efforts, but said Florida still needs a statewide anti-texting law. Moskowitz’s colleagues were cautiously supportive, but raised concerns about the practicality of enforcing such a law. In fact, the article said Parkland city attorney Andy Maurodis is researching whether Florida cities can even make their own traffic laws.

As a Hialeah auto accident attorney, I strongly support Mowkowitz’s (and Deutsch’s) efforts. As the article notes, a recent study I wrote about for this blog found that truck drivers were 23 times more likely to crash when they were text messaging -- in large part because their eyes were off the road for an average of about five seconds while they sent and received messages. Other results showing that texting raises the chance of an accident considerably have been found in studies that focus on drivers of passenger cars. And of course, we have far too much empirical data on the dangers of texting and driving, thanks to tragic, avoidable accidents caused by texting and driving. That includes recent train crashes in Boston and Los Angeles as well as trucking accidents in St. Louis and here in Florida, where a truck driver killed a little girl when he rear-ended a school bus while using his cell phone.

Continue reading "Broward County City Commissioner Proposes Law Making Texting While Driving Illegal" »

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A two-year-old visiting Florida with her family died Aug. 8 after an accident with an alleged drunk driver, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported Aug. 9. Isabella Zepka and her family were visiting Orlando from Durham, N.C., to use a time-share and visit family. She was on her way home from dinner and Sea World on Wednesday when John Molnar, 36, ran a red light and hit the back of her father’s car. Isabella sustained serious internal injuries and a fractured skull; she was taken off life support Saturday. Her brother Alexander, 9, sustained a fractured skull from which he was expected to recover. Her father was not seriously injured.

According to the article, the Zepkas’ car was making a left turn when Molnar ran a red light from the oncoming lane. Officers measured his blood-alcohol concentration at 0.133% and 0.129% in two tests -- both well above Florida’s 0.08% legal limit. Officers also found a plastic bag full of cocaine under the driver’s seat of his car, resulting in an additional charge of drug possession. He told officers that he had had just one beer, the article said, but failed field sobriety tests. His driving record includes a license suspension for a 2008 DUI in New Jersey, as well as four speeding tickets and convictions for careless driving and failure to obey a traffic device, all since 2006.

My heart goes out to the family of this little girl. As a Hollywood car accident lawyer, I’m sorry to say that I regularly see accidents like these, in which alcohol played a deadly role. Drinking and driving may be illegal, but it happens every day in Florida and around the United States. According to 2008 accident statistics from the Florida Highway Patrol, drivers intoxicated by alcohol, drugs or both were responsible for 23.5% of all fatal accidents in the state -- nearly a quarter. This is an improvement over the numbers from four decades ago, but unfortunately, far too many drivers still underestimate the dangers of driving drunk. Until they take this threat seriously and modify their behaviors accordingly, our communities will continue to see senseless tragedies like this.

Continue reading "Toddler Dies in Orange County Car Crash Caused by Accused Drunk Driver " »

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The Florida Highway Patrol is looking for the driver of a gold car believed to have caused a serious crash, Tampa Bay Online reported Aug. 10. The crash happened in Manatee County on the afternoon of Aug. 9, on U.S. 301. The FHP accident report said the unknown driver hit another vehicle headed in the same direction, causing a spinout that forced motorcyclist Gary Garrott, 21, into a median. The driver of the car apparently sped north, away from the accident, rather than stop. The FHP is asking anyone with information about a gold car with front-end damage in the region to contact them.

According to the accident report, the gold car was heading north on 301 when it hit a trailer pulled by a pickup truck heading in the same direction, causing a truck driven by Terry Boozer to spin from the right lane into the left lane. That intrusion caused Garrott to swerve away from the truck and into the concrete median, throwing him from his bike. Garrott was hospitalized with unspecified serious injuries and Boozer sustained moderate injuries. Neither was under the influence of alcohol. Law enforcement does not know whether the driver of the gold car was injured.

Leaving the scene of an accident is a crime in Florida and every other state, of course. It also has serious repercussions for accident victims, who are left without any insurance policy to collect from to pay for their injuries. If law enforcement cannot find the driver, victims must rely on any optional uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage they have purchased to cover their injuries. Unfortunately, as a Deerfield Beach auto accident lawyer, I have found that insurers resist making payments on these perfectly legitimate claims. Coverage for hit-and-run drivers is a standard part of UIM insurance, but all too often, insurers claim the driver was not uninsured, the accident was the insured’s own fault or some other flimsy reason to deny coverage. Often, it’s not until the victims hire a Plantation car crash attorney that the insurance company is willing to pay what it owes under its own contract.

Continue reading "Police Searching for Driver in Hit-and-Run Accident That Seriously Injured Motorcyclist" »

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A little-noticed state law passed last month will send some drivers to get their driving skills re-tested, the Miami Herald reported July 10. Effective Jan. 1, 2010, the law will require drivers to repeat their driving tests if they get three crash-related moving violations in three years. The law requires both a written test and a behind-the-wheel test that is normally taken by teenagers and other first-time drivers. The goal is to stop drivers considered chronically at fault for accidents -- in essence, people considered bad drivers. Current law requires that people cited in two crashes take a written test, but it does not require practical, behind-the-wheel testing.

The law will not apply retroactively, although people who get a third crash-related ticket after Jan. 1, 2010 may have to retake their tests if the ticket is a third within a three-year period. However, the state Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles has identified 3,277 drivers who would be required to retake their tests if the law were already effective. Of those drivers, 64% are white males under the age of 40; a third are under the age of 25. And 595 have at least one DUI conviction. The executive director of the DHSMV, Electra Bustle, said she believed the law would be successful if it managed to produce even one fewer crash.

As a Fort Lauderdale auto accident lawyer, I know from experience that drivers who get into serious accidents tend to have a string of other accidents behind them. That’s why I believe this law will ultimately help make Florida roads safer. Traffic citations are not ironclad proof of fault in the accident, but they are strong evidence that we use regularly in our Davie car crash lawsuits to establish who authorities believed was at fault. Auto accidents cause wrongful deaths and very serious injuries, including permanent, lifelong disabilities like brain damage. If requiring drivers with spotty records to retake the tests helps reform their behavior -- or spot dangerous drivers who should be taken off the road -- it’s worth the extra effort and inconvenience.

Continue reading "New State Law Will Require Driving Test for Floridians With Three Crash-Related Tickets" »

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The Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles announced good news July 6: Fatal traffic accidents decreased by 6.21% in 2008. That statistic comes from the department’s annual report on traffic crashes (PDF), gathered from information from Florida’s own traffic crash database. According to the report, fatal crashes involving cars, pickups, SUVs and large trucks are down -- but pedestrian, bicycle and motorcycle crashes went up in 2008. According to the Daytona Beach News-Journal, officials at the DHSMV attribute the change in part to the bad economy, which meant fewer tourists, less driving by Floridians and slower speeds when people do drive.

High gas prices might explain the rise in accidents involving pedestrians, bicyclists and motorcycles. Fatal accidents dropped in all of those areas, but injury accidents rose -- most dramatically for motorcycle passengers, whose injury rate rose by 14.80%. Pedestrian injury accidents rose by 4.64%, bicyclists injured rose by 1.79% and motorcyclists injured rose by 4.07%. On the plus side, fatalities in Florida overall are down by 7.39%, alcohol-related fatalities are down by 6.03%, and drug-related fatalities are down by a staggering, and welcome, 32 7%. The department keeps separate statistics for teenagers, whose fatality rate dropped by 16.8% and whose overall crashes dropped by 11.1%. Perhaps most interesting to a Fort Lauderdale car accident attorney, the study lists “careless driving” as the most common contributor to all crashes, followed by alcohol, failure to yield the right-of-way, speeding and crossing a center divide.

I am happy to say that here in Broward County, many of our accident statistics maintain that downward trend, though pedestrian and bicycle accidents continued to be an exception. However, one statistic particularly important to me as a Miramar motorcycle accident lawyer -- motorcycle fatalities -- has only now evened out. Over the five years between 2004 and 2008, our county saw a steady rise in fatal motorcycle crashes, reaching its peak in 2007 with 52 deaths. That number dropped to 37 this year, a trend I hope will continue. Overall, crashes, injuries and fatalities in Broward County are down, including alcohol-related injuries and deaths.

As a Pompano Beach car crash lawyer, I’m glad to see that fewer Floridians are getting involved in crashes, even if that means fewer people need my services. Serious auto accidents are catastrophic, life-changing events for many of our clients here at Cohn, Smith & Cohn. Accidents leave victims with internal damage, head injuries, broken bones and other injuries that require months and many thousands of dollars to fully treat. During that time, victims often cannot work, making it difficult to pay for all of this health care. In some cases, the situation is complicated by an insurance company’s refusal to provide the coverage victims have already bought and paid for, requiring a time-consuming and sometimes expensive legal battle to secure benefits.

Continue reading "Report Says Florida Traffic Accident Deaths, Including Motorcycle Crashes, Decrease in 2008" »

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A new law allowing police to pull over drivers not wearing a seat belt left some Florida drivers disgruntled, Florida Today reported July 1. The primary enforcement law, as it is called, is a change from Florida’s old seat belt law. Before, not wearing a seat belt could still get you a $10 ticket, but police could only write that ticket after pulling drivers over for another reason. Now, drivers can be pulled over and handed a ticket if law enforcement spots them without a seat belt on. Prices for the tickets vary, and officers issued a lot of verbal warnings on the first day of the new law, but Florida Today said the Brevard County tickets will be $104.

Many drivers interviewed by the newspaper were unhappy about the new law. One woman interviewed said she believed seat belts should be a choice for people age 18 or older. Another said she thought that because motorcyclists are not required to wear a helmet, drivers should have a choice about their seat belts. Palm Bay traffic officer Mike Veina said the point of the law is not to generate revenue from tickets -- another common complaint -- but to save lives. He pointed out that airbags, another life-saving device, can actually be harmful in slow speed-crashes because they are designed to work in tandem with seat belts. The article said that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the federal agency that tracks accident statistics, estimates that about 140 Floridians a year are killed because they failed to wear seat belts.

I sympathize with the argument that adults should have the right to choose whether to wear seat belts (or motorcycle helmets). But as a Hollywood auto accident lawyer, I know all too well that a seat belt can make the difference between death or serious injury and minor injuries in a serious accident. In an accident, seat belts help prevent occupants from hitting the hard (and sometimes jagged) interior of the vehicle and from being thrown from the vehicle, which cuts down substantially on brain damage, spinal injuries and other serious injuries. The NHTSA estimates that seat belts cut the risk of death by 45% to 65%, depending on the vehicle and the passenger’s position inside it. Faced with numbers like that, I believe the smart choice is to buckle up, regardless of whether a law is forcing me to.

Continue reading "New Primary Enforcement Seat Belt Law Annoys Florida Drivers" »

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A seven-month-old baby was killed when the tire on his father’s truck suddenly came apart, the St. Petersburg Times reported June 21. The baby’s father, Michelin Jones of Tampa, was driving on Interstate 4 when the tread on the right rear tire of his truck separated, the newspaper said. Jones lost control of the truck, which hit the median and rolled over three times before landing upright. The crash threw seven-month-old Indria Jones from the truck, killing him. The elder Jones was unharmed and another boy, six-year-old Drelin Pittman, suffered minor injuries. The Times said all three were wearing seatbelts -- which we hope means the children were in child safety seats.

An accident caused by tire tread separation is attention-grabbing for a Hialeah product liability lawyer like me, because it has happened numerous times before. If you drove a Ford vehicle earlier in this decade, you may remember the 2000 recall of 3.85 million Bridgestone/Firestone tires because they had a serious and potentially accident-causing defect. That defect was an unreasonable likelihood of tire tread separation, which caused drivers to lose control of their vehicles, especially at high speeds. Authorities believe the defective tires caused at least 120 deaths and several thousand serious injuries, including permanent spinal and brain damage.

There’s no evidence in the article that another widespread tire tread separation problem is about to hit the United States, of course. But if a defective tire turns out to be responsible for this accident, the family would have a strong potential South Florida defective product lawsuit. Tire manufacturers and all other manufacturers who do business in Florida are legally obligated to make sure they don’t sell dangerous products. When they fail in that duty, they are legally liable to people who are injured as a result. In a lawsuit, Floridians who are seriously hurt or lose a family member to a defective product can claim compensation for their injuries, physical pain, emotional suffering and all of the medical bills and lost income that resulted.

Continue reading "Baby Killed in Serious Rollover Accident Caused by Potentially Defective Tire" »

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Last week, I wrote a bit about Cape Coral police officer Damien Garcia, who was hospitalized in critical condition after a woman turned left in front of him, causing a serious Florida motorcycle accident. I’m sorry to say that the department’s troubles were increased Sunday when another on-duty officer was hit by a left-turner, according to the Cape Coral Daily Breeze. Fortunately, Officer Robert Reese sustained only minor injuries in the accident with driver Jessica Feliciano, 29.

The newspaper reported that Feliciano attempted to make a left turn from Country Club Blvd. onto SE 10th street, into Reese’s path. The patrol car hit a fire hydrant, power pole and cable box, but Reese was not seriously injured. Nor was Feliciano. However, the newspaper said Feliciano’s passenger, 40-year-old Esther Roldan, suffered serious injuries. Feliciano was apparently driving under the influence at the time. The Florida Highway Patrol said she was charged with DUI, DUI with property damage, DUI with personal injury and driving on a suspended license.

I’m glad that this police department isn’t facing another catastrophic injury to one of its officers. However, as a Broward County car crash attorney, I hope they can use this latest experience to remind Lee County residents how dangerous drinking and driving can be. Licenses can be suspended for any number of reasons in Florida -- not just a past DUI -- but the suspended license suggests that Feliciano has had some trouble with traffic law before. With the DUI and suspended license charges pending against her, she could face jail or even prison time. She could also face a South Florida auto accident lawsuit -- if not from Reese, then from Roldan, her passenger.

If you or a loved one has been seriously hurt by a drunk driver, you have the right to hold that person legally responsible for your injuries. That’s true regardless of whether you were in another vehicle or a passenger who mistakenly trusted the intoxicated driver. Our law firm, Cohn, Smith & Cohn, can help. For more than 25 years, our Aventura car wreck lawyers have helped Floridians recover compensation after serious accidents, including compensation for deaths, permanent disabilities and serious injuries as well as payment of medical bills and other costs. To learn more about how we can help, please contact us online or call us at (954) 431-8100 today for a free consultation.

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Florida law enforcement officers may soon have the right to pull over motorists they can see are not wearing seatbelts, the Orlando Sentinel reported May 4. Gov. Charlie Crist is widely expected to sign into law a bill passed by the Florida legislature allowing officers to write tickets to motorists they can see are not wearing seatbelts, even if they aren’t suspected of other traffic violations. After court costs and fees, the Sentinel wrote, the cost of the ticket is expected to be $93 to $119. It takes effect June 30.

The law converts the state’s existing seatbelt law from a “secondary” enforcement law to “primary” enforcement. In practice, this means that officers can now pull motorists over and ticket them just for not wearing belts, whereas before they could only write a seatbelt ticket if the motorist had already been pulled over for another violation. The law was the subject of debate for two reasons. Opponents argued that a primary enforcement law would encourage racial profiling by giving officers an excuse to pull more people over. Others objected to the idea of any mandatory seatbelt law at all. Adults should have the right to make their own decisions, the argument goes, even if those decisions are dangerous.

I have a lot of sympathy for freedom arguments. However, as a South Florida auto accident lawyer, I believe that drivers should voluntarily choose to wear a seatbelt, even if it is not required by law. By now, the research is clear that seatbelts save lives -- research from the federal Department of Transportation shows that proper seatbelt use cuts the risk of fatal injury in a crash by 45%, and the risk of a serious but nonfatal injury by 50%. Those numbers are for car crashes -- the protection is even greater for people in SUVs, pickups and vans. Seatbelts also keep people from being thrown out of their vehicles and from being thrown violently around the vehicle during a rollover, both of which substantially increase the chance of death and serious injuries such as brain damage.

Research also shows that moving to a primary enforcement seatbelt law really does raise the rate of seatbelt use, and substantially so. For example, our neighbors in Alabama adopted a primary enforcement law in 1999, when seatbelt use was at 58%. Two years later, it was at 79%, and in 2005, it had risen to 82%. That is, over six years, nearly a quarter of Alabamans began wearing belts after the law passed. It’s impossible to say how many of these people might have been in car wrecks, but statistics from the Department of Transportation predict that universal seatbelt use would save 33% more lives than seatbelts currently save, or more than 5,000 people every year.

The State of Florida may make some money from this new law, but as a Hollywood car crash attorney, I bet law enforcement would be pleased if everyone buckled up and they couldn’t make a dime. Car wrecks cause deaths and catastrophic, life-changing injuries. When those accidents were caused by another person’s carelessness, victims have the right to sue for all of the costs of the accident, including medical and repair bills, lost work and other financial expenses, and compensation for pain, suffering, injuries and any death or disability.

The Fort Lauderdale car wreck lawyers at Cohn, Smith & Cohn handle these claims for clients throughout South Florida. To learn more about how we can help, please contact us online or call our main Broward County office at (954) 431-8100 for a free, confidential consultation.

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A Broward County, Florida jury awarded a man $4.8 million in a South Florida auto accident lawsuit, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported March 13. Michael Gamson was hurt in 2003 when a drug company’s van rear-ended his car, leaving him with serious neck and back injuries. Gamson required extensive surgery, the article said, and is still in pain. He sued the drug company’s insurance company.

The article doesn’t have too many more details, unfortunately. But as a Hollywood auto accident lawyer myself, I believe this case is a good illustration of the fact that rear-end accidents can be much dangerous than people think. Even at slow speeds, a rear-end accident can cause serious neck injuries because of the mechanics of the accident. A blow from behind rocks a vehicle and its occupants forward and then backward very quickly. Because people’s heads are heavier than their necks, the result is a rapid stretching of the neck as the head snaps backward, giving rise to whiplash. Whiplash, one of the most common auto accident claims in Florida causes chronic neck and back pain as well as headaches and tingling in the arms and legs.

However, this article says Gamson was severely injured and needed multiple surgeries, which suggests an injury more serious than whiplash. At their most serious, neck and back injuries can be spinal cord injuries that cause permanent, lifelong disabilities to their victims. Severe spinal cord injuries cause paraplegia, quadriplegia and other forms of paralysis. Victims are likely to be confined to a wheelchair and may need other kinds of assistance to perform daily tasks. This is a catastrophic physical and emotional loss for anyone -- but when it happens to someone who provides the sole support for his or her family, it can also be a catastrophic loss financially.

As the Sun-Sentinel article notes, Gamson’s $4.8 million recovery can’t undo his injuries, unfortunately, but it can help him pay his medical bills and support his family while he deals with the effects of his serious car crash injury. Here at the Pembroke Pines law firm of Cohn, Smith & Cohn, we are proud to say that we’ve helped many clients in Gamson’s position win the money they need to pay bills from the accident, make ends meet and eventually move past a serious injury. If you or someone you love has been hurt in a traffic accident in South Florida and you’re ready to explore your legal options, we would like to help. To set up a free, confidential consultation on your case, please contact us online as soon as possible.

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An SUV rear-ended a Broward County bus March 12, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported. The accident took place on State Road 7 at about 10:20 a.m., the newspaper said, when Dwayne Campbell failed to stop his SUV in time to avoid colliding with the back of the stopped bus. Campbell and seven bus passengers were taken to the hospital, the newspaper said, but all of them were fine. The crash remains under investigation.

Bus accidents of any kind -- mass transit, school and others -- are rare. Buses are just 0.5% of vehicles involved in fatal accidents and 0.5% of vehicles in all accidents, according to 2007 numbers from the federal Department of Transportation. And when buses do crash, they are more likely to do substantial damage to the people outside the bus than to anyone inside. Buses, like trucks, outweigh passenger cars substantially, which means they can kill or seriously hurt the people inside those cars in a bad South Florida bus accident -- or even a pedestrian accident in South Florida. And of course, when buses are involved in serious crashes, the potential harm is great just because there are likely to be so many people on the bus.

In this case, investigators could easily conclude that Campbell, the SUV’s driver, was at fault. As a Hollywood auto accident lawyer, I happen to know that this is especially likely for the rearmost driver in rear-end accidents. But if investigators decide the bus driver was at fault, the SUV’s driver could have a strong legal claim against the bus driver’s employer, Broward County. Most government agencies can be sued just as if they were private businesses or individuals -- but it can be a lot more difficult, because governments also make the laws that govern how you may file a suit. This has allowed them to erect special barriers you must overcome before filing a court case, including tighter deadlines and requirements to file an out-of-court grievance before suing. Because this can get very complicated, experts recommend that you get help from an experienced attorney.

The Pembroke Pines law firm of Cohn, Smith & Cohn can help. Our South Florida auto accident attorneys have nearly 25 years of experience holding wrongdoers legally and financially responsible for actions that hurt or killed the people around them. We’re proud to say we’ve helped hundreds of clients secure the money they needed to get medical treatment, make ends meet and eventually move on after a serious accident. If you’ve been hurt by another person’s bad driving or bad judgment and you’d like to know more, you can contact us online or call (954) 431-8100 for a free consultation.

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A Jacksonville police officer was issued a citation for her role in an accident with a truck in Jacksonville, the Jacksonville Times-Union reported March 9. Officer Amanda Meyer ran her cruiser into a truck that had stopped before crossing railroad tracks, causing injuries to her left arm but not to the truck’s driver. A FHP spokesperson said Meyer had glanced at a laptop mounted in the cruiser before the accident. Her citation will cost her $149 and four points on her driver’s license.

As a Hollywood auto accident attorney, I have written here several times about problems with cell phones, one of the most common distractions to drivers (though certainly not the only one). Most of us don’t compute while we drive, so laptops aren’t a widespread problem -- except for law enforcement. Law enforcement officers frequently have laptops mounted right in their vehicles, which helps them run checks, do paperwork, collect digital pictures of crime scenes and find places using GPS technology. This is a great boon to officers whose cars serve as a second (or first) office.

But just like civilian drivers, law enforcement officers have a responsibility to make sure the technology doesn’t create deadly driving distractions. Judging by the number of cell phone-related accidents I encounter in my work as a Fort Lauderdale car crash lawyer, not all civilians are good at this. Law enforcement officers, who see the terrible results of car wrecks every day, may be better.

Car crashes cause deaths and serious, sometimes permanent, disabilities such as brain damage, paralysis and severe burns. Studies show that driver distractions are the number-one cause of car accidents. If you or someone you love has been hurt by a driver who was paying more attention to a phone, laptop or other distraction than the road, you have the right to hold that person legally responsible for the results. Cohn, Smith & Cohn can help. To set up a free, confidential consultation on a South Florida car crash lawsuit, please contact us today.

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Driving while severely sleep-deprived is nearly as dangerous as driving under the influence of alcohol, the Florida Times-Union reported April 1. The story was not an April Fool’s joke -- it included the history behind a January 2006 North Florida trucking accident that killed seven children. The truck driver admitted to falling asleep at the wheel after 34 hours awake; he rear-ended a family’s car, causing it to burst into flames and killing all of the seven children aboard. The driver, who admitted at the scene that he fell asleep, is now in prison.

Unfortunately, the article said, most drivers involved in sleepy driving accidents don’t admit they fell asleep, which makes it difficult for authorities to track how many accidents are caused by drowsy driving. But according to the article, the National Sleep Foundation reports that 54% of adults have driven while sleepy. Another expert, Joseph Kaplan of the Sleep Disorders Center at the Mayo Clinic, said about 40% of Americans get less than seven hours a night. And in many cases, a medical problem like insomnia or sleep apnea can deprive people of sleep, sometimes before they realize it.

As a Fort Lauderdale auto accident lawyer, I am interested in this issue in part because I believe it’s a widespread problem. Many people who wouldn’t dream of driving drunk don’t see a serious safety risk from driving after they have been up for hours and hours. In fact, at least one study have shown that sleepiness and alcohol consumption have very similar effects on human reaction times and driving performance. Other studies have shown an increased risk of serious accidents when driving while sleepy. And as a Miami semi truck accident attorney, I have read about many incidents in which a truck driver literally fell asleep at the wheel after too many hours awake and driving.

Only New Jersey has a law enhancing potential charges for people who cause an accident with drowsy driving. But I believe that all states could benefit from making sleepy driving a priority for both driver education and enforcement. Traffic accidents are catastrophic events causing wrongful deaths, brain injuries, paralysis and other devastating injuries. If drowsy driving leaves you just as impaired as drunk driving, choosing to drive drowsy is an irresponsible and potentially deadly choice.

If you or someone you love has been seriously hurt in a car crash caused by this kind of bad choice, you have rights in Florida. That includes the right to pursue justice and financial compensation through a Broward County car accident claim. My firm, Cohn, Smith & Cohn, represents people throughout South Florida in these claims, and we offer free, confidential consultations -- so there’s no risk in talking to us about your rights and your case. To set up a consultation, please contact us online today or call our main Pembroke Pines office at (954) 431-8100.

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FDOT has made several safety-minded improvements to an on-ramp for I-375 that was the scene of a fatal car crash in March, the St. Petersburg Times reported April 16. The department has upgraded the downtown St. Petersburg ramp from a suggested 50 mph speed limit to a required one, added two speed limit signs and doubled the number of reflectors dividing the lanes. More is to come, the article said, and law enforcement will likely increase enforcement in the area as well. The changes are intended to increase visibility on the ramp and cut down on accidents.

Three people have died on the short 1.2-mile stretch of highway since 2001, all at night. Most recently, Leonardo Llana died in a one-car crash when he sped down the ramp at 93 mph, jumped the barrier and fell to a maintenance yard below. In 2007, the ramp was closed for weeks after a Florida tanker truck accident, when truck driver Ronald Kennedy drove his diesel tanker into a barrier and caused a 30-foot explosion. And in 2001, a motorcyclist suffered a fatal crash on the ramp. It is not known whether the earlier two drivers were impaired or speeding, but according to reports, Llana was legally drunk and not wearing a seatbelt.

Even if all three of these victims were impaired and speeding, I would still be pleased about these safety improvements. From the improvements they made, it is clear that FDOT’s goals were to reduce speeding and increase visibility at night. Regardless of whether the speeding in the most recent accidents was caused by bad decisions or defective roadway design, it’s clear that speeding was a major factor in that death. If visual cues like signs and reflectors reduce speeding among drivers who aren’t impaired, they are doing some good. As a Fort Lauderdale auto accident lawyer, I would be happy to see fewer families struggle with the deaths and devastating disabilities a car wreck can cause.

Serious car wrecks caused by bad roadway design or maintenance are rare, but they do happen. When a defective road causes a crash, the government agency responsible for building and maintaining that road is legally liable for any Hollywood car accident lawsuits victims choose to file. Unfortunately, the time to file a car crash claim is brief, which is why victims should get help right away from a South Florida auto accident attorney. Our firm, Cohn, Smith & Cohn, can help. To speak to us about your situation and your options at a free, confidential consultation, you can contact us through our Web site or call our main Pembroke Pines office at (954) 431-8100.

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Six vehicles were involved in a chain-reaction crash that sent nine people to the hospital, WFLX TV reported March 9. The crash started early in the morning, when one car slowed down because of mechanical problems and a vehicle behind it didn’t stop in time. From there, four more vehicles crashed in an accident that one witness described as similar to an explosion, with a pickup truck catching fire. A total of nine people were injured in the Boca Raton car wreck, but nobody was killed.

Legal liability is probably the last thing on the minds of victims and their families right after a serious accident like this one. But as a Broward County car accident lawyer, I know that working out legal responsibility for the crash could be a serious headache for the victims in the days ahead. In general, responsibility for a rear-end crash is placed firmly on the person in the rear vehicle by auto insurance companies. Drivers may be able to prove otherwise, especially if there’s a police report backing them up, but it can be an uphill battle. Circumstances may be different in a chain-reaction crash like this, but it probably won’t be clear overnight. Meanwhile, auto insurance companies may already have decided how to apportion blame.

If an auto insurance company incorrectly rejects your claim, blames you for an accident that wasn’t your fault or offers less than your claim is worth, you don’t have to accept it. Many people don’t realize that they can and should negotiate with insurers to get the full value of their claims. The settlement offered to you by a claims adjuster is typically at the low end of a range of values that the insurance company thinks the case is worth. If you don’t like it, you’re free to say so and make a counteroffer backed by the evidence in your case, including police reports. If the insurance company still won’t budge, but you’re sure you’re right, it may be time to bring in a South Florida auto accident attorney for help.

Cohn, Smith & Cohn has practiced accident and injury law in South Florida for nearly 25 years. Our lawyers have handled hundreds of Florida auto accident lawsuits, and we’re proud of our substantial record of success. If you’ve been hurt or lost a loved one in a car wreck in Florida, we can help you fully understand your legal options at a free, confidential consultation. To set one up, please call our Hollywood/Pembroke Pines office at (954) 431-8100 or contact us online.

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The Miccosukee tribal police force may be prosecuted for its refusal to release an accident report in a fatal South Florida pickup truck accident, the Miami Herald reported March 11. The newspaper said the Miccosukee, whose lands are in the Everglades outside Miami, were first to respond to the serious accident Jan. 21 and turned away a Florida Highway Patrol officer. The victim’s family would like an accident report and other information on the crash routinely provided by police agencies -- but the tribe has refused, even after the records were subpoenaed.

According to the newspaper, a truck driven by Tatiana Furry, 31, of Kendall, crashed with an SUV driven by a tribe member Jan. 21. All three of the people in the SUV were hospitalized. Fault is still under investigation, but Furry’s family has asked for the accident report, photos from the scene and other information, including the name of the other driver. When the tribal police refused, the family contacted the Miami-Dade state’s attorney’s office, which is now considering prosecution. The tribe says the records are its sovereign property, exempt from state law. In two separate press releases, it also said criticism of how it handled the incident was biased and racially motivated.

The case is further complicated by jurisdiction. The crash happened outside of tribal lands, but a Miccosukee press release said its police officers frequently patrol the relevant stretch of road under an agreement with Miami-Dade County. The Florida Highway Patrol has no such agreement. The tribal police were first to arrive at the scene; when an FHP officer arrived afterward, he was told it was a tribal matter and left voluntarily. The Miccosukee press release later said the officer failed to assert jurisdiction. It’s unclear now whether the crash is being solely investigated by the FHP or jointly investigated by that agency and the Miccosukee police.

As a Fort Lauderdale auto accident lawyer, I use accident reports and related police records every day to do my job. As the Herald notes, police agencies routinely release these records to victims, their families and auto insurance companies, which use them to help determine fault in serious crashes. That’s why the tribe’s refusal to release the records stands out. Unfortunately, this is a common problem when dealing with serious injuries on Native American land. Legally, tribes are sovereign nations regulated by federal law but completely outside of state law. As I have written here before, this gives them sovereign immunity from lawsuits. And that means that victims of serious injuries may have no recourse against tribes that hurt non-members with illegal or careless behavior.

Involvement by the FHP in this case might mean that the family can finally recover the records. But in general, if you’re being stonewalled by a Native American tribe or any other government, it’s best to move quickly. Thanks to the doctrine of sovereign immunity, government agencies from the local level to Washington, D.C. can make suing more difficult, shrinking deadlines and asking plaintiffs to follow complicated administrative complaint procedures. One mistake could take away your right to sue at all. For those reasons, experts recommend that people with these claims hire an experienced Florida car wreck attorney as soon as possible after the accident.

Cohn, Smith & Cohn has nearly 25 years of experience helping injured Floridians secure compensation with Florida traffic accident lawsuits. Based in Pembroke Pines, we represent people throughout South Florida. If you or someone you love has been hurt in an auto accident you believe is someone else’s fault, we would like to help. To set up a free, confidential consultation, please contact us online as soon as possible.

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Law enforcement said speed definitely contributed to a fatal car crash in St. Petersburg early on Feb. 9. The Tampa Tribune reported that Melissa Daddio, 19, was speeding when lost control of her car at 2:10 a.m. that day while trying to pass another vehicle. The car slammed into a curb, a street sign and four other objects before flipping over and hitting the wall of a local law firm’s offices. A 20-year-old passenger was killed; Daddio and another passenger were taken to the hospital with injuries not considered life-threatening. Public records show that the driver had received three speeding tickets since 2006.

Police are still investigating the accident, the article says, and it would be inappropriate to lay blame without all the facts. But this case is a good illustration of the sad but true fact that speeding can kill. According to a study of 2007 traffic accidents by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, speeding is a factor in 24% of all fatal crashes of passenger cars, 19% of fatal light truck crashes and 36% of fatal motorcycle crashes. Drivers who speed are also statistically more likely to be intoxicated by alcohol and less likely to have a valid license or use seat belts. And unfortunately, drivers under the age of 25 are also more likely to speed.

As a motorcyclist, I understand the temptation to speed. But for a Pembroke Pines car crash attorney, it’s also easy to understand why speeding is so frequently deadly. When a vehicle is going very quickly, its driver has less time to react to unexpected obstacles and less margin for error when making basic maneuvers like turning or passing, as in this crash. It also takes longer to stop a fast-moving vehicle, which means that cars take longer to brake, increasing the distance the car travels before it can stop. Under those circumstances, seat belts and airbags can only do so much. Even when they’re restrained, occupants of the vehicle are more likely to be killed or sustain catastrophic injuries like brain damage, paralysis and severe burns.

These injuries are a tragedy no matter what the circumstances. But when they are the result of someone else’s bad decisions or carelessness, victims have a right to hold that person legally responsible with a South Florida auto accident lawsuit. A legal claim can help victims hold careless people legally and financially responsible for their actions, compelling them to pay the medical bills, repair bills and other costs of the accident they caused. It can also help victims win compensation for their non-financial injuries, such as loss of a loved one, permanent disability, inability to work, physical pain or emotional anguish. Cohn, Smith & Cohn has helped many clients in this position win the money they need to get good care, make ends meet and eventually move on from a serious accident.

At Cohn, Smith & Cohn, our experienced Coral Springs car accident attorneys offer free consultations, so there’s no risk in talking to us about your case and your options. To set up a free evaluation of your case, please contact us as soon as possible using our online form or call (954) 431-8100.

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A preliminary traffic statistics report from the Florida Highway Patrol shows a substantial dip in the number of fatal accidents in our state, the St. Petersburg Times reported Jan. 28. The 2,986 deaths Florida saw last year is the lowest number of traffic fatalities in at least eight years, the agency said, lower even than the 2000 toll of 2,999. Since that year, a release from the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles says (PDF), the state’s population has grown by nearly 18%, suggesting a substantial per-capita decline.

The decline holds even for motorcycle accident deaths. As I have written here before, fatal motorcycle crashes have about doubled nationally over the past decade. And according to the St. Petersburg Times article, the number of fatal motorcycle accidents in Florida more than doubled in this decade, from 227 in 2000 to 517 in 2007. To explain this, authorities point to a combination of increased popularity for motorcycles, a trend toward older riders and the repeal of helmet laws in many states. But for 2008, the article said, the new Florida report projects an 8% decline over 2007’s fatal Florida motorcycle accident numbers.

The Times suggested that in addition to better driver education and enforcement, the bad economy may play a part in the decline in fatalities. This theory suggests that rising gas prices and unemployment may have forced many people to drive less or find alternate forms of transportation. If so, it’s a welcome silver lining to our economic problems. We drive so much that it’s easy to forget that traffic accidents can be very serious, but in fact, they are responsible for thousands of deaths and tens of thousands of injuries each year in Florida. Serious car crash injuries include spinal damage, brain injuries, amputations, multiple fractures and very severe burns.

These are catastrophic, life-changing injuries -- and all too often, they’re also very expensive, slamming victims’ families with tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars in unplanned medical bills and lost wages. To recover these and other costs caused by another driver’s negligence, victims can file a Florida auto accident lawsuit. Cohn, Smith & Cohn has more than 25 years of experience helping victims of serious car, truck and motorcycle accidents in South Florida. If you or someone you love has been seriously hurt in a Florida car crash, we can help. To set up a free evaluation of your case with our experienced attorneys, please contact us online or call us at (954) 431-8100.

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At least six lawsuits have been filed in response to a 70-car pileup that took place on Interstate 4 in January of 2008, the Lakeland Ledger reported Jan. 30. One woman who was widowed in the crash filed a Florida trucking accident lawsuit against a trucking company whose driver she alleges was not paying attention to the road when he slammed into cars that had already crashed, rolling the truck over onto her husband’s car and killing both drivers. Another lawsuit accuses several state agencies of negligence in allowing a controlled burn to spread, creating a wildfire whose billowing smoke allegedly obscured the view of drivers on the highway and caused the crash.

The road was both smoky and foggy on the day of the crash, which the Ledger said started when a man in a truck rear-ended a semi that had slowed because of the bad visibility. Twenty-two more vehicles crashed into them and each other, leaving four people in the 24-car crash dead. Other pileups that day along the same stretch of highway involved 46 other cars; the combined crashes left five people dead and 37 injured. A Florida Highway Patrol report in January said no charges would be filed aside from the 12 careless driving tickets already issued, but most of the crashes could have been avoided if drivers had slowed down to accommodate the smoke and fog.

That article also says that Florida Agriculture Commissioner Charles Bronson denied that the smoke from the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission fire played any part in the accidents. However, as a South Florida trucking accident lawyer, I believe the FHP report will provide compelling evidence to the contrary in these Tampa auto accident lawsuits and Polk County trucking accident lawsuits. Most of the lawsuits the paper reported allege negligence by truckers and trucking companies as a cause of the pileup -- and while that may certainly be a factor in this tragedy, it’s clear that visibility likely also played a part.

Suing a government agency is entirely appropriate when that agency bears responsibility for an injury -- but it requires victims to overcome multiple bureaucratic hurdles. Thanks to the legal doctrine of sovereign immunity, governments can and do set very tight deadlines or special filing requirements that can make or break a case. That’s why experts recommend that people with cases of government negligence get help right away from an experienced Florida auto accident attorney. Cohn, Smith & Cohn has more than 25 years of experience working exclusively with victims of serious accidents; we can help. For a free consultation on your case and your legal options, call us at (954) 431-8100 or contact us online today.

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The Florida legislature is considering a law that would enable law enforcement officers to pull over drivers for not wearing a seat belt, Tallahassee’s WCTV reported Feb. 4. Rep. Rich Glorioso of Plant City introduced the bill, which strengthens Florida’s existing seat belt law. Similar legislation has been considered by the Florida legislature before, but died, in part because of concerns that it would enable or encourage racial profiling. This year, the bill comes with an added incentive: If it passes, the Florida Department of Transportation would be eligible for $35 million for improving our highways.

Currently, Florida has what’s called a “secondary enforcement” law, which means law enforcement can’t pull drivers over just because someone in the vehicle isn’t wearing a seat belt. However, if the driver is pulled over for another reason, an officer is free to ticket him or her for seat belt violations as well. According to the National Transportation Safety Board, 23 states have such laws; 26 others and Washington, D.C. have primary enforcement laws, which allow officers to make traffic stops over seatbelt violations alone. (New Hampshire alone has no seat belt requirements at all.)

Glorioso told reporters that the legislation could save 200 lives a year and prevent 2,700 more serious injuries from car crashes. That assertion is borne out by numbers from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which says seat belts reduce the risk of death for front-seat occupants by 45% and injury by 50%. More than 15,000 lives were saved in 2007 alone by the use of seat belts, the agency estimates. In the same year, the NHTSA says, 70% of people killed in car or light truck accidents weren’t wearing seatbelts.

There is a legitimate argument to be made that adults should have the freedom to choose to take those risks. But given these numbers, it seems clear that buckling up is the safer thing to do, law or no law. Furthermore, studies of states that went from a secondary enforcement law to primary enforcement, as Florida would do, find millions in cost savings to state and federal government health care programs, which pick up the tab when someone without medical insurance is seriously injured. One study of Massachusetts hospital data predicted $9.6 million in savings to federal and state governments because of a new primary enforcement law, in addition to $55.8 million in savings to insurance companies.

Even if the current proposal never becomes law, Florida drivers should seriously consider wearing seatbelts to prevent some of the very serious effects of an auto accident. Car wrecks can kill their victims or cause permanent disabilities, including amputations, brain damage and paralysis. When they are caused by another person’s carelessness, victims have the right to fight back with a Florida car accident lawsuit. Cohn, Smith & Cohn helps clients throughout South Florida win money to pay their medical bills, repair bills and other costs of the accident, as well as compensation for a serious injury, physical pain and even the death of a loved one.

To set up a free consultation about your own case with our experienced Fort Lauderdale car crash attorneys, please contact us online as soon as possible.

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Bad economic news is also bad news for responsible drivers, according to a new study from the Insurance Research Council. ABC Action News in St. Petersburg reported Feb. 5 that the industry group predicts uninsured drivers will swell by 2.3% nationally between 2007 and 2010, to a total of 16.1% of all drivers. The organization reached that number using a projected increase in the number of unemployed workers in the U.S., noting that uninsured driving correlates with unemployment rates.

Florida already has the fifth largest percentage of uninsured drivers of any state, the group said in a press release (PDF). Using claims information involving uninsured drivers, the Insurance Research Council estimated that 23% of all Florida drivers were uninsured between 2005 and 2007. That number may be an underestimate, since it only counts uninsured drivers involved in a claim to one of the insurance companies that belong to the group. The increase in unemployment may raise that number further, raising the disturbing possibility that more than one in four Florida drivers may be driving without insurance in the next year.

Uninsured drivers are a problem for everyone because they can’t pay for any damage they cause in a Florida auto accident. If you carry only the minimum required liability insurance in Florida, you’re insured only for the damage you might cause to other people and their vehicles in an accident. Other people’s insurance should cover the damage they might do to you if they are at fault for the accident. But of course, you can’t collect on an insurance policy that doesn’t exist. You are still free to sue the at-fault driver -- but most people don’t have even a fraction of the money needed to pay for a serious Florida car wreck. That may be especially true if drivers are choosing to illegally go without insurance for financial reasons.

This situation harms accident victims twice -- once during the accident and again when they are saddled with medical bills, repairs and other costs caused by someone else’s careless driving. Uninsured/underinsured motorist insurance coverage protects drivers in just this situation, which is why experts increasingly recommend it for Florida drivers. Unfortunately, insurance companies often find spurious reasons to deny expensive uninsured/underinsured motorist insurance claims, even when it’s clear that the claim is covered. Victims may need help from a Florida auto accident lawyer with substantial experience in insurance issues to collect the money they are entitled to.

If you or someone you love is struggling with insurance companies over an uninsured motorist claim, you don’t have to put up with it. The experienced Florida car accident attorneys at Cohn, Smith & Cohn can explain and protect your rights, negotiate on your behalf with insurance companies and, if necessary, argue aggressively on your behalf in court. We offer free consultations to all potential clients, so there’s no risk in talking to us about your case and your options. To set up your free case evaluation, contact us online today.

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Two ambulances collided in Orange County Jan. 12, Orlando's WESH has reported. The station wrote that both ambulances had their sirens and lights on when one clipped the other at the intersection of Silver Star Road and Apopka-Vineland Road. The ambulance then hit a passenger car with a mother and daughter in it. The mother and daughter, as well as a patient and an EMT from one of the ambulances, were taken to the hospital. Another station, WFTV, reports that everyone involved sustained only minor injuries, fortunately.

This article caught my eye because, as a Fort Lauderdale auto accident lawyer, I happen to know that crashes between professionally driven vehicles are very rare. Buses, delivery trucks and even semis are not involved in fatal accidents nearly as often as private cars, trucks and SUVs -- although the results are often terrible when they are. And according to 2007 statistics from the federal Department of Transportation, the vehicle types that are mostly likely to be used as ambulances -- large vans, step vans and cab chassis-based light trucks -- collectively represent fewer than 2% of all vehicles involved in fatal accidents.

Unfortunately, a closer look reveals that ambulances are an exception. According to this 2003 report by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, EMS workers sustain 12.7 deaths per 100,000 workers, almost always due to traffic accidents. That's well over the overall rate of fatal traffic accidents and even higher than the rate of traffic deaths for firefighters and police officers. However, the CDC report goes on to say that about two-thirds of those who die in ambulances are passengers -- not EMS personnel. And other statistics show that more than three-fourths of the victims in ambulance crashes are the people in other vehicles. So in fact, the majority of those hurt in ambulance crashes are patients or random citizens who were just unlucky enough to be in the way.

The CDC report does not examine accident causes, although it does note that EMTs not using seatbelts is one factor in injuries. However, when an ambulance crashes into a passenger car, the large weight difference means that the car is likely to be seriously damaged, placing the people inside at risk of death or very serious injuries. And when the crash is the ambulance driver's fault, those people are victims of negligent driving. Just like victims of a crash between two private cars, they have every right to sue the negligent drivers -- and, if appropriate, the government agency employing them -- to seek compensation for their injuries and losses.

Lawsuits against government agencies can be very complicated, requiring advance notice and other special steps before any lawsuit can actually be filed. If you believe you have a claim against a government agency for an ambulance crash or any other negligence by a government employee, you should always get advice from an experienced Florida accident lawyer. Our firm, Cohn, Smith & Cohn, can help. To set up a free consultation with our Florida auto accident attorneys, please contact us online as soon as possible.

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The National Safety Council called Jan. 12 for a complete nationwide ban on using cell phones while driving, CNN reported. The organization, a nonprofit coalition of businesses and insurance companies formed by Congressional charter, cited studies showing that using a phone quadruples a driver's risk of being in an accident, causing 2,600 deaths, 12,000 serious injuries and $43 billion in costs every year. Comparing the practice to driving drunk, the council sent letters to every state legislature and governor, urging them to pass laws banning all cell phone use behind the wheel.

The call comes on the heels of a recent University of Utah study concluding that drivers talking on hands-free headsets drove substantially less well than drivers talking with passengers. In fact, the NSC cited the Utah study in arguing that hands-free headsets are no better than handsets. In response, CTIA, a wireless industry organization, pointed out that phones are just one of a number of driver distractions that can cause accidents, suggesting that they were being unfairly singled out.

As a Fort Lauderdale auto accident lawyer, I believe they're both right. Studies consistently show that distracted driving is dangerous, whether that distraction is staring at an accident, eating a sandwich or sleepiness. Drivers should be more aware of all of those potential dangers. What makes cell phones different, and worthy of singling out, is the fact that they are everywhere. The CNN article says 90 percent of Americans have phones, and 81 percent admit to using them while driving. Those numbers are so high that it makes sense to make cell phones a priority when making safety laws.

Car, truck and motorcycle accidents cause thousands of deaths each year in Florida alone and tens of thousands of serious injuries, including traumatic brain injuries, amputations, paralysis and other lifelong disabilities. If you or someone you love is a victim of this type of serious accident and it was caused by someone else's carelessness, you have the right to hold them legally and financially responsible for their actions. For a free consultation with Cohn, Smith & Cohn's experienced Coral Springs auto accident lawyers, please contact us through our Web site.

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Florida's traffic safety laws are adequate, a traffic safety advocacy group says, but they could be a lot better, the Tampa Tribune reports. The Advocates for Highway Safety, a coalition of consumer, insurance, law enforcement and safety organizations, released its 2009 Roadmap Report on Jan. 12. The group produces a report on highway safety laws for each state and the District of Columbia, grading them on number of highway deaths as well as passage of safety laws. Those safety laws include mandatory seatbelt, helmet and child safety seat laws; regulations on teen driving; and DUI laws.

According to the article, Florida scored right in the middle of the states, making it "yellow" (needs work) rather than "green" (good) or "red" (bad). Our state also got a numerical grade, 9 out of 15, which represented an improvement over the previous year. The improvement came from a slight decrease in overall highway deaths, as well as a new intoxicated driving law passed by the Florida Legislature. The law requires an ignition interlock device -- a breathalyzer -- in cars of people convicted of repeatedly driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs in Florida. However, the group said, it would have preferred that the law cover first-time offenders as well.

Other laws on the group's wish list include:
• Mandatory helmets for every motorcyclist.
• Mandatory booster seats for children ages four to seven.
• Graduated driver's licensing for teen drivers.
• Primary enforcement of seatbelt laws, meaning that law enforcement may pull over drivers not wearing a seatbelt. Currently, Florida law enforcement may only cite drivers for breaking seatbelt laws when the driver has been pulled over for another reason.

Not everyone agrees that mandatory helmet and seatbelt laws are a good idea, especially here in Florida. But as a Coral Springs auto accident lawyer, I understand this group's concern very well. There are well over 40,000 deaths in car, truck and motorcycle accidents each year, and in fact, motorcycle accident deaths in Florida and across the nation have more than doubled in the past ten years. When people survive a serious accident, they often come away with serious, life-changing injuries, such as severe burns, brain damage or paralysis. And in almost every case, the tragedy could have been avoided if someone had taken a little more care.

Unfortunately, nobody can undo a serious accident. But if you've been hurt by one that you know was caused by someone else's carelessness, recklessness or outright illegal behavior, you have legal rights in Florida. That includes the right to sue the wrongdoer for financial compensation for your injuries, property damage and emotional and physical pain. If you are in this situation and you would like to explore your legal options, Cohn, Smith & Cohn can help. To speak with our experienced South Florida auto accident lawyers today, please contact us online.

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The family of a former Polk County commissioner who was killed in an auto accident last year has filed a wrongful death suit, the Lakeland Ledger reported Jan. 13. According to the article, Marlene Duffy Young was killed in May when an oncoming driver crossed the center line and hit her vehicle head-on. The driver, William Boyd Johnson, was also killed, and Young's husband and adult daughter were hurt. Blood tests on Johnson revealed that he had a BAC of .077 (just under the legal limit), as well as Valium and cough medicine in his body.

The wrongful death lawsuit names Johnson's wife as a defendant, but it also names State Farm, the Young family's auto insurer, and their insurance agent. According to the article, the Youngs are suing State Farm and the agent because the agent allegedly ignored their request for "stacked" underinsured motorist auto insurance. The Johnsons did not have enough insurance to cover the costs of the accident, and the Youngs contend that State Farm is wrongfully refusing to make up the difference, as it would be required to if the insurance had been stacked as they had requested.

"Stacking" your auto insurance means that the upper limit of your insurance policy increases by the number of cars you are insuring. For example, let's say you have uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage with limits of 50,000/100,000. If you have two cars and you do not choose to stack, the limit is 50/100 on each car. But if you choose to stack, the insurance limits double to 100/200. If you have three cars, they would triple to 150/300. This increases your premium, of course. As you can see, this could make a substantial difference to a family like the Youngs, who had three of its members in the hospital at the same time after the accident. The cost of treating even one very serious injury can easily reach six figures.

The Youngs claim that State Farm wrongfully refused to provide the materials necessary to sign them up for the stacked coverage despite their request. Unfortunately, that is not an unrealistic claim. Despite what many people think, insurance companies are not here to help their customers -- they're here to make a profit, like all businesses. When insurance companies have to pay out a very large benefit, some of them look for excuses to avoid it, even when their own contract clearly obliges them to pay. This is called insurance bad faith, and as a breach of the contract you and the insurer both signed, it is illegal.

As a Broward County auto accident lawyer, I advise my clients to treat insurance adjusters politely but never sign, record or admit anything that makes them uncomfortable. And whenever necessary, I vigorously defend my clients from insurance bad faith and other unfair or illegal maneuvers by insurers. If you or someone you love has been victimized twice by an auto accident and an insurance company that won't do the right thing, my firm, Cohn, Smith & Cohn, can help. To set up a free consultation on your legal rights and your options, please contact us online or call (954) 431-8100.

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Posted In: automobile accidents , insurance coverage , wrongful death

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Millions of drivers could be driving on tires that are likely to blow out without warning due to a safety defect. Tire valve stem manufacturer Dill Air Control Products announced Dec. 9 that it is recalling millions of tires with the defective stems, which were sold with cracks. About 200,000 tires are implicated in the recall, but because the manufacturer doesn’t know which ones are which, about two million are included in the recall. The affected tires were sold between November of 2006 and July of 2007 and should have the word “DILL” stamped on the cap of the valve stem (the area where drivers inflate their tires). If you have these tires, you can visit the retailer that sold you the tires for a free inspection and possible replacement. Detailed instructions and more information are here.

Unfortunately, the recall comes after a blowout blamed on a defective valve stem claimed the life of a Florida man. According to Orlando television news station WESH, Robert “Chip” Monk died in 2007 when a tire on his car blew out unexpectedly on Interstate 75. Blowouts can cause motorists to lose control of their vehicles, especially at highway speeds, leading to a serious accident. Monk’s wife, Sara Monk, hired an attorney who traced the cause of the accident to a defective tire valve stem imported from China. Dill Air Control Products admitted to Monk’s attorney that it knew about the problems in the summer of 2007, but did not tell federal regulators or the public until May of 2008. Sara Monk has sued.

This story is a sad example of the tragedies that result when we trust cars and auto parts that turn out not to be so trustworthy. Even the most careful drivers can’t avoid serious accidents if they’re driving with vehicles or parts that betray them. And when manufacturers fail to report problems, due to embarrassment or concerns about profits, they betray their customers a second time. Federal regulators are charged with investigating defects and ordering a recall whenever necessary, but unfortunately, they cannot be everywhere. Even so, thousands of consumer products are recalled each year, including cars and trucks and their parts and accessories, such as child safety seats.

Because of the risk that manufacturers will choose profits over customer safety, Florida laws hold manufacturers strictly liable for injuries caused by safety defects in their products. A Florida defective products lawsuit holds manufacturers legally and financially liable for the injuries they cause, including wrongful deaths and permanent disabilities. It can also help compensate victims for the losses they’ve sustained, including financial injuries like repair costs and missed work, as well as emotional losses like the loss of a loved one’s love and care. If you or someone you love has been hurt by a defective product and you’d like to learn more, you can contact my firm, Cohn, Smith & Cohn, for a free consultation.

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A new study by the University of Utah confirms what Florida car accident lawyers have known all along: Talking on the phone while driving is more dangerous than talking to a passenger. The study used drivers between the ages of 18 and 26, using a sophisticated driving simulator that mimicked highway traffic conditions. The drivers were divided into three groups: Drivers using a hands-free headset to talk on the phone, drivers talking to a “passenger” in the next seat and drivers who didn’t talk at all. All three groups were instructed to leave the highway at a specific exit, and the talkers were asked to tell their conversation partners about a near-death experience they’d had.

The results: About half of the drivers who were talking on the phone missed their exits, while only one-eighth of those with passengers did. (The study found no substantial differences between drivers talking with passengers and silent drivers.) Speaking to the Washington Post, the study’s authors suggested that this could be attributed to “inattention blindness,” in which the brain literally cannot process as much visual information because it’s performing another cognitive task. In a separate press release, they also suggested that talking on the phone could limit a driver’s memory of which exit to take. And they pointed out that a passenger present in the car can drop or change the conversation to help the driver focus, which may also be a factor.

The state of Florida doesn’t currently have any laws forbidding drivers from talking on the phone, either with a handset or with a hands-free headset, although some lawmakers have considered it. But even if there’s no ticket or criminal penalty, talking on the phone while driving could still harm drivers involved in a Florida auto accident lawsuit. If research like this continues to show that drivers on the phone are actually impaired, it could be strong evidence in court that the driver was behaving carelessly or recklessly. And if that’s proven, drivers who were using a phone or other device during an accident could face substantial legal liability.

Perhaps even more importantly, hanging up the phone while you drive can help you avoid being part of a serious auto accident in South Florida. Car crashes cause deaths and very serious injuries, including brain damage, spinal injuries and serious burns that can cause lifelong scars. If hanging up for 30 minutes can help avoid these kinds of tragedy, I believe that’s a sacrifice worth making. If you or someone you care about was involved in a serious Florida auto accident caused by someone else’s carelessness, you have the right to hold that person legally and financially responsible for the results. For a free consultation with the experienced attorneys at Cohn, Smith & Cohn, please contact us today.

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Three Florida metropolitan areas top the list of cities where teenage drivers are most likely to crash during the holidays. A study released Dec. 3 by Allstate Insurance identified the top 10 deadliest metropolitan areas for teen drivers during the holidays, as measured by the number of teens who crash between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day. The study used the insurer’s own claims data as well as federal crash statistics and data from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The results showed three Florida metro areas topping the list of the most dangerous cities. The Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater area topped the list, followed by Jacksonville and then Orlando-Kissimmee. Other metro areas on the list included Kansas City, Birmingham, Ala., Phoenix and Las Vegas. By contrast, the safest city for teens to drive in during the holidays was Salt Lake City, followed by the San Francisco, Cleveland and Portland, Ore. metro areas. More details are available in MS Excel form here. Pointing out that traffic crashes are the leading cause of death for teenagers, Allstate called for teens to pledge to drive safely during the holidays and for states to adopt graduated driver licensing laws, if they have not already done so.

Allstate is right to be concerned about teen drivers, who have less experience than adult drivers with driving in general, alcohol and the challenges of driving in bad weather. But accidents during the holidays should be a concern for drivers of every age. Police agencies set up sobriety checkpoints on holidays for a reason; the probability of intoxicated driving goes up when drivers are going to holiday parties and taking time off work. Unfortunately, teens aren’t the only ones who make bad decisions about alcohol and driving. And when drivers of any age get behind the wheel after drinking (or using drugs), they’re running a substantially greater risk of being involved in accidents that can hurt or kill them and the innocent drivers around them.

As a Florida auto accident lawyer, I encourage drivers of all ages to take traffic safety seriously during the holidays, even if that means turning down one last drink or catching a ride home with someone else. Car and truck accidents can cause wrongful deaths and very serious injuries, including brain damage, severe burns and paralysis. Under those circumstances, it’s hard to feel merry. If you or someone you love has been hurt in a car crash you believe was someone else’s fault, Cohn, Smith & Cohn would like to help. Contact us today for a free consultation on your rights and your case.

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The Miami Herald reported an auto accident with an unusual twist: The accident spilled pesticides and rat poison all over the highway. The vehicle involved was a pickup truck, which rolled over for reasons not specified by the newspaper. The spill closed westbound lanes of Interstate 595 for an hour while workers cleaned it up. Fortunately, the man’s injuries were not life-threatening.

Those of us who live in South Florida have another reason to be thankful: The spill didn’t do any lasting damage to the environment or the roads we use every day. Under different circumstances, a spill of a toxic material like rat poison could become a major disaster. Toxic spills aren’t just harder to clean up; they’re also dangerous for everyone in the area, regardless of involvement with the accident. A spill involving the local water supply could make drinking water and farmland unsafe for weeks or longer, not to mention the effects on wildlife. Statistics on toxic spills are difficult to track down, but according to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, about 11% of accidents with large commercial trucks -- semis, tractor-trailers or 18-wheelers -- involve a spilled load of any kind.

It’s also worth noting that a rollover accident is surprisingly common for pickup trucks like this one. By now, most people know that SUVs are unusually likely to be involved in a rollover accident, even during normal driving. What you may not know is that pickups are right behind them in the rollover rankings, representing 27.8% of all fatal rollovers in 2006. (SUVs represented 35.1%.) Both are part of a category of vehicles the federal government calls “light trucks.” Rollovers are so feared because they expose drivers and passengers to very serious risks. In a rollover, vehicle occupants are thrown around the inside of the cabin, exposing them to brain and spinal injuries from the impacts, as well as puncture wounds from deformed or broken metal and glass. If they are not wearing seat belts, they may also be thrown from the vehicle, causing death or very serious injuries.

Traffic accidents are so common that many of us have forgotten just how dangerous they can be. Unfortunately, a car crash can be a life-changing event, killing its victims or causing brain damage, spinal injuries and other injuries that lead to permanent disability. If the accident was caused by another person’s careless behavior, victims have the right to hold that person legally responsible with a Florida auto accident lawsuit. The Pembroke Pines law firm of Cohn, Smith & Cohn has substantial experience with these claims, including claims for serious medical conditions. If you’d like to speak with us to learn more about your injuries and your legal rights, please contact us today to set up a free consultation.

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The widow and three daughters of a North Miami Beach police officer killed in an auto accident won $8.07 million in a Florida auto accident lawsuit Dec. 6. As the Miami Herald reported, the lawsuit stems from an accident that took place in the summer of 2004 here in Pembroke Pines. The victim was driving west on Pines Boulevard when a young woman on a side street ran a stop sign. To avoid hitting the other car, the victim swerved, landing in a drainage ditch by the side of the road and crashing into a palm tree. He was thrown from the vehicle and died in the hospital seven days later.

The victim’s family sued the other driver for her negligence in running the stop sign. It also sued the Florida Department of Transportation for adding a drainage ditch and royal palm trees by the side of a road where the speed limit exceeded 50 mph. This violates FDOT’s own safety rules, the suit claimed. At trial, the jury apportioned 55% of the blame for the accident to the young woman and 15% to FDOT, leaving 30% of the fault for the victim himself. The original jury award of $11.5 million was thus reduced by 30%, to $8.07 million.

This case is a good reminder that the causes of Florida auto accidents sometimes go beyond mistakes by the humans behind the wheel. Accidents caused by bad roads are rare compared to accidents caused by bad driving, but they absolutely do happen. Roadways may be defectively designed if they offer drivers an insufficient view of other vehicles, don’t contain needed traffic signals or have other problems, as in this case. They can also be defectively maintained because of weather, debris, construction or other hazards left in the road for an unreasonably long time. In either case, the culprit is not the other driver but a state, local or federal agency, which may have substantially more resources than most drivers.

Florida wrongful death lawsuits are hard, because no amount of money can truly compensate a family for the loss of a loved one. But financial penalties are how the civil courts punish serious wrongdoing, including wrongdoing that takes a life. Many times, survivors also face many practical financial problems in the wake of a death, including the unexpected loss of an income, steep medical and funeral bills and other costs they never planned for. And of course, a Florida auto accident lawsuit also allows victims to claim compensation for emotional injuries caused by the sudden and irretrievable loss of someone they loved. If your family has been victimized in this way and you’d like to learn more, please contact Cohn, Smith & Cohn today for a free consultation.

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A family in the Tampa area is upset after employees of the dealership that was supposed to repair their car got it involved in an auto accident in St. Petersburg. Tampa Bay’s WTSP reported Dec. 10 that the Fisher family is asking for a new car after Crown Honda dealership employees involved their Honda Civic in an accident while test driving the vehicle. The family had brought in the car to investigate a “check engine” light and signed a standard form allowing the dealership to test drive it. That’s what the dealership says it was doing when another driver ran a red light and smashed into the car, doing $7,000 worth of damage.

No injuries were reported, fortunately, and the article does not suggest that the dealership employees were at fault for the crash itself. However, on hearing about the accident, the family immediately noticed that the time of the accident was 10:21 p.m. Asked what the employees were doing with the vehicle so late, the dealership admitted that they took it to an after-hours flag football game, to check for problems as they drove. The dealership says it frequently sends technicians home with vehicles in for repair, in order to see if they can reproduce the reported problems, and that it notifies its customers when it does this. The Fishers claim they got no such notification.

Regardless of the legalities, full disclosure seems like the best policy if dealerships plan to take repair cars out after hours. But depending on the circumstances, the dealership might also be liable in any Florida auto accident lawsuit the Fishers choose to file. The article notes that the mother of the family signed a waiver authorizing a test drive -- but she doesn’t feel that the 10 p.m. football trip counts as a test drive. A jury might agree, especially if the language of the waiver was misleading or there’s evidence that “test drives” generally take place during business hours. It’s hard to say without more information than the article could provide.

However, what is clear is that the Fishers still have a claim against the driver who ran the red light. In Florida and other states, it doesn’t matter whether the car is borrowed; a driver who causes an accident is still liable for any damage and injuries. If the at-fault diver is uninsured, victims may still be covered by their own UM/UIM or comprehensive auto insurance, even if none of the insureds were driving. If insurers refuse to pay these legitimate claims, Cohn, Smith & Cohn can help accident victims file a Florida auto accident lawsuit to claim the settlement that’s rightfully and legally theirs. If you’re in this situation and would like to speak to an experienced Florida attorney about your options, please contact us to set up a free consultation.

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A medical study published in the Archives of Ophthalmology found a link between Florida's mandatory vision tests for older drivers and fewer fatal car crashes. According to MedPage Today, doctors from the University of Alabama found a 17% decline in fatal crashes involving drivers age 80 and older in Florida, after a 2004 law required them to take a vision test every time they renew their licenses. Statistically, older drivers are involved in more collisions per miles traveled, and they are a fast-growing group, both in Florida and nationwide.

The study used data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, a federal agency that studies traffic accidents nationwide, to compare Florida car crash fatality rates from before (2001-2003) and after (2004-2006) the law took effect. To rule out confusion caused by population changes, they adjusted their results for age, race and sex. They also compared the Florida numbers to numbers in Alabama and Georgia, neither of which had a similar law during the time period under study, and neither of which showed a significant change in fatal accidents involving older drivers.

The researchers found that while overall Florida car crash fatalities actually increased 6% after the vision testing law took effect, fatalities involving drivers 80 and older declined 17%. However, they did not find that the law had directly caused the decline in fatalities. The study noted that only 6.7% of the older drivers had their license renewal denied for any reason, including passing the vision test. Other possible explanations the researchers identified for the decline:
• More than three-fourths of the drivers who failed got vision care that helped them pass when they retook the test.
• Drivers who knew they would not pass could have declined to take the test at all.
• Human testers may have identified problems not related to vision in some drivers.
• The results may have been part of a larger trend unrelated to vision testing.

The article notes that other research has suggested older drivers may have other medical or cognitive problems contributing to their higher rate of accidents.

Mandatory testing for older drivers is a sticky subject in Florida, given our population of older folks and retirees. I am sympathetic to the idea that there's a fine line between sensible public safety measures and age discrimination. As the article notes, more research is needed to definitively identify what causes the statistically higher accident rates for older drivers -- not just the factors that correlate with it. Taking away a person's driver's license should not be done lightly, given the very real issues of practicality and self-sufficiency that it raises.

However, a decline in fatal accidents in any group is something to cheer -- especially if it goes against the overall trend, as in this case. As a Florida auto accident lawyer, I have personally seen that car crashes cause wrongful deaths, brain damage and other life-changing injuries. If this law does nothing else but identify folks who need to get new glasses or contact lenses, it's still a good law. If research turns up evidence that people from all age groups could benefit from mandatory vision testing, or that older folks should have a different kind of intervention, I would support laws on those as well.

If you've been seriously hurt or lost a loved one in a car accident in South Florida, please contact my firm, Cohn, Smith & Cohn, for a free consultation on your rights and your case.

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The Tampa Bay Tribune recently ran a truly tragic story about a fatal pedestrian accident in St. Pete Beach. A man and his wife were walking to the store when they were hit by a van that swerved onto the sidewalk for no obvious reason. The man survived; the woman died, leaving behind her husband and three children, as well as a mother in the Tampa area. Blood testing showed that the driver of the van had four prescription drugs in his system, including Valium and Xanax. He told police that he was not under a doctor's care. But after two doctors decided that the levels of the drugs in his system weren't high enough to impair him, the prosecutors in the case declined to charge the driver with any crime. He has received only a ticket for reckless driving.

I can only imagine how difficult it must be for this family to live with this situation, and to accept the prosecutor's decision in this case. My heart goes out to them. I am not a criminal lawyer and it would be inappropriate to judge the driver's criminal culpability, especially since the article couldn't have included all of the relevant facts. But as a Florida wrongful death attorney, I do know that sometimes the civil courts can do a job that the criminal courts cannot or will not. Families may not be able to file criminal charges over a prosecutor's objections, but they do have the right to pursue a wrongful death lawsuit.

A wrongful death lawsuit cannot bring victims of a wrongful death back, although we wish it could. Instead, it seeks to hold wrongdoers legally and financially responsible for their actions. By taking them to court, families who have lost a loved one unexpectedly can hold wrongdoers accountable under the law and sometimes prevent other families from experiencing the same loss and anguish. They can also help to replace an income unexpectedly lost, and the cost of household help, like baby-sitters, that might be necessary if the victim is a young parent, as in this case. And finally, a Florida wrongful death lawsuit also allows victims to claim compensation for the loss of their loved one's care, companionship, love and other emotional benefits.

Because a lawsuit isn't seeking to put anyone in prison, the burden of proof is lower in a wrongful death lawsuit than it would be in a criminal case. That means families may file a wrongful death claim even when there is no criminal prosecution, as in this case -- although families can and frequently do pursue both kinds of case. If you've lost someone you care about through another person's carelessness or illegal behavior and you’d like to learn more about your options, my firm, Cohn, Smith & Cohn, would like to help. Contact us today for a free consultation.

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A woman in the Orlando area was killed in late October when she was hit by a man in an SUV. According to the Orlando Sentinel, the victim and her husband were riding across the Granada Bridge in marked bike lanes when she was struck from behind by the driver. Her husband was not injured and the driver stopped at the scene.

With so many people seeking alternative transportation in this time of rising gas prices, this sort of accident bears attention. It's worth noting that the victim was in the bike lane -- right where she was supposed to be -- and that she was struck from behind. According to a study of Orlando-area bike accidents (PDF) by a partnership of regional transport agencies, only 5% of fatal bicycle accidents happened when the cyclist was in the bike lane, and even fewer were rear-end accidents. Judging only by this very short article, it looks like the problem was in the SUV.

Finding the correct lane and staying in it protects everyone -- car, truck, motorcycle, bicycle and pedestrian -- from serious accidents. The difference is that bicyclists don't have heavy gear, seatbelts or airbags to protect them. They still have the responsibility to take care -- the Orlando study notes that intoxication and lack of lights at night are factors in multiple cyclist fatalities -- but drivers have a responsibility to take care too. Florida has generous bicycling laws that require drivers to leave three feet at the side of the road for cyclists, not counting gutters, and allows them to cross a center line to do it. Sharing the road in this way only takes an extra moment and could prevent a deadly accident like this one.

If you were hurt in a bicycle accident with a careless motorist, you have the right to hold that person responsible for the results -- medical, financial and personal. The Florida bicycle accident lawyers at Cohn, Smith & Cohn can help. To learn more about your legal options, please contact us today for a free consultation.

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A bereaved husband insists that "road rage" was responsible for his wife's fatal motorcycle crash in Volusia County Oct. 18. Susana Marques of Caracas, Venezuela was visiting our country as part of the Latin American Motorcycle Association. According to the Daytona Beach News-Journal, they were on their way to a Biketoberfest event in Deltona, riding in a group of about 50, when a woman in an SUV entered the bikers' lane, forcing Carlos Marques to hit the brakes. He and his wife were thrown from their bike. Susana Marques died at a hospital later; Carlos Marques was injured.

The road rage allegations pit the club against the Florida Highway Patrol. The bikers say the woman in the SUV repeatedly cut into their lane, intentionally forcing them to brake; the FHP claims the cause of the accident was the lack of time Carlos Marques had to brake. In my opinion, as a long-time motorcyclist and an experienced Florida motorcycle accident lawyer, the FHP's statement is a bit like being told a death was caused by the victim ceasing to breathe. He clearly didn't brake in time -- the question is why. The motorcycle club rides with video cameras that may hold the answer to that question, fortunately.

The FHP also pointed out that the bikers were riding in the left lane in violation of Florida law. While this might be an explanation for the road rage the club alleges, it is in no way an excuse -- particularly since that law is not consistent across the United States and routinely ignored even by Floridians. Intentionally cutting someone off is a dangerous and irresponsible way to drive. When it causes a death or a serious injury, it might also be a crime. My heart goes out to the Marques family and the entire club.

Bikers are generally sensitive about aggressive behavior by drivers of cars, trucks and SUVs, and there are good reasons for it. One is that a motorcyclist will almost always sustain the more serious damage in an accident with a car, simply because of the weights of the vehicles and the biker's lack of a steel cage. The other is that some drivers really do have a personal problem with motorcycles, because of outmoded stereotypes or misconceptions about how the law applies to bikes. But neither is an acceptable reason to use your car as a weapon. If you're a biker who's been seriously hurt in an accident with an irresponsible cage, you may be able to win compensation for your injuries and costs. Contact us at Cohn, Smith & Cohn to discuss your accident and your legal rights.

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This week (Nov. 10-16) is Florida Spinal Cord Injury Awareness Week, and the South Florida Sun-Sentinel noted the date with an inspiring article on former auto racer Darrell Gwynn. Gwynn, a National Hot Rod Association champion and son NHRA champion Jerry Gwynn, was paralyzed in 1990 in a racing accident. He also lost his left arm in the crash.

However, Gwynn declined to let his injuries stop him from living his life. After spending more than six months in hospitals and eventually recovering from his accident, he took on the responsibility of managing his racing team. In 2002, he started the Darrell Gwynn Foundation, a nonprofit organization for people with spinal injuries. In addition to providing wheelchairs and other medical equipment to those who can't afford them, the foundation helps to fund research to cure spinal injuries and teaches young people how to avoid a serious spinal injury. In fact, it was the foundation that successfully lobbied our state legislature to recognize Florida Spinal Cord Injury Awareness Week.

Gwynn told the Sun-Sentinel that he has two great passions in his life: racing and fishing. He combines those passions by helping to run the Hot Rods & Reels charity fishing tournaments, two Florida events that bring together recreational anglers with NASCAR drivers. One, at Homestead-Miami Speedway, will take place this Saturday, Nov. 15. The funds it raises benefit the Darrell Gwynn Foundation as well as Speediatrics, an organization that aims to ease children's stays at two Florida hospitals by adding racing themes to their children's wards.

Spinal cord injuries are extremely serious, life-changing injuries. The spinal cord is an essential part of the human nervous system, and when it's damaged, the victim can be partially or completely paralyzed. That means becoming wheelchair-bound, relearning some of the most basic tasks of life, and sometimes having to change or abandon a career. It also means lifelong medical care and a higher risk of certain medical problems. If the injury was caused by someone else's carelessness, victims can and should hold that person legally responsible for the results with a Florida spinal cord injury lawsuit. If you'd like to speak with an experienced Florida attorney about making this type of claim, please contact my firm, Cohn, Smith & Cohn, as soon as possible for a free consultation.

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A worker helping to widen the Florida Turnpike was hurt recently in an unusual accident with a vehicle that failed to slow. According to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, the worker was standing in the northbound lanes when a pickup truck in the southbound lanes slammed into the concrete median. The impact threw a sign leaned against the median on the northbound side into the worker's legs, causing a compound fracture. Fortunately, no one was killed.

As I wrote here in September, Florida is not seeing enough compliance with our Move Over Law, which requires driver to slow down substantially, and move over a lane when possible, when emergency vehicles are at the side of the road. Construction crew members are not emergency workers, but the principle is the same. Indeed, FHP Lt. Roger Reyes told the Miami Herald that this accident illustrates the importance of slowing down for people at the side of the highway. That includes ordinary folks dealing with a flat tire or another emergency. It's a small courtesy that makes a big difference to the people on the side of the road and possibly also to you.

As a Florida auto accident lawyer, I also noted with interest that the driver of the pickup truck was cited for careless driving and for driving with a suspended license. When my clients tell me about their conversations with auto insurance companies, they often mention that the claims agent asked if anyone at the accident got a ticket, or was cited or arrested. They're interested because a ticket shows that the police thought there was careless, reckless or illegal behavior involved in the accident, and that makes it easier to determine who was at fault. It can also be an important factor in a Florida car crash lawsuit.

Car wrecks can be devastating, causing deaths and permanent brain damage, paralysis, severe burns and other life-changing injuries. If you were hurt in a crash caused by someone else's careless behavior, you have the right to sue that person for financial compensation for your costs and your injuries. To learn more about your rights as an accident victim, you can contact our firm, Cohn, Smith & Cohn, for a free consultation.

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The South Florida Sun-Sentinel ran a short article recently on a jury's award to a woman who was involved in an accident with an uninsured driver. According to the article, the plaintiff in the case was rear-ended by an uninsured driver on Military Trail in West Palm Beach, causing neck and back injuries. The plaintiff had uninsured motorist insurance, but according to the article, her insurer refused to pay that part of her claim, making a settlement offer her lawyer called "exceedingly low." Instead of accepting that settlement, which would have barred any more payments from her insurer from the accident, the plaintiff filed a lawsuit against her insurance company and recovered far more.

This story underscores one of the most basic and important tenets of Florida auto accident litigation: Do not trust the insurance company. Insurance companies, like all businesses, like to avoid spending money, and paying a claim from a serious accident costs serious money. For some victims, that means the insurer will find weak or trumped-up reasons to deny their claims, even if they've faithfully paid their premiums and even if they clearly have the coverage. Uninsured/underinsured motorist claims are especially notorious as likely candidates to be unfairly and illegally denied, especially if it was a hit-and-run driver, who legally counts as an uninsured driver but frequently is not treated as one.

This is an especially big problem because uninsured motorists are unlikely to have enough money to pay the costs of the accident themselves. It doesn't help that the uninsured or hit-and-run driver is often at fault for the accident, as in this case. The victims of these accidents are essentially victimized twice in this situation -- once by the careless drivers who hit them and again when their insurance company breaches its own contract. Often, they have no choice but to file a Florida car crash lawsuit to recover the money they need to pay for medical treatment, car repairs and other costs of the accident.

While I am pleased that Florida juries see through insurers' dirty tactics, I'm disappointed that drivers are continually forced into court to get what they're legally owed. A car wreck is already a traumatic, expensive and sometimes life-changing experience; victims don't need to fight red tape too. If you were hit by an uninsured, underinsured or hit-and-run driver in South Florida and you're facing this situation, you have rights. Contact our firm, Cohn, Smith & Cohn, for a free consultation to learn more about them.

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