According to news reports, the trio were reportedly walking back to their hotel along Southwest 42nd Street after dinner. They were in a wide swath of grass when a pickup truck driver veered toward them and crossed over from the westbound lane to the eastbound lane and then onto the shoulder of the road. Authorities said speed and alcohol are likely factors in this pedestrian accident.

Florida – and South Florida in particular – is a perilous place for pedestrians, and has been for some time. Addressing these issues may take an approach that considers better traffic engineering and more targeted enforcement. However, those efforts can only go so far if drivers continue to disregard our traffic laws and the safety of pedestrians. Two recent reports show the problems, at least for now, aren’t getting better.

The Governors Highway Safety Association recently released its 2016 preliminary data on Pedestrian Traffic Fatalities by State. It’s a 38-page report that begins with this: The number of pedestrian accident deaths in the U.S. has increased by 25 percent from 2010 to 2015, while total traffic deaths climbed by about 6 percent.

The latest figures, looking at statistics from the first six months of 2016, during which they noted an increase of 7 percent from the previous time frame in 2015. However, after adjusting for the under-reporting in those preliminary figures, the number of pedestrians killed last year is estimated to have increased by 11 percent compared with 2015. That’s the largest annual increase in 40 years – the second largest being from 2014 to 2015.

What’s more, pedestrian deaths as a portion of the total number of traffic deaths has also risen, from 11 percent back in 2006 to 15 percent in 2015. Based on this preliminary data, it’s believed about 6,000 pedestrians died nationally last year. Four states – Florida, California, Texas and New York – accounted for 42 percent of those.

Now let’s talk specifically about state-level data.

In Florida in the first six months of 2016, there were 301 reported pedestrian accident deaths. That’s compared to 277 during the same time frame – January through June – of 2015, an 8.7 percent increase. It wasn’t the largest spike, but it was higher than the national average increase of 7 percent.

In terms of sheer numbers, Florida ranked No. 3, with California and Texas both counting more fatalities. However, consider that both of these states have population numbers that far exceed our own, which means the rate of pedestrian fatalities is much higher here than the other two states. New York ranked 4th.

The Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles released a report late last year detailing traffic accident deaths from 2015 as compared to 2014. With regard to pedestrian accidents specifically, state officials reported there were:

• 9,085 reported pedestrian accidents in 2015 – a 2.79 percent increase from a year earlier.
• 632 pedestrian accident deaths in 2015, an increase of 4.3 percent from the year before.
• 7,870 pedestrian accident injuries in 2015, a 1.72 percent increase from 2014.

Some of the strategies outlined by the GHSA to reduce pedestrian accident fatalities and injuries include:

• Separating pedestrians from motor vehicles by creating refuge islands, building more sidewalks and overpasses, provide ample crossing time at traffic signals;
• Making pedestrians more visible to drivers by improving street lighting and designing high-visibility crosswalks;
• Engineering and enforcing measures to lower speeds by creating “road diets,” roundabouts, traffic-calming devices (i.e., speed bumps and curb extensions) and automated enforcement in addition to traditional enforcement;
• Increasing public awareness through various public information campaigns.

If you have been injured or hurt in a Fort Lauderdale pedestrian accident, you may have a number of legal avenues from which to pursue compensation.

Call Fort Lauderdale Injury Attorney Richard Ansara at (954) 761-4011. Serving Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties.

Additional Resources:

Pedestrian Traffic Fatalities by State, March 2017, GHSA

More Blog Entries:

FHP Launches Program to Help Solve Hit-and-Run Crash Cases, April 3, 2017, Pedestrian Accident Lawyer Blog

The are in which the teen was walking on the night she was killed is not lighted and has no sidewalks, according to the Florida Highway Patrol. The Palm Coast Observer reported the driver who struck her said he couldn’t see her due to her dark clothing. However, that this fact alone does not mean she is responsible for the crash, nor does it means her family is barred from pursuing litigation. These kinds of cases should be weighed by an experienced injury lawyer.

Recently, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) released its updated numbers on pedestrian accidents nationally. The results were not encouraging.more

In 2015, the most recent year for which national data is available, there were 5,376 pedestrian accident fatalities. This marked a 9.5 percent increase in the number of pedestrian deaths in just a single year. That’s the highest number since 1996.

On average, a pedestrian was killed every hour-and-a-half in this country and one was injured every 7.5 minutes.

Florida is an especially dangerous place for people on foot – and has been for some time. of the 2,939 people killed in traffic accidents, 628 were pedestrians. That was third only to California (732) and Texas (537), which both have populations that dwarf Florida’s – Texas has 7 million more people and California has 20 million more.

When it came to cities that had a high rate of pedestrian accident deaths, those with a population of 500,000 or higher, Jacksonville had one of the highest rates, with 4.31 per 100,000 population.

One in every five pedestrians killed were children 14 and younger. The 16-year-old Matanzas High School student killed in Palm Coast was walking on an area of road where a multi-use path for pedestrians and bicyclists is planned. Although the Florida Department of Transportation has approved a grant that will fund it and the city is about a third of the way complete designing it, ground likely won’t be broken for several more months at least.

Just two weeks before the fatal crash, residents had informed city leaders of the dangers along the road and of the pressing need for sidewalks. One resident responding to a citizen survey said residents there feel “forgotten.”

Now, after the teen’s death, they note that while sidewalks and multi-use paths may take time, street lights are easier and faster – and likely should have been installed a long time ago. The city had originally implemented a continuous street light program, but city council slashed that during the recession and never re-funded it.

Issues like this aren’t isolated to Palm Coast.

According to the most recent annual Dangerous by Design report, eight of the top 10 most dangerous metro regions for pedestrians are in Florida. The 11th is Miami-Fort Lauderdale – West Palm Beach.

The number of pedestrian accident fatalities in Florida has been steadily climbing over the last 10 years. Victims are more likely to be older, poorer and minorities, the study found.

Call Fort Lauderdale Injury Attorney Richard Ansara at (954) 761-4011. Serving Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties.

Additional Resources:

Residents push for more street lights after teenager is struck and killed walking after dark, March 14, 2017, By Jonathan Simmons, Palm Coast Observer

More Blog Entries:

Poor Road Design, Inadequate Signage Blamed in Car Accident, Feb. 19, 2017, Fort Lauderdale Pedestrian Accident Lawyer Blog

That’s according to a new study, Dangerous by Design 2016, conducted by SmartGrowth America, in concert with the National Complete Streets Coalition. In fact, eight of the ten most dangerous metro areas to walk in the nation are in Florida. Those regions in the top 10 are:

• Fort Myers
• Palm Bay/ Melbourne
• Orlando
• Jacksonville
• Daytona Beach
• Lakeland/ Winter Haven
• Tampa/ St. Petersburg
• North Port/ Sarasota

The Miami/ Fort Lauderdale/ West Palm Beach region was listed at No. 11 nationally. This was out of the 104 largest metro areas in the country.

The statistics were also broken down by state, and of course, Florida was No.1.

The report explains that more 46,100 people have died after being struck by a vehicle while walking between 2005 and 2014. In 2014, which is the most recent year for which information is available, there were 4,884 pedestrians who lost their lives in America. That’s 13 people every single day who were struck and killed by a car while walking. To put that into perspective, you are more likely to be killed as a pedestrian than you are to die in a natural disaster.

As our Fort Lauderdale pedestrian injury lawyers know, every single one of these individuals is someone’s child, parent, spouse, friend, neighbor, co-worker or classmate. These tragedies are occurring everywhere – from small towns to bustling metropolises.

Some troubling details uncovered in the report, specifically with regard to who is most at-risk:

• Minorities are vastly over-represented in terms of pedestrians killed. People who are not white make up less than 35 percent of the population, and yet they comprise more than 46 percent of those killed in pedestrian accidents.
• People over the age of 65 are also over-represented. In fact, they are 50 percent more likely than those in younger cohorts to be killed by a motor vehicle while walking.
• The danger to pedestrians is tied to the median household income and the rate of those without health insurance. Essentially, those people who can least afford to suffer a serious personal injury are most likely to live in areas where it’s very dangerous to walk.

Victims of pedestrian accidents do have legal options, and those should be explored with an experienced injury lawyer. One of the first of those is to file a claim against the driver of the car, as most of these situations stem from negligence by the driver. If the crash was a hit-and-run, pedestrians may be able to file a claim with their own auto insurer (even though they were not driving) under the uninsured/ underinsured motorist coverage provision. There could also in some instances be possible third-party claims, such as dangerous road design or maintenance filed against the public entity responsible for the road or intersection.

As the report notes, streets in America have historically prioritized motor vehicles that move quickly – and only motor vehicles. The failure to take into better consideration the needs of pedestrians, bicyclists and those utilizing public transportation has meant these communities are much more dangerous for these vulnerable road users.

Call Fort Lauderdale Injury Attorney Richard Ansara at (954) 761-4011. Serving Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties.

Additional Resources:

Walking In America Remains Dangerous — Especially In Florida, Jan. 10, 2016, By Laurel Wamsley, NPR

More Blog Entries:

Delray Beach Intersection Won’t Get New Light, Despite Fatal Crash, Dec. 10, 2016, Fort Lauderdale Pedestrian Accident Lawyer Blog