Florida leads the country in pedestrian accidents being home to the four most deadly metropolitan areas for pedestrians, according to Transportation for America’s Dangerous by Design study.
After a drop for the past several years, pedestrian accidents are once again on the rise in Florida. There were 483 pedestrian fatalities and 7,500 pedestrian injuries in 2009. And in the first half of 2010, the numbers were up for Florida, with 245 people killed in pedestrian accidents, an increase of 35 more deaths in the first half of the year.
Hit and runs account for about one in every five pedestrian deaths and have risen by 15 percent nationwide since 1998, with 1500 pedestrians losing their lives every year in America, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Florida ranks third in the United States with an average of 3,300 hit-and-run accidents each year. The NHTSA’s Fatality Analysis Reporting System shows most of these accidents occur on evenings and weekends, with 58 percent of fatal hit-and-run crashes occurring on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday, and 47 percent of those happening sometime between 9 p.m. and 3 a.m.
Many accidents in which a driver leaves the scene in Florida occur in rural areas with no street lights, sidewalks and sometimes even no shoulder to the road. In situations where there are no witnesses, the temptation to leave the scene can be greater. But leaving the scene of an injury accident is a felony in Florida.
In a recent Deltona hit-and-run accident, a bicyclist was hit by a vehicle while riding home from work along a rural road about midnight, and the driver left the scene of the accident. The victim, who died at the scene, was not discovered until two hours later. Things may have been different if the driver had stopped and immediately summoned help .
Often, those rivers who leave the scene of an accident are driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, have no license or a suspended license, are uninsured, are driving a stolen vehicle, or have outstanding warrants.
To learn more about how a car accident attorney can assist you with your Florida claim, call Zimmet & Zimmet.
