Officials Question Results

Central Florida officials disputed the results in 2009 and have again questioned the validity of such rankings arguing that the injuries and deaths per 100,000 are artificially inflated by the millions of tourists who come to Orlando every year. Although calculations and indexes can be subject to interpretation, and Orlando recently reported that it had over 50 million tourists visit in 2010, the number of deaths are still significant, and we can do better.

Who is to Blame?

Transportation for America supports use of alternative forms of transportation and argues that pedestrian deaths are predictable because we have historically designed roadways for cars and ignored design standards that are more pedestrian-friendly. Roads are built to move traffic quickly and little thought goes into how people that walk or ride bicycles will use the roadways for travel. The group correctly points out that most pedestrian deaths are labeled “accidents” and attributed to error by the driver or the pedestrian. If I asked you to guess the most dangerous roadways in Orlando for pedestrian accidents, you would probably answer Colonial Drive, Highway 50, State Road 436, Orange Blossom Trail and U.S. Highway 192. You would at least guess 3 or 4 correctly. That’s because we all know those are dangerous areas because of the density of traffic and how wide the roads are. I once represented a client who was partially blind and struck by a car running a red light. What was chilling was my client’s account of how difficult it was for her and her children to get across Highway 192 before the light changed. Most of us probably take our ability to cross the street for granted. Most of us probably take having cars for granted, and when we do walk, we probably take sidewalks for granted too.

Not Everyone Owns a Car

A couple of months ago I met Timothy McKinney from United Global Outreach who was speaking at a Kiwanis meeting I was attending.  Mr. McKinney’s organization is leading a community revitalization campaign in Bithlo, which is just outside of Orlando. Growing up in the Orlando area, I knew of Bithlo as the local punch line for jokes about poor folks who live in trailers. Although I knew the community was neglected, I hadn’t really thought about what it was like for someone in Bithlo to get to work or go to a doctor. Mr. McKinney told stories of residents walking several miles along the shoulder of the highway just to get to a bus stop. Several  years ago our public transportation service, LYNX, stopped offering bus service to Bithlo due to funding cuts. Many of the residents do not have transportation and have to walk to get to work, to a grocery store, or to a bus stop. Because they cannot afford to own a car, they have no choice but to make the dangerous walk down Highway 50.

The statistics cited by the Transportation for America study show that pedestrian fatalities disproportionately affect seniors and minorities. The fatality rate for seniors is 3.7 per 100,000 compared with 2.7 for people under 65. The average for Hispanics was 37 percent higher than non-Hispanic whites, and the rate for African-Americans was 48 percent higher than non-Hispanic whites.  These differences can likely be attributed to income levels. Consider that lower income residents are less likely to own automobiles and tend to walk more. Also, most higher income neighborhoods are not adjacent to high traffic areas, in contrast to apartment complexes which are usually built closer to major roadways.

What’s the Answer

Transportation for America argues that it simply comes down to infrastructure and smart design. As pointed out in the report, more attention and money must be spent on the problem.  Smart design means transportation agencies must make pedestrian safety a priority and not just design roadways for speeding traffic. Obviously, Floridians rely heavily on automobiles for transportation.  When we had the chance to build high speed rail, Governor Scott killed the plan and rejected federal money because he argued there wouldn’t be enough riders to justify the cost.  So, Florida will continue to do what we’ve always done -  build more roads and add more lanes. But, at what cost to our safety and our prosperity? Sure, as long as we have our weather and the attractions, the tourists will come. But what about businesses and new residents? Infrastructure and quality of life are vital to our long term economic development, and transportation band-aids will never be in our long term interest.

When times are tough and our state budget is out of whack, it’s easy to brush a problem under the rug in the name of fiscal responsibility. U.S Rep. John Mica of Winter Park wants to lift the requirement that 10 percent of federal gas tax proceeds be spent on things like sidewalks and bike lanes. Governor Scott’s new Secretary of Transportation, Ananth Prasad, recently testified before Congress saying, “We must give serious consideration to whether—when resources and dollars are at a premium—spending money on sidewalks, bike trails, beautification, and other projects like this is the most prudent use of taxpayer money.” Beautification is one thing, but saving lives is another.  We can and should do better.  Growth is inevitable and necessary, but we must have responsible growth. To grow our economy and be attractive to job-creators, we’ve got to have safer streets and sidewalks that make our state a better place to live and work. Ignoring the problem is not the answer. Please share your opinion with me in the comments below.

Tell us what you think in our facebook poll or in the comments below.

Red-light cameras reduce auto accidents

As reported by the Orlando Sentinel, accidents fell by 33 percent the first year of the program. Although more recent statistics are not available, it’s likely that accidents have decreased even more as drivers’ awareness of the cameras has led to less red-light running for fear of being caught on camera. It also frees up law enforcement to attend to more urgent police work. How many times have you seen someone run a red-light and say to yourself, “I wish a police officer was here to see that”. Cameras can see those red-light runners 24 hours a day. On Monday, city commissioners took steps to add more intersection cameras for a total of 22 cameras at 14 intersections.

In 2010, the Florida legislature approved the use of red-light cameras by municipalities and counties and established standards for the programs. The law, titled the Mark Wandall Traffic Safety Act, was named for the 30-year-old husband and father-to-be who was killed by a red light-runner in 2003. However, only one year later, Rep. Richard Corcoran and Sen. Rene Garcia, along with co-sponsors, are trying to reverse the law and ban all red-light cameras in Florida. Critics claim the law is just a way for cities to generate revenue, and a case of “big-brother” government spying on citizens and invading our right to privacy. On the other hand, many supporters of red-light cameras, including law enforcement, say the cameras are making our roads safer. “I think it’s a terrible thing to even attempt to repeal the red light camera bill,” said Capt. Michael Fewless of the Orange County Sheriff’s Office. “It’s a public safety thing. It saves life.” In a February press release, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety detailed its findings that red light cameras saved 159 lives in 2004-08 in 14 of the biggest US cities, and had the cameras been in place in all major cities, a total of 815 deaths would have been prevented during that same time.

Last year, the legislature killed a bill that would have prevented texting while driving. This year, some legislators are trying to do away with red-light cameras by grandstanding in the name of privacy rights. The fact of the matter is that our roads are more dangerous than ever before. Government can and should take reasonable steps to make our roads safer. Although there have been some problems with these programs, such as tickets issued in error, the problems are far outweighed by the benefit of saving lives. There’s always room for improvement of red-light camera programs, but a complete ban goes too far. Do you think there is a right of privacy in running a red-light? Tell us what you think in the comment section below or vote in our poll on our facebook page. You can also contact these legislators and tell them how you feel about the issue.

Rep. Richard Corcoran at 850-488-8528 or richard.corcoran@myfloridahouse.gov
Senate Majority Leader Andy Gardiner at 850-487-5047 or gardiner.andy.web@flsenate.gov
Sen. Rene Garcia at 850-487-5106 or garcia.rene.web@flsenate.gov

For the complete story, click here.

The National Sleep Foundation has a website devoted to the topic at www.drowsydriving.org. The group points out that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that drowsy driving results in 1,550 deaths, 71,000 injuries and more than 100,000 accidents each year. The study also shows that younger drivers age 16-24 were almost two times as likely to be involved in a drowsy driving crash as older drivers. Over half of the drowsy driving crashes involved a driver drifting into other lanes or even off the road.

The website has lots of useful information for how to prevent drowsy driving and a public service announcement about drowsy driving on You Tube.

Because of these changes, the families of the Disney monorail driver killed in July 2009 and the SeaWorld trainer that drowned earlier this year may not ever be able to receive justice for the loss of their loved ones – even if Disney and SeaWorld were clearly at fault. As pointed out in the article, federal regulators cited Disney with a “serious” safety violation and “noted multiple monorail-policy lapses” and found SeaWorld’s safety violation to be “willful”. Even with these findings, Disney and SeaWorld may not have much to worry about since our state laws protect them at the expense of the families of deceased workers. We can all agree that frivolous lawsuits are bad for society, but do these cases sound “frivolous” to you? Tell us what you think.

Disney wrongful death lawsuits: Disney well protected against wrongful death lawsuits – OrlandoSentinel.com.

There is a downside to guardrails which is that most people who run off the road get control of their vehicle without crossing the median. If there’s a barrier, people will hit it which does cause additional injuries that may not have occurred if the guardrails were not in place. However, it’s well worth the risk of these additional minor accidents if fatalities can be prevented. Because State officials finally said enough is enough and made sure to spend the money necessary to put in the guardrails, many lives have been saved. It goes to show that if you want to prevent automobile accidents, there are positive things government can do to make it happen.

Although that may be true, this study is a warning for Florida drivers. With such high numbers of fatalities on roads that most of us Central Floridians travel every day, we must heed the warning to slow down, obey traffic laws, and watch out for other motorists. I’m sure that each of these fatalities left behind family members to pick up the pieces from the devastating effects of these accidents. At Earle & Smith, I’ve represented many victims in these types of auto accidents on I-4 and I-95. Because of high speeds and a higher risk of being involved in a trucking accident, our interstate highways can be deadly, so take extra care this summer to protect yourself and your family.

For safe driving tips to help you avoid an accident, view these traffic tips provided by the Florida Safety Council.