Avoid Halloween Car and Pedestrian Traffic Accidents in South Florida

With Halloween falling on the weekend this year, South Florida residents should be extra careful when trick or treating in their neighborhoods. This includes heavily settled areas in Fort Myers, Fort Lauderdale, and Miami, Florida.

Halloween is a time when children are literally running through the roads and streets -- adding extra responsibility on parents and drivers to avoid Florida car and pedestrian accidents. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), citing an article from Parents Magazine, recommends parents use common sense when preparing their children for Halloween:
Make sure costumes and shoes fit, so children aren't tripping over themselves
Supervise young children who go out trick or treating
Teach children to look both ways before crossing the street and to cross at intersections
Keep children in well-lit areas only
Create a safe neighborhood zone that limits children's Halloween travels to only houses they know (and teach children to stay away from dark houses, decrepit houses, or houses with barking or loose dogs -- even Florida premises liability law cannot stop a dog bite or fall causing injury from happening)

As experienced Fort Lauderdale accident injury attorneys and parents ourselves, we know how precious children are to their families. Be careful out there this Halloween season, so the scares you experience are only of the fun candy-corn and costumes variety.

Other South Florida Halloween Driving Safety Issues
In addition, NHTSA cites thousands of motor vehicle crashes every year during Halloween week -- in part due to adults' partying with alcohol. As with any holiday celebration, the risk of being involved a drunk driving accident increases as people drive home from bars and parties.

NHTSA also urges police departments to be on extra alert in college towns (such as Boca Raton, Coral Gables, Miami and Tampa, Florida), where students are likely to be drinking and partying more during Halloween week.

Child Pedestrian Safety Education
NHTSA, Sept. 2009 (PDF)

Related Web Resource
Are you Halloween prepared? Safety tips with a Parenting magazine expert
Yahoo.com Oct. 12, 2010

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South Florida Driving Safety & Senior Citizens : NTSB Conference Looks at Elderly Driving and Car Accidents

Florida is home to a significant population of senior citizens -- including snowbirds who come for the balmy winters and decide to make Florida their year-round homes. Native Floridians know a good thing when they have it, and seniors who were born in Florida may never leave. Why go anywhere else when the best weather, beaches, and golf courses are right here in Florida?

What makes Florida an attractive winter and retirement destination for senior citizens means more older drivers motoring around South Florida communities and highways.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) held a two-day conference on the growing population of elderly drivers and driving safety risks. While one study shows that seniors are actually involved in fewer serious motor vehicle accidents than in years past -- the aging Baby Boomer generation means more and more seniors will be taking to the roads in the coming years.

The CDC believes car crashes involving older drivers may be down in part due to the fact that older people tend to drive less and for shorter distances. Those who are in Florida nursing homes and retirement communities may use other forms of transportation available -- while some may give up their keys willingly or when their children ask them to stop driving for safety and/or medical reasons.

The most tragic auto accidents involving senior citizen drivers in Florida and elsewhere -- those where seniors lose control of their cars and crash into people, buildings, and other vehicles, sometimes with injuries and fatalities -- tend to make the headlines. Though the statistics indicate the issue of elderly drivers and car accidents is not worsening, states want to prepare for the influx of older drivers as the Boomer generation ages -- and shows no signs of slowing down.

The NTSB says it will continue to study the issue of elderly drivers and driving safety, as individual states work on their regulations regarding licensing, driver education, and driver testing. Florida put the Florida Grand Driver education program in place for people ages 65 plus (see link below).

NTSB forum examines growing population of elderly drivers
The Washington Post Nov. 9, 2010

NTSB: Symposia on Safety Mobility and Aging Drivers

Related Web Resources

Florida Grand Driver

AAA Foundation: SeniorDrivers.org

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Fort Myers and Lee County Car Accidents Claim Lives This Past Weekend

October got off to a deadly start on Fort Myers, Florida area streets and roads.

According to news reports quoting the Sheriff's Office, the following fatal Lee County, Florida auto accidents occurred:

Sat. Oct. 2 after 10 p.m., a Fort Myers, Florida woman was killed in a traffic crash in Lehigh Acres on SR 82.

Sun. Oct. 3 after 7:30 p.m., a man fell out of the bed of a pickup truck and died of a head injury.

Mon. Oct. 4 after 6 a.m., another accident occurred in North Fort Myers, Florida, claiming the life of a pedestrian. According to news reports, the Florida Highway Patrol stated that a fatal pedestrian accident took place near the intersection of Flamingo Dr and Bayshore Rd in North Ft. Myers. The traffic accident victim was brought to Lee Memorial Hospital, Florida, where he died of his injuries.

Lee County Florida Traffic Accident Fatality Statistics

Families may sometimes consult an experienced Fort Myers car accident lawyer, who can work with them to help determine liability in serious and fatal Lee County, Florida motor vehicle accidents.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) ranks Lee County, Florida, among the state counties with the highest traffic accident death rates (with more than 56 auto crash fatalities occurring in 2008). Lee County includes Fort Myers, North Fort Myers, Lehigh Acres, and Cape Coral, Florida. (Source: NHTSA Traffic Safety Facts Florida 2004-2008)

In 2008, the most deadly counties in Florida for fatal auto accidents were Miami-Dade County (269 fatalities) and Broward County, Florida (227 fatalities), followed by Palm Beach County (198 deaths).

Two fatalities occur in Lehigh over past weekend
LehighAcresCitizen.com Oct. 4, 2010

Pedestrian dies in early morning accident on Bayshore Road
NorthFortMyersNeighbor.com Oct. 4, 2010

Related Web Resource

Lee County Sheriff's Office

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