Florida Auto Pedestrian Accident Attorneys

Auto Accidents v. Pedestrian

Biking or Walking Can Be Hazardous to Your Health!

Peddling by foot or by bike can be hazardous to your health, particularly if you live in Jacksonville, Florida. Florida is one of four states that lead the nation in the number of accidents and deaths related to pedestrians and bicyclists, according to the Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center (PBIC) (www.walkinginfo.org). The other three states are California, Texas and New York. These four states make up 42 percent of pedestrian fatalities across the country, while only accounting for 30 percent of the total traffic fatalities.

Specifically, according to the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, 566 pedestrians and bicyclists were hit by cars in Jacksonville in 2008, 20 of whom died. Early numbers from 2009 show 604 people were hit and 29 died. The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office (JSO) numbers reflect that approximately one-fourth of all crash fatalities in Duval County are either pedestrians or bicyclists.

It's no wonder why Jacksonville was recently ranked one of the "worst" cities for bicyclists, according to the national cycling publication, Bicycle Magazine (May 2010 issue). Jacksonville, Birmingham, Ala., and Memphis, Tenn., were ranked the worst U.S. cities with populations exceeding 100,000 for cyclists. While the criteria for ranking did not specifically include traffic accidents and fatalities involving bicyclists, it does look at the lack of safe bicycle routes and greenways available within our city. According to Loren Mooney, Bicycling's editor-in-chief, these three cities have suffered from urban sprawl with insufficient bike lanes, coupled with ineffective efforts in improving cycling safety.

Cities like Miami and New York, however, have made giant strides to becoming more a friendly biking city. In 2008, Miami was also listed as one of the worst biking cities, but since then they have adopted a bicycle master plan, launched education initiatives, installed bike lanes and greenways, and regularly promote cycling events.

Who is most likely to get killed while crossing the road?

According to the National Highway Transportation and Safety Administration (NHTSA), the following numbers reflect the current trend (as of 2008) regarding pedestrian related accidents and deaths:

• Seventy percent of pedestrians killed were males.
• About 72 percent (or three-fourths) of pedestrian fatalities occurred in urban areas, an increase of 59 percent from 1975. Many pedestrians were killed on crosswalks, sidewalks, median strips, and traffic islands.
• Nearly one-half (48%) of all pedestrian fatalities occurred on Friday, Saturday and Sunday (16%; 18%; and 14%, respectively) and of that 48%, 70% occurred between the hours of 4:00 p.m. - 4:00 a.m. Fifty-three percent of pedestrians 16 years and older were killed at night (9:00 p.m. - 6:00 a.m.) and had a blood alcohol at or above the legal limit of 0.08 percent, compared to 25 percent during the day (6:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.).

What can be done to reduce these numbers?

While adding bicycle routes and greenways are certainly key in reducing the number of accidents and fatalities involving pedestrians and bicyclists, the real key is driver education and changing the driver's attitude when it comes to "road rights" and distilling the hostility against cyclists and pedestrians alike.

Most drivers in Jacksonville believe cyclists belong on the sidewalk. They aren't even aware of the laws that prohibit bicyclists from riding on sidewalks unless the sidewalk is designed as a multi-use path, which is wider than a standard sidewalk.

The mindset that the road belongs only to people driving vehicles is a root cause of why there are so many accidents involving bicyclists and pedestrians.

However, the law applies to both bicyclists and pedestrians. It is equally important that they know and adhere to the vehicular laws and not assume they always have the right-of-way. Pedestrians, bicyclists and motorists alike can benefit from educational tools and messages that teach them the rules, rights and responsibilities of each party.

PBIC offers some other solutions such as implementing short- and long-term planning and policy-making for the built environment; designing and engineering safe and accessible roadways and pedestrian facilities; and, enforcing proper and lawful behavior and use of roadway facilities on all users of the roadways.

They also offer on their website a planning tool called the "Pedestrian and Bicycle Crash Analysis Tool" (PBCAT), which assists state and local pedestrian/bicycle coordinators, planners and engineers with improving walking and bicycling safety. This software enables agencies to better define the sequence of events and precipitating actions that led up to and caused the crash. Having the ability to identify the events which lead up to the crash can assist planners and engineers in designing countermeasures to address the problems identified by the software, thus reducing the number of fatalities and accidents.