Hit-And-Run

Three bicyclists were hospitalized after they were injured by a hit-and-run driver on U.S. 1 in St. Augustine Monday afternoon, according to an article in The Florida Times-Union. Two cyclists were taken to Shands in Jacksonville and one was transported to Flagler Hospital in St. Augustine. The driver who hit the cyclists has been identified as Michael Nally, 42, who was behind the wheel of a PT Cruiser heading northbound on Ponce De Leon Boulevard when he swerved into the three cyclists just before 1 p.m., hit them, but then kept driving. Fortunately, a Good Samaritan followed Nally and then called police and told them he pulled into a bar on North Ponce De Leon. The witness also told police that he saw a beer can thrown from the car. Police tracked down Nally to Arnold’s Bar where he was arrested and charged with three counts of leaving the scene of an accident with bodily injury.

As we’ve said here before, leaving the scene of an accident where there is an injury or possible death is the worst thing you can possibly do. The first degree felony criminal charge will be added that can bring 30 years in state prison.

Despite being seventh in population, Jacksonville is third in the state in the number of hit-and runs.

The state reports there were 349 hit –and-run driving prosecutions in 2006 in our area. By 2007 and 2008 there were 2,000. That is such a sad statement about how we fail to care.

DUI charges are possible pending the result of a blood test.

Fortunately, the bicyclists were wearing helmets and those taken to Shands had the most serious injuries. We now know the identities of the three. They all worked for the St. Johns County technology department and were out for a lunchtime ride.

They are identified as Robert Jolley and Daniel Phillips who went to Shands and were in fair condition. Derick Tillman went to Flagler Hospital as a precaution. How many more accidents of this kind do we need before we dedicate bike paths for riders? After all, the roads are there to be shared by everyone, not just those with the biggest vehicle.

If you have been hit by a drunk driver or a hit-and-run accident, a dedicated and experienced Florida hit and run accident attorney can help you get the resources you need to begin the road to recovery.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is releasing new data that shows that keeping the drinking age laws at 21 prevented an estimated 4,441 drunk driving deaths over the last five years.

NHTSA was responding to a national movement among colleges to turn back the drinking age to 18. After all, the argument goes, we sent 18-year-olds to die in Iraq, why not allow them to drink and take away the stigma of doing something “illegal”?

Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) headed a symposium on the issue. MADD says that “Turning our back on these laws would be a deadly mistake. Minimum drinking age laws are among the most effective measures ever used to reduce drunken driving deaths among America’s young people.”

NHTSA’s data reports that motorcycle helmet use has risen in recent years and that using those helmets is saving lives – from 1,173 in 2003 to 1,784 in 2007. Remember though that there has been a dramatic increase in motorcycle use over those years. Still more than 7,000 lives are estimated to have been spared because of the use of helmets on motorcycles.

Adding more safety features on the roads has also saved lives.

In 2007, front air bags saved 2,788 passengers ages 13 and older. Child safety seats saved 358 lives of children age 4 and under. Seat belts saved more than 15,000 lives, but unfortunately not everyone wears seat belts.

Nationally, even more lives could have been saved – an estimated 5,000 – if everyone had been belted up. #

With more than 36,000 teen drivers involved in car crashes in Florida last year –and a teen killed every 6.5 minutes nationwide, the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles has created an interactive web site to drive home the message of safety on the road.

With great graphics, bold music, and production techniques, TakeTheWheel.net was created by teens for teens. It’s a very powerful and effective way to communicate the truth about the responsibility of taking the wheel, including the facts:

• According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) more than two-thirds of teen passengers and drivers who die in nighttime car crashes are not wearing their seat belts.
• Teens are involved in three times as many fatal crashes as all other drivers.
• Distractions such as loud music, texting, cell phone use, driving tired combined with inexperience and speed and drug use all aggravate the problem.
• In addition to the 36,000 involved in teen crashes last year, more than 479 people were killed in auto accidents where a teenager was behind the wheel.
• Auto accidents remain the number one cause of death for teenagers.

In the teen videos- Alexa tell story of her cousin Mandy, now in a vegetative state, after an accident in December of 2004. She was in a car that was t-boned by another car driven by a student driver.

Alexa says, “She starts to cry and she has feelings she needs to get out but she can’t because of the way she is. Being in an accident and almost dying changes everybody life not just around them, but the whole school. People may not realize it but people have a lot of value. People take their life for granted.”

Dustin watched his 19-year-old cousin, Frankie die after his car flipped 15 times. Frankie had been drinking and driving. His much larger cousin stopped him when depressed and drunk, Dustin tried to get behind the wheel. ” I broke down and cried and my parents came and picked me upl. I will not let anybody get in the car if they’re drunk,” he says.

Megan was in a car that hit the back of a truck, then split into a “V”. Her boyfriend died, as did the driver of the other vehicle. Megan begins crying on camera when she tells her story. “I have friends who street race and they still do it, and I don’t undertand why. If someone is in the car with me I make them put their seatbelt on. I’m really serious about it. You’re not going to die while I’m driving.”

Kudos on talking to teens in a language that matters. I hope every young driver in Florida takes the time to listen to the experiences of people who have suffered from the loss of a loved one. I can happen to you. It happened to them.

The web site is here TakeTheWheel.net.

It was a tragic end to a Jacksonville police officer’s life.

50-year-old Officer Michael Hartsfield died July 30, when the car her was a passenger in crashed off Fort Caroline Road. It was driven by his friend, 45- year-old Vicki Mullins.

She reportedly lost control of the car on a curve during the evening hours. No other cars were involved. The car hit a ditch and then bounced off the culvert before landing on its roof.   The car was a convertible Ford Mustang. Officer Hartsfield died at the hospital after he was cut out of the vehicle.   Mullins was hurt also.

Now police say her blood alcohol level was twice the legal limit and they believe speed may have been a factor. She’s been charged with DUI manslaughter and is in jail tonight on $750,000 bond.

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A new traffic control technique got underway this week in Central Florida that is aimed at catching those among us who feel compelled to run red lights.

You know the people who cross in your path and if they were two seconds later would have T-boned your car.

Seven of the most dangerous intersections in Orlando will have the cameras and lasers placed on poles about 12 feet high. They will take images as the vehicle approaches an intersection, taking a still photo and video of violators.  

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A four-vehicle wreck south of Fernandina Beach, Florida killed two and injured four others Wednesday. Police say that the wreck may have been intentional. 

Just after 1:30 a pickup truck traveling north on state Road 200 crossed the median then turned south in the northbound lanes.

It struck one car head-on, then two others before it overturned and caught on fire.

The Florida Highway Patrol says it looks like the driver had time to think about what he was doing then accelerated into oncoming traffic.

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Darryl Green was in the wrong place at the wrong time. 

Last June, the blind athlete from Philadelphia was trying to cross U.S. 1 northbound in St. Johns County, Florida when he was struck and killed by a driver who then took off.

Green, 24, had come to Florida for a goalball tournament at the Florida School for the Deaf and Blind in St. Augustine.  He was with teammates from the Delaware County Blind Sports Organization’s Venom team at the school when he decided to return to his hotel to use the bathroom.

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