Pedestrian Accident

The patrol car was traveling at about 30 mph when it ran over a Jacksonville woman early Sunday morning, July 25.

Misty S. Proffitt, 26 died at Shands Hospital in Jacksonville after the police vehicle, reportedly patrolling in the 8100 block of Old Kings Road South, ran over Proffitt who was lying in the road, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.

This happened about 3:30 a.m. and there is no explanation as to why she would have been lying in the southbound lane. The Florida Highway Patrol reports that Officer William Scott Carlson, 43, was driving the Jacksonville police patrol car. Carlson was unable to stop once he saw Proffitt, according to the official FHP report.

There is no word on how long the young woman would have been lying in the road. The Florida Times Union reports that witnesses say the police officer was not speeding, though it is difficult to believe there would be witnesses at 3:30 in the morning who would not have tried to get the woman out of the road.

Although News4 does not connect the dots, just last week a man, Randell Proffitt, 25, was lying in the eastbound lane of State Road 100 in Lake Butler around 2 a.m. and was hit and killed by a tractor-trailer. Perhaps the same name with the same spelling, the age similarity, and the rare way they both died is a coincidence.

Pedestrian Deaths
Although this is not a typical pedestrian death, Jacksonville pedestrian accident attorneys are concerned with the fact that Florida has the dubious distinction of being among the top cities in the nation for hit-and-run fatal accidents. Jacksonville is among the top four cities identified by the nonprofit group, Transportation for America, as having the highest number of pedestrian deaths.

The state reports 502 people were killed in Florida pedestrian accidents in 2008, while 7,878 pedestrians were injured, an increase of more than 4% from the previous year.

Nationally, the statistics are even more shocking.

Almost 12 people a day died after a pedestrian/motor vehicle crash in 2008, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. NHTSA says there were 4,378 pedestrians killed in the U.S. in 2008. Typically alcohol plays a major role in traffic accidents involving pedestrians, although there is no indication that it played any role in this death.

Our condolences go out to the family of this young woman. Let’s hope that the investigation continues and some of the mysteries surrounding her death are soon answered.

Florida truck accident attorneys Farah & Farah, P.A., are pleased to announce the creation of Florida-TruckAccidents.com—an information site which exclusively covers trucking accidents.

Truck accidents injure or kill thousands of people on America’s highways each year. Yet, many victims feel that they are helpless and alone. Florida-TruckAccidents.com offers truck accident victims the opportunity to connect with others who have had their lives forever changed in an accident. By staying abreast of news and information about truck accident statistics, insurance settlements and other relevant issues, accident victims can reclaim their lives.

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It happened in early February. Middle school students from Ribault in Jacksonville were misbehaving by setting off an alarm on the emergency exit. This made it unsafe to continue to drive the bus. Instead of pulling over and transferring students to another bus, or calling police, the school bus driver instructed them to get off the bus at Rutledge Pearson Elementary School and find their own way home. Thankfully, no students were injured to due any Jacksonville pedestrian accidents that could have resulted from the kids being off the bus.

This is an unacceptable reaction by an employee of First Student, the bus company. There are rules and regulations in Duval County for bus drivers. Students are supposed to conduct themselves in a respectful way to keep everyone safe. If not, they can be suspended from school and parents have the responsibility to make sure that their children understand that.

But a bus driver also has a huge responsibility, delivering those children safety to and from school. For a child to find their way home from a different school, meant many walked to a bus stop or called their parents. Many parents understandably were angry. First Student says it is conducting an investigation. Cameras on the bus will help tell the story, but even with misbehaving children, this is not the proper response, but a response of pure frustration. The liability of the school district if something had happened is not something they want to hear about.

Fortunately no children were injured due to the bus driver’s negligence. If you have any questions regarding the safety of your child in relation to bus-driving laws, please contact the skilled Florida personal injury attorneys at Farah and Farah by calling 1-800-533-3555.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety finds that antilock brakes on motorcycles could save lives.

Antilock brakes are already found on cars and trucks. Typically they are found on touring bikes and a limited number of motorcycles. They add a cost of about $1,000.

Without them, riders who need to stop their bikes abruptly can lock up the wheels or fishtail. The Insurance Institute found that equipping motorcycles with them resulted in a 38 percent lower crash rate.

The Institute studied eight motorcycles with antilock brakes and found there were 6.6 fatal crashes per 10,000 registered motorcycles without antilock in 2005 and 2006. The bikes with antilocks had a 4.1 per 10,000 fatal crash rate. A second study found antilock brakes reduced collision claims by 21 percent. Read the rest »

NHTSA, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, issued new rules this week that will improve the nation’s 474,000 school buses. Seat and shoulder belts will be required on small school buses. The requirement will also change seat backs making them four inches higher to 24 inches in all new buses.

Seats must also come equipped with safety latches that can be flipped up or removed without resorting to special tools. That’s the good news.

But there is a huge gap here. What about the large school buses that most children ride in? NHTSA has not resolved that question, despite the fact that all of the research shows that children would be made safer.

Instead NHTSA sets standards for seat belts on large school buses. Five major studies over the past decade have shown seat belts are needed on large school buses. But the Secretary of Transportation, Mary E. Peters said that putting seat belts on larger buses can limit capacity and force more students to walk or ride in cars.

“The last thing we want to do is force parents to choose other, less safe ways of getting their children to school,” she said.

Putting seat belts where people sit will make them less safe? NHTSA says more kids are actually hurt around school buses than inside them, but seat belts on school buses would impact about 1,900 crash injuries each year.

Public Citizen doesn’t like the omission of seat belts from large buses and Joan Claybrook, who was the administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration from 1977-81, says Public Citizen objects to NHTSAs plans to immunize manufacturers from personal injury liability. Read the rest »

Florida is a comparative negligence state, and that means you can make a personal injury claim based on the percentage of the other side's negligence.

If they are half at fault, you get 50 percent. If you are 30 percent at fault, you’ll get 70 percent of the value of your case.

From time to time, people ask us, if they are intoxicated and in an accident, say they stumble in the street and are hit by a car, can they make a claim also? The simple answer is NO.

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It’s hard to imagine what might cause people to take to the roads during a hurricane or tropical storm but Fay, which just passed through our area, took a number of lives, including a teenage girl who was the head of her class as Paxon.

Now the Florida Highway Patrol is issuing safety tips as a precaution before Tropical Storm Gustav hits Florida.

First on the list is to stay put! Even if a hurricane never materialized, a Tropical Storm, with its extended rain and wind and the aftermath, can lead to injuries and deaths.  Sightseers impede roads for emergency personnel to pass.

Slow down even if the storm has passed, the roads remain slick and you could hydroplane. 

Buckle up your seat belt, the extra time it takes may just save your life, besides it is the law in Florida.

Four of the deaths related to Tropical Storm Fay involved motorists who were not wearing their seatbelts.

Gusty winds make driving very difficult, adversely affecting all vehicles, especially high profile trucks, buses as well as motorcycles. Even if you are not in a high profile vehicle, the vehicle next to you might be one.

Do not drive through any flooded areas, even if you know the roads. You have no idea what is beneath the water, such as an eroded roads surface, electrical wires, debris or tree branches.

If traffic lights are down, as can happen during a storm, look for law enforcement directing traffic. Otherwise treat the intersection as if you were coming upon a four-way stop sign.

Motorists looking for additional information during a story can call 511 on their cell phones for up-to-the-minute information on traffic congestion, road construction, lane closures, and delays on Florida’s roads.

And it is a good time to remember to enter your contact information on the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles web site. 

That information shortcuts the time it takes to alert loved ones if you are in an accident. The effort was started by a woman whose child was killed in a motorcycle accident and she had to wait a half day to find her body.

Go online to enroll at http://www.flhsmv.gov/.

We’re all feeling the squeeze at the pump, but there is a little good news to report about that gloomy picture. Rising prices have apparently reduced traffic deaths around the country.

Here in Jacksonville, the Florida Highway Patrol reported that so far in the four of five metro counties there were 103 traffic fatalities, compared to 155 for the same time last year. That is a 34 percent drop.

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A government safety study is revealing just who is behind the wheel of that big-rig and bus next to you on the highway. 

The 30-page General Accounting Office (GAO) study, to be released Thursday, shows that more than a half-million commercial tractor-trailer and bus drivers with commercial licenses are also eligible for full disability benefits. 

These are not people sitting at home waiting for benefits. They are still driving 40-ton vehicles, next to you on the highway!

When these drivers have seizures, heart attacks or pass out, hundreds of deaths and injuries have occured.

The Transportation Department reports there were  5,300 people who died in crashes with commercial trucks or busses in 2006, the last year for which statistics are available.  Another 126,000 people were injured.

The GAO reports that sometimes drivers ”doctor shop” to find a doctor who will either overlook their pre-existing health problem. Or the driver will simply fail to mention it in a medical checkup.

Some of the violations mentioned in the report include: a Florida bus driver who used three daily inhalers to fight his lung disease. He told investigators that he “occasionally blacks out and forgets things.”  And that he “gets winded” when he walks to his mailbox.  He had no medical certificate, but does have a commercial driver’s license until 2010.

Big-rig and bus drivers need to make a living too, and we all are living well because of products and food transported across the country. But this situation is out of control.  

Back in 2001, the  federal agency in charge of truckers, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, was charged with completing  eight safety recommendations. So far none has been accomplished - items such as stopping doctor shopping, and setting a minimum health standard before a driver can obtain a commercial license.

It seems reasonable. 

We hope you are never involved in an accident with a bus or tractor-trailer. But if you are you’ll need to contact an experienced attorney who knows about the black box onboard a truck and the information it contains that can help your case. An accident attorney knows the number of hours a trucker can legally drive and when he is in violation.  And an experienced  attorney knows how to find witnesses and contact them for information while it is still available.  Visit the Trucking Question & Answer section of our Web site, or call us.

You never want to be involved in a trucking accident. If you are, you never want to go it alone.   Farah and Farah is here to help.

Three St. Johns County Florida teenagers were arrested Saturday for giving a 14-year-old girl so much alcohol that she passed out at an open house party. 

This is a parent’s worst nightmare - an open house party where everyone is invited. The open house was south of St. Augustine, and about 60, mostly juveniles were in attendance.

It’s amazing how fast word spreads on the internet and with texting. 

The young girl’s parents say they thought she was at home in bed.

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