A six-year-old girl was just trying to cross a busy Jacksonville road with her mother and brother in December 2009 when the driver of an SUV reportedly revved his car and took off into the intersection, where he hit and killed the little girl and injured her mother. According to a report by Channel 4, her mother is now suing the city of Jacksonville, the Florida Department of Transportation, and the Jacksonville Transportation Authority for an improperly designed traffic control device that did not allow the family time to cross San Jose Boulevard.
The three attempted to cross at Kori Road because the traffic sign said it was safe to do so. Kaitlyn’s mother said waited until the light was red and then left the curb after buying Christmas presents at a nearby K-Mart. She didn’t hit the crossing button but assumed they would have enough time to get across the intersection. The negligence lawsuit does not name the SUV driver who was never charged in this fatal Florida pedestrian accident.
A properly designed pedestrian crosswalk signal should allow even slow moving pedestrians to cross at an intersection. Had she hit the crossing button, the family would have had 45 seconds, but without pushing the button a pedestrian has 30 seconds to cross the street. That shouldn’t matter. Most people would make a reasonable assumption that a pedestrian crosswalk is safe for pedestrians and that the lights are timed correctly to allow even the slowest among us to cross. This is a prime example of why Jacksonville was named in the report, Dangerous by Design 2011, by the nonprofit group, Transportation for America, as the third most dangerous metropolitan area for pedestrians in the nation.
The Farah & Farah law firm offers its condolences to this mother over this totally preventable traffic collision. An automobile should never have the benefit of the doubt over an innocent pedestrian. Our Jacksonville personal injury lawyers represents those injured in traffic accidents through no fault of their own and we always offer complimentary consultations.
Source: http://www.news4jax.com/news/28050408/detail.html
