Personal Injury Law

Jacksonville - Most Crashes In Florida In 2008

By Eddie Farah

Just how are we doing as a state in regard to highway fatalities? A new report issued from the Florida Highway Patrol compiled crash data from around the state for 2008.

Unbelievably- Jacksonville was the top city for the number of crashes in Florida, even topping Miami by about 50 percent. There were 14,000 crashes in Jacksonville in 2008. Taking in accident cases all of the time in our law firm, we can only guess why that might be. People are very aggressive drivers around here, and add talking on a cell phone, texting and other distractions and it is not entirely surprising. Also, about 60 percent of traffic fatalities result from people not wearing their seat belts.

There is good news to report. There were 2,983 traffic fatalities on Florida's roads in 2008, down from 3,221 the year before. This is the first time there have been fewer than 3,000 fatalities on Florida's roads since 2000. Alcohol-related crashes declined six percent during the same time period. Still, drunk driving contributes to about 40 percent of traffic accidents.

Even motorcycle accidents that led to death declined by 3.3 percent but have still climbed steadily over the past decade. Pedestrian fatalities were down by 5.3 percent from 2007 to 2008 but pedestrian injuries and crashes went up more than four percent.

Teen deaths declined almost 17 percent and teen passengers' deaths declined almost 29 percent.

20 to 24 year olds have the most accidents per 10,000 licensed drivers at 4.24, while 65 to 69 year olds are the safest at 1.24.

Even 90-plus-year-old drivers have fewer accidents than teens and twenty year olds at 2.37 per 10,000. Maybe our elders have something to teach youngsters about the rules of the road. #

Full post as published by Jacksonville Personal Injury Lawyer on July 08, 2009 (boomark / email).