Personal Injury Law

Pedestrians More Likely to Die in Miami and Ft. Lauderdale

By Joseph I. Lipsky, Esq.

As Florida Lawyers handling personal injury and wrongful death cases, we've learned of yet another report which demonstrates how dangerous the roadways are for pedestrians in South Florida. According to a recent report, the Miami/Ft. Lauderdale area achieved the dubious honor of being named one of the nation's most dangerous areas for pedestrians.

The study indicates that because our roads were designed to speed up traffic, people walking along any given road in Miami and Ft. Lauderdale are most at risk of being involved in a car accident. People who do walk in Miami and Fort Lauderdale face a relatively high risk of being struck by a car and killed. Our pedestrian fatality rate is 3.04, with a danger index level, which consists of the average pedestrian fatality rate per 100,000 residents over a two-year period and the percentage of residents who commute to work by foot, is 181.2.

Apparently suburban growth, with roads designed to assist vehicular traffic, many without sidewalks or adequate crosswalks, is the main reason for the increase in fatalities. Not surprisingly, more than half of fatal vehicle crashes occurred on wide, high-speed roads. We certainly hope that these statistics will convince future engineers to be mindful of the safety of pedestrians on our roadways.

Full post as published by Florida Personal Injury Law Blog on November 09, 2009 (boomark / email).