It looks as if I hear about pedestrian and bicyclist deaths as a consequence of vehicles or vehicles nearly each time I learn the information, and it appears the motive force of the automobile usually leaves the scene. Simply final week alone, the Solar-Sentinel revealed articles on a pedestrian and a bicyclist who died because of hit-and-run accidents. On Wednesday, March 4th, a 57-year-old man was crossing a street in Dania Seaside when he was struck by a pickup truck. The sufferer was pronounced useless upon arrival at Memorial Regional Hospital.After the collision, the truck then fled the scene with out supplying any support to the sufferer. The roommate of the sufferer described the automobile to the Broward County Sherriff’s deputies who responded to the scene and items of the perpetrator’s automobile had been discovered on the scene. The mixture of this data led to an investigation that in the end resulted in them talking with an individual of curiosity.The bicyclist who was hit was a 46-year-old male who was using his bike at roughly 2:45 a.m. on Sunday morning. The individual accountable was ultimately discovered and arrested, charged with tampering with proof and failure to stay at an accident involving a dying.Concerning the pedestrian dying, a spokeswoman for the Broward County Sheriff’s Workplace said, “We have seen many hit and runs recently and many of them fatal. Often times it’s the pedestrian’s fault and panicked drivers tend to flee and end up facing charges they wouldn’t have faced if they had stayed on scene.”Though the primary sufferer was not in a crosswalk on the time that he was struck, and each incidents occurred after darkish, these are hardly actions that needs to be punishable by dying. Moreover, it’s horrifying sufficient to strike somebody with a automobile, however to take action and drive off is completely heinous. You can not presumably strike somebody along with your automobile and never pay attention to it. Not solely is it a heinous act, however additionally it is a felony and an act of stupidity. Each of the autos concerned in these incidents left behind damaged bits of the autos concerned. Moreover, with the density of the inhabitants in South Florida, it’s nearly unattainable to commit such a violation with out witnesses. I’m certain it’s only a matter of time earlier than the primary driver can be recognized.Why all these incidents proceed to happen in what appears to be with ever-increasing frequency is of some debate. In keeping with a examine performed by the State of Florida Division of Transportation (FDOT), Florida’s pedestrian fatality charges have persistently positioned among the many highest within the nation. It’s doable that one cause for this startling statistic is that it’s a matter of continuous urbanization, but comparatively little funding in addressing security considerations. Add to that the variety of main highways which can be in use in South Florida which pedestrians and bicyclists need to share with motor autos and it turns into clear that every one of those points might be determinant elements.There may be, nonetheless, a dissenting opinion that raises considerations which addresses the difficulty of how the fatality statistics are gauged. For instance, as a result of there are such a lot of guests to this state and the local weather encourages folks to be outdoor, there’s better publicity of bicyclists and pedestrians to site visitors.One other speculation is that the size of nights are typically longer within the south. Strolling at nighttime is inherently extra harmful and happens extra incessantly in Florida as a consequence of its comparatively heat winters as in comparison with different areas of the nation. The variables of local weather and size of day are thought-about to be the 2 key parts for almost 60 % of the variation between Florida’s metropolitan fatalities as in comparison with different areas. Let’s additionally keep in mind that the sheer quantity of site visitors in Florida motivates drivers to hunt alternate routes, usually main them to roadways the place there’s unrestricted pedestrian site visitors.Among the findings of this site visitors examine which was performed from 1998-2000 had been fairly stunning. There have been 353 accidents that concerned pedestrians and 61 that concerned bicyclists throughout that timeframe. Of the 353 pedestrian occasions, 350 resulted within the dying of the pedestrians. Sadly, most of those deaths (80 %) had been the results of pedestrian errors. Fifty-three % had been attributable to pedestrians attempting to cross the street at areas that didn’t comprise crosswalks. Typically when this occurred, 69 % of these folks had been beneath the affect of medication or alcohol. The seemingly correlation is that drivers be taught to search for folks in crosswalks, however seldom do drivers anticipate folks strolling out from between vehicles and so forth.As for driver duty, the examine confirmed that 71 % of the time, poor lighting was a significant concern. This confirms the sooner assertion that the dearth of economic funding into better security measures by the State of Florida is a big a part of the issue. Higher and better use of streetlights, crosswalks with pedestrian alerts, etcetera might markedly scale back all these tragedies. These strategies, nonetheless, solely work when pedestrians and bicyclists heed them.It has been my notion that with the rising use of bicycles as a method of transportation, bicyclists are inclined to overlook that they don’t seem to be afforded the identical security as in the event that they had been in a automobile, but they usually journey as if they’re in a automobile. Florida Normal Statute 316.2065 states that(1) Each individual propelling a automobile by human energy has all the rights and all the duties relevant to the motive force of some other automobile…Though the identical legal guidelines apply to each autos and bicycles, I’ve seen many bicyclists use their added maneuverability to interact in unlawful and harmful behaviors. Additionally, though recumbent bikes are extremely popular, many instances this can be very tough to see them in site visitors and their width makes them tougher to keep away from than a regular bicycle.As with vehicles, bicyclists might be issued the identical sorts of site visitors tickets. One bicyclist didn’t cease at a cease signal and was given two site visitors tickets for failing to return to a whole cease and for driving the flawed approach on a one-way road. He confronted not solely the $328 for the ticket fines, but in addition as much as $500 in courtroom prices for every site visitors ticket. I certain hope he employed site visitors ticket legal professional. When you consider all the damaging penalties that pedestrians and bicyclists face for not following easy security directives, it looks as if a simple factor to do. If, nonetheless, you do get a site visitors quotation for not continuing safely, you positively want an skilled site visitors ticket legal professional. If you’re a bicyclist or pedestrian and received a site visitors quotation for any cause, name us at 954-967-9888. We can be comfortable to offer you a free session.