Articles Posted in Cycling and Pedestrian Accidents

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U.S. Transportation Secretary Foxx (DOT)

U.S. Transportation Secretary Foxx (DOT)

The Department of Transportation has released a new work zone safety campaign, urging drivers to “expect the unexpected.”

The new campaign launches during National Work Zone Awareness week and reminds drivers that work zones may change frequently from one day to the next, posing risks for both motorists and work zone employees if drivers are distracted or not paying attention.

The Department of Transportation reports:

Spring means warmer weather, orange cones and more highway workers on America’s roads. As construction season approaches, drivers nationwide should “Expect the Unexpected” – this year’s theme for National Work Zone Awareness Week. The victims of work zone crashes are typically drivers and their passengers, not highway workers, but all need to be kept safe during the construction and repair-heavy summer months.

I had the opportunity to speak to families affected by work zone crashes today at the National Work Zone Awareness Week kickoff in Arlington, Va. Though the number of work zone fatalities is decreasing, it was heart wrenching to acknowledge that, each year, we are still losing loved ones in work zone crashes.

Highway workers are a key part of keeping our roads safe – and we must do our part to keep them safe. Nowhere is this more clear than in Princeton, N.C.,  where a 36-year-old highway worker – a five-year veteran of the NCDOT – was struck and killed while working on the Goldsboro Bypass on US 70 in Wayne County earlier this week.

In 2013, the most recent year for which data are available, 579 people died in work zone crashes – a slight decrease from the 617 lives lost the previous years. This is the first decline in work zone fatalities since 2010, but it is still 579 too many.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Foxx shares this belief and, with AASHTO, is calling on all of us to promote the vision of “Toward Zero Deaths.” As a Department, we should embrace this goal and use every tool at our disposal – but as individual drivers and passengers, we need to drive more carefully, especially through highway work zones, and avoid using cellphones and other distractions while behind the wheel.

One death on our roads and bridges is too many.

Read Full Article Here

The Murray Law Firm works tirelessly for victims and families devastated by work zone accidents and we offer our legal expertise, if needed. Anyone seeking further information or legal representation is encouraged to contact us at 888.842.1616. Consultations are free and confidential.

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Safe Kids Worldwide LogoSafe Kids Worldwide has begun a pedestrian safety campaign, which specifically targets children. Whether rural or urban, all children deserve safe roadways to navigate to school and home. Simple safety measures, such as street lamps, crosswalks, sidewalks, speed bumps, and crossing signals, will save hundreds of lives every day.

The Murray Law Firm is proud to join parents, teachers, neighbors and community leaders as advocates for child pedestrian safety.

While improved roadway safety is crucial, drivers must also take responsibility to stamp out distracted, impaired, and reckless driving. For the safety of our children, we remind all drivers to stay alert, particularly in and around schools and residential neighborhoods where children may be walking or playing.

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crosswalksignSouth Florida has been ranked as the fourth most dangerous metropolitan area for pedestrians, according to a recent report by the National Complete Streets Coalition and Smart Growth America.

The study, outlined in The Miami Herald, warns:

South Florida is the nation’s fourth-most-dangerous metropolitan area for pedestrians, according to a report issued Tuesday, with people on foot being run down by motor vehicles at almost triple the average rate for the rest of America.

And around the rest of the state, the numbers look even more dismal, according to the report. The three U.S. cities with worse records than the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach axis: Jacksonville, Tampa-St. Petersburg and Orlando, in ascending order of infamy.

State officials were not inclined to argue with the grim portrayal of Florida’s pedestrian safety, or lack of it. “They have some very valid points,” conceded Billy Hattaway, point man for the Florida Department of Transportation’s efforts to make streets safer for foot traffic. “We have some real problems.”

The report, Dangerous by Design 2014, was issued by a pair of urban-redesign activist groups, the National Complete Streets Coalition and Smart Growth America. It gives the United States in general low marks for pedestrian safety.

More than 47,000 pedestrians died in traffic accidents from 2003 to 2012, the report notes, “sixteen times the number of Americans who died in natural diasters — earthquakes, flood, hurricanes and tornadoes” during the same period.

Using a measure it calls the Pedestrian Danger Index — a computation of the likelihood of someone on foot being killed by a passing vehicle, using data on traffic fatalities and the number of people who walk to work — the report placed South Florida at nearly the bottom of the barrel.

The national average for the Pedestrian Danger Index is 52.2. South Florida’s score was 145.33. The raw numbers on which the index was based didn’t look much better. The only places that recorded a higher number than South Florida’s 1,539 pedestrian fatalities over the past decade were the much-larger New York and Los Angeles metropolitan areas.

(Full study available at Dangerous by Design 2014)

Advocates for cyclist and pedestrian rights and personal injury attorneys The Murray Law Firm work tirelessly to protect victims and families of pedestrian and cycling accidents throughout Florida. On behalf of our many clients who have been injured or lost loved ones to pedestrian tragedies, we remind all south Florida drivers to stay alert and avoid distractions on our roadway.

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