Please drive safely, even though a new study reports that car accident deaths in Florida have dropped to an eight year low. The Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles just released its Traffic Crash Statistics Report 2008. By looking at car crash traffic reports from law enforcement agencies all over Florida, the statistics show that car accident deaths decreased 7.4 percent, from 3,221 to 2,983 between 2007 and 2008. Also, alcohol-related car accident deaths decreased six percent from 2007 to 2008. The bad news: even with these statistics, drinking and driving contributed to almost 40 percent of car crash fatalities. Drinking while driving is still the primary killer.
Motorcycle accident fatalities decreased by 3.3 percent from 2007 to 2008, but driving motorcycle without a helmet can cause far greater catastrophic injuries, so please be safe and consider wearing a helmet. Pedestrian fatalities (people hit by cars) also decreased, but there have been recent studies that many drivers don’t “see” motorcycles and people because they are too distracted on their cell phones. If you must talk on your cell phone while driving, please use a bluetooth connection or other handless system.
So this Report has some good news, but the bottom line is that we still need to drive safely and defensively. The actual report can be read by going to:
http://www.flhsmv.gov/news/pdfs/PR070609a.pdf, and we will continue to provide you with helpful information to make our roads and communities safer.
