This past year has been unusual in many ways, and traffic collision statistics bear that out. While there were fewer people on the roads because of lockdowns, stay-at-home orders, and less tourism, NSC (the National Safety Council) reports that 42,060 people across the country died in traffic collisions last year, an 8% increase over the year before and a 24% jump in terms of miles driven. That is the highest increase in traffic fatalities in the past one hundred years.
In the first six months of 2021, deaths were up 16% year over year and in that same period 2,445,000 Americans sustained serious injuries in collisions. August saw the greatest number of fatal collisions. Approximately $241.9 billion in property damage was attributed to traffic collisions across the country in the first half of 2021.
Miami and Florida Car Facts
Florida saw 3,347 car accident fatalities in 2020, and 212,535 injuries. There were over 34,000 car collisions in Broward County and over 51,000 collisions in Miami-Dade County that same year. Miami-Dade County saw 756 bicycle collisions, 13 bicycle fatalities, 903 motorcycle collisions and 1,218 pedestrian crashes in 2020. There were 17,183 hit and run collisions in the county.
Using the Facts
The high rate of injuries, fatalities, and collisions in Florida and especially in the Miami-Dade area highlights that we all have a role to play in preventing collisions and injuries. According to safety experts, here are the behaviors that can make a difference:
- Evaluate before you drive: Check in before you drive. You should never get behind the wheel if you’re tired, angry, upset, ill, or unfocused. Make sure you are physically and emotionally able to put your full focus on driving to get to your destination safely.
- Drive sober: Never drive after drinking, even if you are only “buzzed,” and check your over-the-counter and prescription medication to make sure they don’t make you drowsy.
- Put distractions away: We have more distractions around us than ever before and it’s essential we put away phone conversations, mobile devices, and any other distractions away before focusing on driving. Anything that takes your hands off the wheel, your eyes off the road, or your mind off driving is a potentially dangerous distraction. Even daydreaming or an animated conversation with passengers can be distracting enough to cause a collision.
If you are one of the tens of thousands of people injured in a Florida collision each year, contact Flaxman Law Group at 1-866-352-9626 (1-866-FLAXMAN) for a free, no-obligation consultation to review your case and to find out how much your potential case may be worth.