car accidents

Aggressive Drivers Targeted in Cape Coral

February 22, 2022 | Associates and Bruce L. Scheiner

An enforcement blitz against aggressive drivers in Cape Coral last week, resulted in 67 traffic stops on Wednesday afternoon.

The Cape Coral Police Department conducted the grant-funded traffic saturation operation specifically targeting aggressive driving. Saturation patrols flood an area with officers, who are then able to stop motorists for infractions that might otherwise go unchecked.

The fact that more than 60 motorists were stopped during a 5-hour period on an otherwise lazy Wednesday afternoon in Southwest Florida, highlights the risks our car accidents in Fort Myers and Cape Coral know all too well: Aggressive drivers are a danger to innocent motorists on the road.

Wheels of Safety Go Round and Round

February 12, 2022 | Associates and Bruce L. Scheiner

Love them or hate them, the roundabout is here to stay.

An increasing number of communities in Southwest Florida are incorporating roundabouts into their master plan, even as municipalities consider installing the traffic-calming features, which have long been standard in much of Europe.

Even historic McGregor Boulevard may get a roundabout.

Super Bowl Safety: Celebrate Responsibly

February 10, 2022 | Associates and Bruce L. Scheiner

Drunk drivers are responsible for nearly one-third of the nation’s fatal traffic collisions, claiming more than 10,000 lives each year.

Super Bowl LVI, between the Cincinnati Bengals and Los Angeles Rams, falls later in February this year and will be quickly followed by the start of Spring Break in Southwest Florida. Our drunk driving injury attorneys urge you to take the risks seriously. Have a plan to keep you and your friends safe. Never drink after consuming any amount of alcohol or other mind-altering substance.

Defensive Driving Reduces Car Accident Risks

February 8, 2022 | Associates and Bruce L. Scheiner

When it comes to staying safe on the roads, the old adage holds true: The best offense is a good defense.

Our car accident attorneys in Fort Myers and Cape Coral have posted extensively about the three most common dangerous driving behaviors: Distracted driving, aggressive driving and impaired driving.

Southwest Floridians can substantially reduce their accidents risks in 2022 by resolving to not drive distracted or impaired. Never engage in aggressive driving – including speeding, tailgating, failure to yield- and always obeying traffic laws and traffic control devices.

Make Better Driving a Focus in 2022

January 11, 2022 | Associates and Bruce L. Scheiner

Happy New Year from all of us at Associates and Bruce L. Scheiner, Attorneys for the Injured.

We hope 2022 brings a move toward normalcy and puts the worst of the pandemic behind us. The truth of the matter is that healthy adults are still most likely to be killed in a traffic collision, according to the National Safety Council, which puts your annual odds of being in a serious crash at 1 in 107.

As the New Year begins, our car accident attorneys in Fort Myers and Cape Coral urge each of you to resolve to become a better driver this year. Some of us have further to go in this regard than others, but each effort will pay dividends, both in reducing your risks of being seriously injured or killed, and in reducing the likelihood that you will be found responsible for a serious or fatal crash.

Traffic Safety Focus on Dangerous Intersections in SWFL

April 28, 2021 | Associates and Bruce L. Scheiner

Safety advocates are warning motorists of the dangers of intersection traffic collisions.

Our car accident attorneys in Cape Coral and Fort Myers opened the year with our Safe Driving series, which looked at the heightened risks of a collision at intersections. These natural points of traffic conflict are especially dangerous for walkers and cyclists. But motorists also have a high risk of colliding with another motor vehicle.

WINK News is among the organizations reporting the rise in traffic collisions since the start of the pandemic. As we reported here on our injury blog, more than 100 traffic deaths were reported in 2020 despite the drastic reduction in traffic congestion that resulted from pandemic restrictions. In September, as season opened, there were close to 1,000 crashes in Lee County.

Phones Just Part of Distracted Driving Epidemic

January 11, 2021 | Associates and Bruce L. Scheiner

As we enter our 50th year of representing injury victims in Southwest Florida, we recently blogged about the dangers of in-car technology and cell phones when it comes to the risks of being involved in a serious or fatal traffic collision.

But distracted driving is about much more than the electronic gadgetry that has become central to our daily lives. Nationwide, safety advocates report at least 3,000 people are killed and 400,000 injured each year in collisions involving distracted driving. However, the increasingly ubiquitous nature of this technology in our lives means the true risks are actually much higher – by some estimates involved in one-third of the nation’s traffic collisions, resulting in more than 10,000 road deaths each year.

Many of these victims were not in another vehicle at the time of the collision. About 1 in 5 of the people who died in crashes involving distracted drivers in 2018 were not in vehicles―they were walking, riding their bikes, or otherwise outside a vehicle, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

A Thanksgiving Holiday Travel Season Like No Other

November 11, 2020 | Associates and Bruce L. Scheiner

No doubt 2020 has been one for the record books.

While we await official predictions about the upcoming holiday travel season, there are early indications that many are seeking a return to near-normalcy as the nation and the world slowly move past the Presidential election and into the year-end holidays.

Thanksgiving is typically the biggest travel day of the year, which frequently makes it among the deadliest times of the year on the road. This year, gauging the factors influencing those risks is a lot like predicting the outcome of our historic election. Our Fort Myers injury lawyers wish you good health and good fortune as we prepare to put 2020 behind us.

Safety Advocates Focus on Young Drivers this Holiday Season

November 10, 2020 | Associates and Bruce L. Scheiner

Please talk to your teenagers often about the importance of safe driving as we enter the long year-end holiday season.

Our injury lawyers in Cape Coral and Fort Myers know the year-end holidays are among the most dangerous times of the year for our young drivers. We have seen these tragedies forever ruin the holiday season for far too many families.

The Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles got a jump on holiday travel safety as part of its participation in national “Teen Driver Safety Week” in late October.

Nationally, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports 2,500 teens are killed and nearly 300,000 are injured every year in traffic collisions. Those ages 16-19 face risks three times higher than other motorists on the road. The news is no better in Florida, where more than 63,000 collisions a year involve teenagers.

Early Dark Increases Risk of Traffic Collisions in SWFL

October 17, 2020 | Associates and Bruce L. Scheiner

The decision by Gov. Ron DeSantis to lift the remaining COVID restrictions coincides with the return of early darkness and the start of the tourism season in Southwest Florida.

DeSantis started October by announcing Phase 3 reopening in response to economic realities and stabilizing numbers of coronavirus cases. Bars, restaurants and resorts were among the businesses permitted to return to full capacity, according to the Orlando Sentinel, although most are still expected to adopt social-distancing and other policies to help mitigate risks.

Daylight Savings Time ends Nov. 1 at 2 a.m., setting the clocks back an hour. National Geographic reports a number of places are trying to end Daylight Savings Time.Love it or hate it, Southwest Florida will see early darkness at a time of year when the days are growing shorter anyway. First common in the United States during World War II, and widely adopted in the 1970s in response to the Energy Crisis, many argue early darkness and early light do not conserve energy and certainly do not contribute to road safety.