Fort Myers car accidents

In its most recent CDC Vital Signs update, the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention reports that while the reduction of motor vehicle deaths over the last 50 years was one of the greatest public health achievements of the 20th Century, we’ve still got a long way to go.

Each year, more than 32,000 people are killed and another 2 million are injured in traffic collisions in this country, and as of 2013, the fatality rate in motor vehicle accidents was double that of other higher-earning nations. Part of it is that we have a lower front seat belt usage rate than other countries, and still 1 in 3 of all our deadly crashes involves a driver who has been drinking. One-third also involve speeding.

The Vital Signs report was about highlighting some of these achievements, and underscoring what needs to be done to further drive down the numbers, which have hovered around this 30,000 mark for years now. If the U.S. was on par with 19 of the other high-income nations in terms of motor vehicle deaths, we’d be saving 18,000 lives every single year, bringing our annual total down to about 14,000 motor vehicle deaths yearly. Continue reading ›

A new study analyzing the prevalence of distracted driving captured video of several thousand motorists moving along a South Florida highway. In just 20 minutes, study authors found:

150 drivers talking on the phone;
17 drivers texting;
12 drivers eating;
6 drivers distracted by some other form (i.e., reading, applying makeup, staring at the mirror, looking in the backseat, etc.)

What that tells us is that of the 2,000 cars that went by, 9 percent of drivers were preoccupied with some task other than driving. That’s probably a low number because it only counts those distractions that are actually observable. Distractions such as listening to the radio or having an involved conversation with a passenger are not immediately observable from the outside. Again – this was on a highway, where speeds easily exceed 70 mph. Bear in mind that when you take your eyes off the road to send a text while traveling at 55 mph, you travel the length of a football field without looking. Continue reading ›

Articles Tagged with Fort Myers car accidents

CDC: U.S. Must Do Better to Reduce Motor Vehicle Deaths

Study: Distracted Driving a Big and Growing Problem in South Florida