Fort Lauderdale Car Accident Attorney Blog
There are many unknowns and much uncertainty swirling around an early morning South Florida car accident on Palmetto Expressway that left one pedestrian dead and found a stunned driver flagging down a state trooper in the pre-dawn hours of Sept. 28, the Miami Herald reports.
What detail are known are sketchy at best. It is believed the Spanish-speaking foreigner flew into Miami International Airport from Laredo, Tex. and that around 3 a.m. he hailed a cab. He asked the driver to take him to a Hialeah Gardens address that authorities have determined doesn’t exist.
The cab driver, who said the victim asked to sit up front, said his passenger quickly became agitated – flailing his arms and speaking to himself in Spanish. The Florida Highway Patrol reports the victim was talking on a cell phone before he began screaming and unbuckled his seat belt and tried to open the passenger door.
The cab driver pulled off to the shoulder and scrambled to call for help. The victim then fled the vehicle and dashed blindly into traffic and then lay face down in the road. Several cars dodged the victim as the cab driver and couple other drivers attempted to divert traffic. The driver of a 2008 Nissan pickup was unable to avoid striking the man. He has not been charged.
While this case is a bizarre example, most cases handled by Fort Lauderdale pedestrian accident attorneys involve the death of a pedestrian that could have been prevented by the at-fault motorist. In fact, Florida has one of the highest rates of pedestrian fatalities in the nation. Most pedestrian-involved traffic fatalities happen in urban areas, at night, under normal weather conditions and at non-intersection locations along roadways. That in 70 percent of cases, the victim is a man.
The Florida Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles department recently reported that more pedestrians were killed in traffic accidents in the Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties than anywhere else in the state, claiming 150 lives in 2009. Throughout the state, 8,248 pedestrians were involved in Florida car accidents that left 7,676 pedestrians injured.
South Florida car accident and pedestrian accident lawyers at Freeman & Mallard have been successfully and aggressively representing injury victims and their families in Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, and Ft. Pierce /Port St. Lucie for years. Call us today to schedule a no-obligation appointment to discuss your case at 1-800-529-2368.