2022 Traffic Statistics Reflect a Grim Picture for Pedestrians in Florida

Even this early in the year, the Florida Highway Patrol (FHP) is already predicting a sharp rise in the number of accidents in Florida in 2022 as compared to 2021. There were over 400,000 accidents in Florida in 2021, with more than 3,700 fatalities that year according to FHP data. The data is particularly disturbing for pedestrians in the Sunshine State. According to data from the Governors Highway Safety Association, a national safety advocacy organization, pedestrian deaths nationwide have increased 45 percent over the past decade. Based upon the first six months of 2021, the last period for which data was available on a national basis, pedestrian deaths were up 17 percent as compared with 2020. In a finding that will be no surprise to any Floridian, seven of the ten most dangerous metropolitan areas for pedestrians were located in Florida. This only emphasizes how important it is that you take your safety as a pedestrian in Florida.   

Staying Safe As a Pedestrian in Florida

As a pedestrian in Florida, ensuring that you stay safe is your own responsibility. As any Florida pedestrian knows, and as the data bears out, motorists do not follow the laws they are supposed to, regardless of the fact that those are indeed the law. Consequently, as a pedestrian in Florida, your own safety always begins and ends with you. 

This starts with staying off your phone. Ensuring that you are paying attention is the first, and most important, thing you can do to ensure your own safety. Always crossing at designated intersections, and ensuring that you cross only when you have the light, is also essential.  If there is no crosswalk, but you see one two blocks down, go out of your way to cross in the crosswalk. This will ensure that cars are expecting you rather than if you try to just chance it by crossing where there is no crosswalk. Lastly, it is safe to always assume that motorists will not follow the rules, given this is Florida. Just as a defensive driver assumes the other motorists around him or her will not be following the rules, being as safe as possible as a pedestrian requires the same. 

Contact Schwed Adams & McGinley

At Schwed Adams & McGinley, our experienced personal injury attorneys have decades of legal experience representing pedestrians who have been injured by motor vehicles and those injured in other types of motor vehicle accidents and all variety of personal injury scenarios. As a pedestrian in Florida, you are in the most dangerous state in the country for pedestrians. Therefore, you need to ensure that you take all precautions you can given the disproportionate number of pedestrian accidents in Florida as compared to other states. The results of not doing so can be deadly. However, if you are injured as a result of a motorist’s negligence, then you are entitled to seek compensation for your injuries from that motorist. Thus, if you were a pedestrian who was injured in the Sunshine State, contact our experienced personal injury attorneys today at contact@schwedlaw.com or (877) 694-6079 today.