Are Florida Roads Safe For Pedestrians?
Floridians are an active bunch, and with the state’s weather being sunny and beautiful most of the time, there are always generally a lot of people out and about on any given day. Many will choose to walk or bike their way down Florida roads, only to wind up injured because of the negligence of another person (often, but not always, an automobile driver). If you are out enjoying Florida weather as a pedestrian, and you are involved in an accident, you have the right to file a claim over the injuries you have suffered.
State’s Infrastructure Creates Danger
Florida, unfortunately, has a not-undeserved reputation as being dangerous for pedestrians, with studies routinely placing the state in the top 5 for the number of pedestrian fatalities in a given year. The urban planning think tank Smart Growth America ranks the danger level of metropolitan areas every year, and 2022’s Dangerous By Design report ranks 4 of Florida’s metropolitan areas in the top 10 for 2020 data, with the Deltona-Daytona Beach-Ormond Beach area at the top of the list.
This is an improvement from previous years, where as many as 8 Florida metro areas ranked in the top 10 – but adjustments still clearly need to be made to ensure pedestrian safety. According to the report, there are several different factors that contribute to injuries and fatalities for pedestrians, including infrastructure focused on “car-centric” design, which can include issues like streets being too wide to cross quickly, or a lack of curb cuts and crosswalks where they are needed.
Is Filing Suit Worth It?
After a pedestrian accident, your injuries may be severe enough that filing suit against the person who allegedly caused them can seem overwhelming. However, you have the right to file – while pedestrians do have hard and fast rules of the road to abide by, so do vehicles – not least of all that drivers have a duty of care to “exercise proper precaution[s]” toward pedestrians, particularly anyone that appears to be confused or incapacitated. If that duty of care was breached, you have a chance to recover money damages for what you have been through.
Keep in mind that even if you believe you were partially responsible for the accident, you may still be able to recover monetarily. Florida is a comparative negligence state, which means that each person is responsible for the percentage of the damages that they caused. If you file suit and the court rules that the defendant was 70 percent responsible for the harm you suffered, you will be able to recover 70 percent of your damages from them – even if you caused the other 30 percent of your own injuries.
Contact An Orlando Pedestrian Accident Attorney
You should be able to enjoy yourself out on a walk, or a bike ride, without fear of being struck and injured. If this has happened to you, know that you may be able to recover for the harm you have been through, and a knowledgeable Orlando personal injury attorney from the Hornsby Law Group can help you through the process. Contact our office today for a free initial consultation.
Source:
smartgrowthamerica.org/dangerous-by-design/
