Category: <span>AUTO ACCIDENTS</span>

On the day after Thanksgiving, commonly known as Black Friday for shoppers, both sports and news networks throughout Florida and the U.S. that Tiger Woods was involved in an auto accident. According to original reports, including report by WSVN Fox News in the Miami/Ft. Lauderdale area, Tiger Woods was seriously injured in an auto accident and taken to Health Central Hospital.

The crash occurred near Woods’ Windermere home when he pulled out of his driveway and hit a fire hydrant and tree with his Cadillac SUV, according to the Orlando Sentinel. The Florida Highway Patrol stated that the accident was not alcohol-related, although charges are pending.

Thankfully, further updates reported that the airbags in Woods’ vehicle did not deploy because the vehicle was traveling at less than 33 miles per hour. Furthermore, Woods was released from the hospital and it is likely that he only suffered facial lacerations. Spokespersons for Woods said that he was okay and in good condition.

Traditionally, we will see a noticeable increase in auto accidents during the holidays. Thanksgiving had the highest numbers of fatalities in Florida with 52 fatalities, almost half of which involved alcohol. This is likely due to the fact that Thanksgiving involves a longer weekend than New Year’s Eve or the Fourth of July and as it is a more family-oriented holiday, we see more travelers on the road. South Florida is particularly susceptible to increased accidents and traffic due to our warm weather throughout the winter.

While the story continues to develop, we wish Tiger Woods a speedy recovery and we urge that everyone drive safely and responsibly during the holidays.

We have followed the red light camera issue in South Florida for some time now. From our posts about the red light cameras in West Palm Beach to the cameras in Pembroke Pines, the use of red light cameras by cities to prevent auto accidents has become a hot topic.

This week, the Sun Sentinel reported that the city of Pembroke Pines is now under fire in a class action lawsuit for the use of the red light cameras. According to the story, the city has delayed the installation of five more cameras.

Drivers say that the cameras are a violation of equal protection and due process and that under state law, local governments cannot regulate stop lights. They point out that the cameras only punish the owner of the vehicle, not the driver, and that the only form of appeal is through a magistrate who works for the city. Drivers also feel that in spite of the city’s stance that the cameras are being used for driver safety and to prevent auto accidents, the primary goal is to generate revenue during the current financial crisis. The cameras have already sent out over 1,500 citations which have generated about $90,000.

We noted in our post about the Obama administration that the President and his cabinet are taking a strong interest in vehicular safety and passing laws to outlaw distracted driving. Several other cities, such as Aventura and West Palm Beach, have also installed red light cameras, so the question now is whether the cameras will last and what kind of precedent will decisions in these cases set for South Florida, the rest of the state, and even in other states facing the same questions. In any case, it is likely that whether or not the cameras survive in Pembroke Pines, this will not be the last that we hear about red light cameras.

South Florida drivers and motorists around the country can look forward to a new innovation in seat beat technology by Ford Motor Co. Ford will introduce a seat belt-mounted air bag in its 2011 Ford Explorer back seat and, according to Ford, will be the first automaker put this technology in mass production.

According to a recent article on Yahoo Auto, the air big fits in a pocket in the seat belt. The car sends a signal to release the bag, which inflates with cooler air and more safely as compared with front air bags. The air bags are particularly situated for the safety of children. A Ford engineer responsible for its development, which has been in the works for a decade, claims that the seat belt provides even distribution across the chest, providing less chance of injury and support to the head and neck.

The New York Times reported that along with the seat belt, Ford hopes to use this and other safety features to attract new customers. Ford also has developed MyKey, which allows parents to put restrictions on their teenage drivers, radar-enable cruise control and systems for hands-free mobile phone and audio operation.

However, Ford will have obstacles to overcome. In “Ford Defective Switch Recall to Add Over 4 Million Vehicles” we reported the automaker coming under fire due to a product defect in the cruise control switch of some of its vehicles. The New York Times also noted that a survey from Carmax showed that consumers rank safety fifth out of six factors they consider the most important when purchasing a vehicle. The Yahoo Auto report also noted that belt usage in the back seat is only at a 60 percent, while overall usage of seat belts is 83 percent.

Though Ford admits the technology is expensive, their hope is to make the seat belts available as an option particularly geared towards families with small children. The price may come down if the technology expands to Ford’s other vehicles. We hope that automakers continue to develop technology in driver safety to make cars safer for everyone.

Changing lanes without signaling, running red lights, driving too slow on I-95: those of us who drive every morning on the streets and highways of South Florida are familiar with these displays of bad driving. These are the very acts which lead to the many auto accidents we see every day on the way to work. However, a new study shows that the reason for such bad driving may partially lie in the variations of our genes.

According to the Sun Sentinel, a study from the University of California, Irvine, linked a gene variation among individuals, which gives them less of the brain protein related to memory retention, to performance levels in a driving simulation 20 percent worse than individuals with higher levels of the protein. However, the study noted that this was only one factor in bad driving, and that 1 in 3 people have the gene variant.

The study, led by Dr. Steven Cramer, put 19 volunteers, ages 18 to 30, in a driving simulation. The results showed that drivers with the gene variant which limits the level of secretion of the protein brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) performed worse on the simulation and were not able to retain as much information about the simulation as the volunteers with higher levels of BDNF.

Dr. Cramer hopes that the study could help victims of auto accidents who suffer memory loss or brain trauma. However, others are hesitant to attribute bad driving to genetics.

Outside forces, such as failing to comply with the rules of the road, alcohol/substance abuse, rush-hour traffic and distractions are still the predominant causes of auto accidents, especially in busy South Florida cities such as Miami and Fort Lauderdale. Hopefully, however, more studies such as Dr. Cramer’s will continue to explore the inherent factors and ultimately point us toward solutions so that we can promote safe driving.

In August, we posted “Red Light Cameras: A Violation of Florida Law?” where we discussed the city of Pembroke Pines and its decision to install red light cameras at intersections. As we stated in the post, more and more cities in South Florida will be following the trend which many feel will prevent auto accidents.

This week, CBS 12 News in West Palm Beach reported that city officials decided that red light cameras will be used to encourage safe driving and monitor the streets. Currently, there is a 90-day probation period where only a warning will be issued to drivers. After that, drivers will receive a $125 fine in the mail, which officials say the money will go towards traffic programs. The civil infraction will not add points to your license.

Much like in Pembroke Pines, there are drivers are on both sides of this issue. Peter Robbins, a public information officer with West Palm Beach, stated that accidents involving red light-running are the number one types of accidents in urban areas, and that studies show that the cameras help prevent those accidents.

Other drivers, however, see the cameras as an invasion of their privacy. They also question the legality of the cameras, saying that they are a violation of their constitutional rights and merely a way for cities to raise money. In “Red Light Cameras,” we discussed how traffic laws in Florida must be uniform across the state, that variations violate state law, and the legal concerns our governor had about using red light cameras. We also discussed how cities are getting around those concerns. Be that as it may, city officials, who are aware of the likelihood of a class action lawsuit, feel that the red light cameras will stand.