An October 22 multi-vehicle truck accident on I-595 near Davie was quickly followed by another multi-car accident, when drivers veered and swerved in a vain attempt to avoid the first crash, according to the Florida Highway Patrol. The resulting mess ended with a chlorine spill, five drivers being ticketed and three hours of snarled traffic.

According to Sergeant Mark Wysocky, a spokesperson for the FHP, the first wreck occurred before 8 a.m. on Friday, just as rush hour was beginning. Three vehicles, one of them a pool-cleaning truck filled with at least 30 gallons of chlorine, collided on the westbound side of I-595 between South Pine Island Road and Nob Hill Road in Broward County.

Just after the initial truck accident, five other vehicles crashed as they tried to avoid the mess. No serious injuries were reported in either pileup.

The pool-cleaning truck accident required the FHP to close the westbound lanes of I-595 for nearly three hours in order to allow a Broward Sheriff Fire Rescue hazardous materials crew to clean up the chlorine and other acidic pool chemicals that poured from the pool maintenance truck.

Westbound rush-hour drivers were forced to detour onto South Pine Island Road. “Rubberneckers” on the other side of the Interstate caused eastbound traffic to experience significant delays, as well. Normal traffic was reportedly restored by approximately 10:40 a.m.

The driver of the pool-cleaning truck was cited with failure to use due care, leading to the initial truck accident, said Wysocky. Four of the drivers involved in the second multi-car pileup were also ticketed for failure to use due care.

Source: CBS 4 News, “Chemical Spill Bogged Down Traffic On I-595,” October 22, 2010

The Florida Highway Patrol has determined that driver distraction was responsible for a multi-car accident on October 29 on I-95 in Delray Beach. Four people were injured in the accident, which involved a semi-truck.

Three vehicles were involved in the car-truck accident. According to the Florida Highway Patrol, all three vehicles were headed southbound on Interstate 95 at shortly after 6 a.m. on the morning of Friday, October 29.

As the two cars, the semi-truck and surrounding traffic approached the Linton Boulevard exit from I-95, the driver of a passenger car in the center lane apparently was not paying attention and failed to notice that the traffic ahead had slowed down.

The driver swerved left to avoid the slowed traffic, then realized that doing so would take the car out of its proper lane. That driver then overcorrected by jerking the steering wheel to the right. The driver then lost control of the vehicle.

The right side of the distracted driver’s car struck the left side of a second passenger car. The first car then spun out of control, collided with a nearby semi tractor-trailer and ultimately struck the concrete median that divides the northbound and southbound lanes of the Interstate.

CBS 12 News did not give any information about what the driver had been doing that caused the distraction.
Three people in the distracted driver’s car were injured. One was reported to be in critical condition and the other two in serious condition on Friday, according to CBS 12 News of West Palm Beach. One person from the second car was reported to have minor injuries, but all four had to be transported to local hospitals after the truck accident.

The driver of the truck was not injured in the multi-vehicle collision.

Source: CBS 12 News, West Palm Beach, “FHP UPDATE: I-95 wreck in Delray caused by inattentive driver,” October 29, 2010

The Mississippi driver of a pickup truck died in a Florida truck accident on Tuesday, according to a statement by the Florida Highway Patrol. The fatal accident occurred on the Interstate 10 bridge over Escambia Bay in Escambia County.

At just before 9 a.m. on November 2, the 54-year-old Mississippi man was driving on the westbound span of the I-10 bridge. A semi tractor-trailer driver had stopped in the emergency lane of the span.

The pickup driver drifted out of his lane and into the emergency lane, causing him to collide head-on with the rear of the semi tractor-trailer.

The Mississippi man was taken to Sacred Heart Hospital in Pensacola for treatment. Unfortunately, he died of his injuries shortly afterward at the hospital. The commercial driver was not injured in the truck accident.

Both of the drivers were said to be wearing seat belts at the time of the accident. The Florida Highway Patrol believes that driver distraction was what caused the pickup driver to drift out of his lane. Alcohol is not believed to have played any role in the fatal truck wreck.

It is not known whether the driver of the pickup truck was using a cell phone while driving or engaging in another activity that may have distracted him from driving. He may simply not have been paying attention, or he may have been too drowsy to drive. Driver distraction, including texting and other cell phone use while driving, are growing causes of car and truck accidents across the United States.

Source: Pensacola News Journal, “Mississippi man dies from I-10 crash injuries,” November 4, 2010

The driver of the Lynx bus that struck and killed a 10-year-old boy on November 5 had a driving record with no more than the average number of collisions, the Orlando Sentinel reported today. His work-related driving record included several commercial vehicle accidents that did not involve injuries, and his personal driving record includes one citation for a 2007 car accident in Orange County.

At about 7 p.m. on Thursday, November 5, however, the bus driver struck two boys who were crossing a street in Kissimmee.

According to Kissimmee police, two brothers, aged ten and twelve, were trying to cross busy Columbia Avenue at the Dyer Boulevard intersection. They were in a crosswalk and had a green light. There was heavy construction in the area, and both streets were partially closed, which may be why a police spokesperson said that the Lynx bus also had a green light.
In any case, the bus turned left onto Columbia Avenue and struck both boys. The 10 year-old was pulled under the bus and was pronounced dead on the scene. The 12 year-old was seriously injured in the bus accident but is expected to recover.
Too Soon to Know Whether Bus Driver Will Face Charges
After the fatal accident, the bus driver was interviewed by Kissimmee police and subjected to a standard blood-alcohol test. Kissimmee police spokesperson Stacie Miller said the investigation of the wreck is ongoing and it was too soon to say whether the driver will face charges related to the children’s injuries and wrongful death.

According to Lynx spokesperson Matthew Friedman, the driver had worked for the company for nearly seven years. He had been disciplined several times for unexcused absences but had no other personnel issues in his file.

His file does indicate that the driver had been involved in several commercial vehicle accidents during his time with Lynx. In one case, the bus he was driving struck and slightly dented a car while the driver was making a turn. In another case, the driver was involved in a collision when trying to avoid the scene of a car wreck, and the collision broke the bus’s side mirror.
Friedman indicated that the number of motor vehicle accidents this driver had been involved in was not unusual for a commercial driver.

The man’s personal driving record indicates that he was involved in a car or truck accident in Orange County in 2007 and was issued a traffic citation.

The bus accident that ended in the Kissimmee boy’s death was the first pedestrian accident the driver has been involved in, as far as authorities know.

The family of the two boys is hosting a public vigil this evening in honor of their dead son. The event will take place at 6:30 p.m. at the site of the accident, the intersection of Columbia Avenue near Dyer Boulevard. It will involve prayers and a candlelight service and will be the only service the family will hold that will be open to the public, according to the family’s attorney.

Sources:
• Orlando Sentinel, “Family of boy killed by Lynx bus to host vigil,” Henry Pierson Curtis and Anika Myers Palm, November 10, 2010
• Orlando Sentinel, “Kissimmee police: Brothers hit by Lynx bus – 10-year-old killed,” Jeff Weiner, November 5, 2010

An Orlando-based trucker’s tanker rig was the immovable object that put an end to a high-speed chase in Miami yesterday, police say. More than a dozen police cars were chasing a fleeing robbery suspect on I-95 when the pursuit was abruptly ended as the suspect’s SUV slammed into the rear end of the tanker truck. The tractor-trailer accident was enough to jolt the truck — and it crushed the front end of the robbery suspect’s Ford Expedition.

56-year-old Matthew Armstrong was heading back to Central Florida in an Indian River Transport tanker after delivering a shipment in Miami. His wife Patricia was riding in the cab. Just as they crossed the Broward County line at around 11 a.m., they were surprised by the police chase.

According to police, the high-speed chase began because a police officer witnessed the suspect attempting to commit a robbery. The suspect took off in his Ford Expedition, igniting a chase that involved at least twelve police cars and was followed by press helicopters.

The police chase met with an abrupt end when the suspect rammed his SUV into the transport truck near the Hallandale Beach Boulevard on I-95. Police and press reports described the truck accident as causing the SUV to slam to an immediate stop when it encountered the heavy, slow-moving tanker.
Matthew and Patricia Armstrong were injured in the wreck but were treated at a local hospital and released later that afternoon. The robbery suspect was also injured in the commercial truck accident, although it is unclear how serious his injuries may be.

Truck Driver a Bit of a Hero for Inadvertently Assisting With Arrest

It isn’t every day that a commercial trucker helps the police collar a suspect, and certainly not in this unusual way. Armstrong has worked for about 3-1/2 years for Indian River Transport, a large trucking company based in Winter Haven.
“We just happened to be in the same place at the same time,” said Buck Merritt, safety director for Indian River Transport, when asked about the truck accident that ended the police chase.

As for Armstrong? “We’re in the process of getting him back to Central Florida,” Merritt said. “He’ll have a couple of days off.”

Source: Orlando Sentinel, “Orlando trucker survives ramming by South Florida robbery suspect,” Henry Pierson Curtis, November 18, 2010

A shocking truck accident on I-95 in Volusia County on Monday ended in the death of one driver, according to the Florida Highway Patrol. The fatal accident occurred at around 11:30 p.m. Monday night near mile marker 223 in the southern section of the county, troopers say.

According to state troopers, an unidentified person was driving a 2000 Chevrolet pickup truck southbound on I-95. It suddenly swerved to the left, crossed the median into northbound traffic and collided with a tractor-trailer driven by a 50-year-old man from Jacksonville.

After hitting the semi-truck, the pickup overturned and burst into flames. The driver was still inside and died at the scene. State troopers have not yet identified the driver to the press or released any information about whether the driver was male or female.

The Florida Highway Patrol does not have any information about why the driver of the Chevy pickup swerved out of his lane and crossed the median. The driver of the tractor-trailer was not injured in the truck accident.

Collisions With Tractor-Trailers Can Be Far More Deadly Than Other Crashes

This tragic truck accident demonstrates one important aspect of commercial vehicle accidents. The size and weight differential between a commercial truck and a passenger vehicle is so great that a collision can cause catastrophic damage to the smaller vehicle. Even larger passenger vehicles such as pickup trucks can face disastrous consequences when they collide with something as large as a tractor-trailer.
According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, in accidents involving commercial trucks, roughly 69 percent of all fatalities were to occupants of a passenger vehicle, and another 14 percent were motorcyclists, pedestrians or bicyclists.

Our sympathies go out to the family of the deceased motorist, and we urge all drivers to take special care on the roads.

Source: Orlando Sentinel, “One dead after truck, tractor trailer collide on I-95 in Volusia, FHP says,” Gary Taylor, November 30, 2010

Injuries from dog bites requiring hospitalizations are skyrocketing, according to a new study by the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. The research covered the period from 1993 through 2008, and found an 86 percent jump in the number of serious dog bite cases over the 15-year period — from 5,100 hospitalizations in 1993 to 9,500 in 2008.

The analysis also found that injuries to children between 5 and 9 and to seniors were the mostly likely to be serious enough to require hospitalization. Also, people living in rural areas were four times more likely to make an emergency room visit related to a dog bite than those who lived in urban areas.

Nearly half of those hospitalized required treatment for skin infections. Fifty-eight percent needed a medical procedure, such as stitches, a skin graft or a wound debridement (the removal of unhealthy tissue from a wound to promote healing).
On a daily basis in the United States, an average of 866 people go to a hospital emergency room to be treated for a dog bite or animal injury. An average of 26 require admission to the hospital for those injuries, based on the agency’s 2008 data.
The agency also found that the average cost of a hospitalization for a dog bite is $18,200. Injuries from an attack by another party’s dog or domestic animal is generally covered by homeowners insurance under the law of premises liability, although not all dog owners have homeowners insurance, and not all policies cover dog and domestic animal bites. When insurance coverage isn’t available or the coverage limits are too low to compensate the victim fully, the victim can also file a premises liability claim.

Each year, around 4.5 million people are bitten by dogs, but most of those bites are not serious enough to require hospitalization.

Source: Orlando Sentinel Booster Shots blog, “Man’s best friend? Severe dog bite injuries have increased,” Shari Roan, Los Angeles Times, December 2, 2010

On Wednesday, December 1, a 13-year-old girl and her family members were attacked by a group of more than a dozen bullies on her way home from school. The girl says that she warned a school official at Memorial Middle School that the attack was likely, but the official didn’t do anything to stop the attack. If the school was negligent, it could be facing a premises liability claim.

Katherine Marsh, a spokesperson for Orange County Public Schools, said she couldn’t comment about the specific case, but school officials are generally expected to ensure that students are safe from known campus threats. That responsibility has sometimes been extended to off-campus activities in cases of negligent security.

The girl’s mother says that her daughter, who has pink highlights and bows in her hair, is often the target of school bullying because of her Mexican heritage and her fashion choices. The group of bullies called her “Barbie” during the attack.

Coordinated Bully Attack Results in Injuries to Children, Mother
On December 1, the eighth-grade girl told her mother that she expected to be attacked. Her mother decided to bring the entire family to walk the girl home from school.
“My mom walks to pick her up most days,” said the woman’s older daughter. “This time, we decided to walk the dog and everything.”

Nevertheless, a group of both boys and girls — at least some of whom were Memorial students — approached the girl, her mother, her 18-year-old sister, her 10-year-old brother, her friend and the family dog as the family walked home along 34th Street.

One of the approaching girls punched the eighth grader, and other members of the group struck the girl’s friend and older sister. When the mother tried to intervene, one of the bullies punched her, as well — using brass knuckles or a chain-wrapped fist, according to the older daughter. The group dispersed when the older girl called the police, but one member came back to threaten the mother.

The mother, the older daughter, the eighth grader and her friend were all injured in the attack. The 13-year-old and her friend had facial swelling, neck pain and headaches, and one of them required on-scene treatment. The family later sought treatment at a hospital.

Was Negligent School Security Partly Responsible for the Attack?

The school district says that it is taking the incident seriously, but denies that negligent security played a role, saying there was little they could have done to prevent an attack off of school grounds.

Marsh, the district’s spokesperson, says that students are given routine anti-bullying instruction, and both students and parents are required to sign a code of conduct forbidding bullying. Memorial has suspended some of the bullies, but is not sharing information with the family.

The 13-year-old thinks the school could and should have done more something to prevent the attack, such as providing security for her walk home.

The girl’s family has hired a lawyer, who has asked the school district to let the family know what discipline will be handed down.
“I believe she was targeted based on her being different,” said the attorney. “We want to make sure she doesn’t continue to be a victim.”

The family has agreed to press charges, and the 13-year-old will not be returning to Memorial. For now, she simply hopes to avoid the violent bullies.

“I’m always looking over my shoulder,” she said.

Sources:
• Orlando Sentinel, “Family injured after fight outside Memorial Middle School,” Anika Myers Palm, December 4, 2010
• Orlando Sentinel, “Teen ‘Barbie’ blames school for failing to stop alleged attack,” Anika Myers Palm, December 8, 2010

There have been two serious school bus accidents just days apart in Florida, resulting in injuries to a total of 21 students, serious injuries to one bus driver, and the death of another driver. Although there appears to be no connection between the two incidents, it does raise an alarm about our children’s safety.
Bus accidents are rare but, like all commercial vehicle accidents, they can be especially dangerous. Even though school buses have a number of built-in safety features, there is ongoing concern that more could be done to prevent injuries to children riding in buses, such as installing seat belts or increased driver safety training.

SUV crashes head-on into school bus; 18 injured, SUV driver dead
The first of the two wrecks occurred last Friday morning, January 28, in Pinellas County. About 38 students were on their way to Paul R. Smith Middle School in Holiday when a woman driving a sport utility vehicle smashed head-on into the bus.
The woman was catastrophically injured in the car accident and later died. The bus driver was taken to a hospital in serious condition, and 17 students were hospitalized. The Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office is still investigating the cause of the fatal accident.

Two school buses collide, injuring 4 students
Yesterday in Brevard County, the driver of a school bus for the Imagine Charter School in West Melbourne was transporting 24 students when he rear-ended another school bus. The accident occurred just before 8 a.m. February 2 in Palm Bay.
“The Imagine school bus rear ended the other bus,” said a reporter from Palm Bay, according to the Orlando Sentinel. “A total of 24 children were on board the Imagine school bus which is contracted through ANS Transportation out of Naples.”

According to police, the 71-year-old driver failed to stop in time at an intersection, which caused her to rear-end the second school bus that was stopped there. No children were on the second bus.

Four injured children were taken to the hospital, and the driver was cited for failure to use due care while driving.
Because of the size and momentum of the large vehicles, any commercial vehicle accident can result in serious or even life-ending injuries. Please take extra care whenever you see a school bus on the road.

Sources:
• Orlando Sentinel, “Driver dies after crashing into school bus north of Clearwater; 17 students hospitalized,” February 2, 2011
• Orlando Sentinel, “Four students hurt when two school buses crash,” January 28, 2011

The truck driver who struck two motorcycles while attempting to pass another vehicle on County Road 476 outside of Bushnell, Florida, has been charged with four counts of vehicular manslaughter DUI. The trial for the truck driver has been set for April 4.

The exceptionally tragic motorcycle versus car accident killed four people in early March 2010. The driver of a 1991 GMC truck was attempting to pass another vehicle, a 2003 Dodge truck, when he saw the two motorcycles fast approaching. According the Florida Highway Patrol (FHP) accident report, the truck driver saw the motorcyclists and attempted to slow down but his effort was useless. The GMC truck struck both motorcycles head-on.

Each motorcycle was carrying two people. The motorcycle drivers and their passengers were all ejected. Upon impact, the victims flew through the air and one victim even crashed into the windshield of the Dodge truck the at-fault driver was attempting to pass. Three of the motorcyclists were pronounced dead on the scene while a fourth died at the hospital as a result of the catastrophic injuries sustained in the wreck.
At the time of the accident, the GMC driver was driving with a suspended license. He only received minor injuries as a result of the accident and was treated at the scene, along with the driver of the Dodge truck.

Motorcycle accident victims have a right to obtain compensation against an at-fault driver. If a car driver acted negligently on the road, the victim may be able to receive compensation for his or her injuries, medical bills and lost wages in a personal injury suit.

The family of a loved one killed in a fatal car accident or motorcycle accident can also file a wrongful death lawsuit against the at-fault driver. While holding the driver responsible for the crash won’t bring closure to the tragic loss, it may enable the family the financial freedom to grieve without worrying about money.

Source: Daily Commercial (online), “Trial Date Set in Biker Fatalities,” Brad Buck, January 28, 2011