Head On Crash

The Florida Highway Patrol (FHP) is trying to determine whether alcohol played a role in a deadly, wrong-way, head-on crash that lead to the fiery deaths of four people near Martin Highway.

FHP reported that a 41-year-old Port St. Lucie resident was traveling southbound in a northbound lane of I-95 in her Jeep SUV when she collided head-on with a 1982 Chevrolet pickup with four people inside.

An FHP spokesman said that just before the vehicle crash in FL, another car swerved out of the way to avoid the wrong-way vehicle and that may have kept the driver of the pickup from seeing the oncoming Jeep until it was too late.

Reportedly, both vehicles burst into flames upon impact. Three motorists from other vehicles stopped and were able to rescue the driver of the Jeep SUV before it was completely engulfed in flames. The occupants of the pickup, a husband and wife and two children, were trapped in their vehicle and died in the flames. Medical examiners are trying to determine if they were still alive before the vehicle caught fire and burned.

Although investigators still haven’t confirmed that alcohol contributed to the accident, FHP told TCPalm.com that given the circumstances, “the most common factor of going the wrong way is inebriation.”

The rescued driver was flown to Lawnwood Regional Medical Center & Heart Institute where she was listed in stable condition.

It takes just one act of negligence on the road to leave a trail of devastation that can spell disaster for both accident victims and their families. The Florida SUV accident attorneys at Farah & Farah are committed to providing top-shelf legal assistance for accident victims. Call us at (800) 533-3555 to discuss your case.

A head-on car collision, Tuesday morning, February 7, in Putnam County has left one man dead and two others seriously hurt. Around 9:30 a.m. an eastbound driver on State Road 20 tried to drive around someone going too slow. The 22-year-old, behind the wheel of a Ford Ranger, moved into the westbound lane to pass the motorist and hit a Nissan Altima head-on.

The collision happened just west of State Road 21.

The driver of the Altima, a 50-year-old man, died at the scene. The 22-year-old driver and her passenger were seriously injured and transported to Shands Hospital in Gainesville. There is no late word on their conditions. The Florida Highway Patrol says charges are pending. The young woman tried to pass in a no-passing zone.

Our condolences go out to the friends and family of everyone involved in this tragic head-on accident. Let’s pray that the two survivors pull through their injuries.

A head-on collision is usually exceptionally deadly. According to federal statistics, head-on collisions are responsible for up to 10.1 percent of U.S. fatal crashes even though they made up only 2% of collisions. There may be very little time to react to a head-on driver, especially at night.

A head-on collision can result in serious head injuries, neck injuries, cuts, and broken bones.

The Putnam County head-on collision attorneys of Farah & Farah recommend that if there is any time, try to graze the side of the vehicle to avoid full frontal impact. Farah & Farah will be there to help you or your family following a tragic head-on collision.

Source:http://www.news4jax.com/news/1-dead-in-head-on-collision/-/475880/8609062/-/ad4vxqz/-/index.html

The driver of a car killed in a head-on collision near New Smyrna Beach on the night of January 12 has been identified as a 57-year-old woman from Port Orange. According to the Florida Highway Patrol (FHP), she was driving a 2006 Toyota Scion eastbound while, around 9:05 p.m., a 28-year-old woman from Orange City driving a 2001 Ford Explorer was westbound in the same lane. The Toyota rolled onto the shoulder of the road and at least two people were trapped in the vehicles and had to be retrieved with the Jaws of Life.

Besides the woman in the Toyota who was killed, her 59-year-old passenger and the driver of the Ford were both in serious condition and taken to Daytona Beach to Halifax Health Medical Center.

An FHP trooper told New Smyrna Beach News that so far the FHP has not filed any charges in connection with the fatal Florida car crash. It’s also not known whether anyone was wearing a seat belt.

Florida Traffic Crashes

There were 2,563 fatalities in Florida in 2010 and 197,214 injuries that resulted from car crashes. A Volusia County auto accident lawyer at Farah & Farah can assist you or a loved one after an auto accident by making sure you receive prompt medical attention and preserve the evidence after a crash. Our investigators will talk to witnesses and photograph the accident scene, all to determine the at-fault party who is legally responsible for the costs associated with your auto accident. Call us at (800) 533-3555 so we can get started helping you.

Source: http://www.news-journalonline.com/news/local/east-volusia/2012/01/14/florida-highway-patrol-driver-killed-on-sr-44-from-port-orange.html; http://nsbnews.net/content/408101-head-collision-one-fatality-sr-44-new-smyrna-beach-caused-motorist-driving-wrong-side

A major crash in Palm Bay, Friday evening, July 29, injured three people, including one critically, after a head-on collision. The two vehicles included an SUV and a Dodge minivan which collided on San Filippo Drive near the Wyoming Drive intersection. Officers from the Palm Bay Police Department reported to Florida Today that the SUV was taking a left-hand corner when it went off the roadway. He then overcorrected and the vehicle swerved back into the oncoming lane and collided with the minivan.

Speed may have been a factor, said the sergeant at the scene. The SUV driver was critically injured and a minivan occupant was seriously injured. First responders took them by helicopter to Holmes Regional Medical Center in Melbourne. Firefighters extricated people from the van which had heavy front-end damage.

Everyone involved in this Florida head-on collision is lucky to be alive. Head-on collisions usually produce the worst injuries including traumatic head injury, spinal cord injuries and secondary injuries which a vehicle occupant suffers after the initial crash when they hit the roof, the sides of the vehicle or the dashboard and windshield.

If you or a loved one has suffered a catastrophic injury from an auto accident, your first priority is to get the medical care you need. You may be confused when the bills start coming in and the paychecks stop. It is often at this time that people call our office seeking help. Actually the best time to contact an experienced car accident lawyer in Florida is right after the accident so we can literally help you pick up the pieces. Our investigators can be actively involved in determining what happened and who is at fault. One call will get us on the job before valuable witnesses and evidence in the case disappears.

Source: http://www.floridatoday.com/article/20110730/NEWS01/107300313/3-injured-Palm-Bay-crash

The family of a young traffic accident victim in Orange County has learned what “justice delayed is justice denied” is all about. Ten months after allegedly causing a Florida head-on car crash that killed the niece of the president of Walk Disney World, a 54-year-old man from Casselberry was finally arrested on Friday, June 17, and charged with vehicular homicide. The Florida Highway Patrol (FHP) reported troopers also found marijuana in the man’s truck, according to WFTV-TV.

Last September, he was driving his 2001 GMC pickup north on State Road 436 in Orange County when he lost control and slammed into two cars traveling southbound on the same road near Aloma Avenue. This after a witness already observed him hitting three parked cars. The young woman was a passenger in one of those southbound cars and was killed while four of her friends were taken to local hospitals. A third car was also involved and a 76-year-old man in that vehicle was also injured.

According to FHP troopers, the man who caused these collisions had failed to take his seizure control medication that day before he went on his reckless rampage. The FHP troopers say in a report that the man’s “awareness of a condition which he knew or should have known could produce disastrous consequences upon a public highway and the resultant consequences of his actions render him culpably negligent for what occurred.”

According to the Florida Department of Health, a driver should be seizure-free for two years before obtaining a driver’s license, however if the person is under regular medical supervision, they may apply for a review by the Medical Review Board after not experiencing a seizure for six months.

Our condolences go out to the friends and family members of this accident victim who was killed in a totally preventable collision. This accident shows that medical conditions can unfortunately result in devastating car accidents in Florida and across the U.S. If you or someone you love has been injured in a car accident because of someone else’s actions, call the car crash attorneys in Jacksonville at Farah & Farah to learn more about your legal rights.

Sources: http://www.wftv.com/news/28283481/detail.html and http://www.doh.state.fl.us/family/epilepsy/driving.html

Aloma Avenue in Winter Park was shut down for two hours Monday, October 11, after two motorists were killed following a head-on collision, according to the Orlando Sentinel.

The Florida Highway Patrol (FHP) reports the crash occurred around 11:35 a.m. when a Mustang coupe, which was speeding and heading eastbound, hit two trees in the median and then rolled over into the path of an oncoming Kia van. The resulting collision killed both drivers and the van’s passenger suffered serious injuries.

The Florida Highway Patrol identified the driver of the 1989 Mustang as Ryan Daniel Burns, 28, of Winter Park. FHP reported Burns was driving aggressively and making lane changes just before he lost control of the Mustang. Burns’ driver’s license had recently been suspended after he failed to complete his substance abuse treatment program which he was assigned after he caused a DUI crash last year on Interstate-4. Also killed in the Monday crash was Loren Scott Bezoff, 40. His wife, Tami, is in Winter Park Memorial Hospital. A third vehicle was hit by debris from the crash but no one was injured.

Head-On Car Crash Statistics
About 10% of fatal crashes in the U.S. result from head-on collisions, even though they make up 2% of accidents, according to federal statistics.

The violent nature of a head-on collision can cause serious head injuries from the initial crash and subsequent crashes. Neck injuries, cuts from broken glass, and broken bones can all result from a head-on collision.

An experienced Florida auto accident attorney will often investigate driving under the influence as one of the most common causes of a head-on collision.

A former state prison employee will spend 10 years in prison for a Florida head-on collision that killed a veteran Bradford County school administrator.

Crista Lynn Rhoden, 25, worked at a Florida state prison. Rebecca N. Reddish, 56, was a veteran Bradford County school administrator. On March 18, 2008, their worlds collided when, according to the Florida Highway Patrol, Rhoden plowed head-on into the car being driven by Reddish. Reddish died and Rhoden was critically injured.

On Friday, July 31, Rhoden was sentenced to spend 10 years in prison for the death of Reddish, with five years of probation to follow after being convicted of vehicular homicide in June. The Florida Highway Patrol found that when Reddish was driving west on State Road 16 that day in March, she was hit by a car being driven by Rhoden who was eastbound and changing lanes.

Law enforcement found methadone in Rhoden’s system as well as alcohol. She was charged with DUI, but the jury never heard about the drug use. Rhoden has also been ordered to make a $500 donation every year to a scholarship established in Reddish’s name at Santa Fe College, reports Gainesville.com.

Becky Reddish had worked her way up the Bradford County school system beginning in 1974 where she began as a teacher’s aide. Later she became the assistant principal at Bradford High School, principal of Lawtey Community School from 1998 to 2000, and principal of Bradford Middle School from 2000 to 2005.

A year before her death, Reddish was named the district’s director of human resources.

Florida fatal auto accident attorneys would like to remind you that there are no winners when someone makes the decision to drink and drive. A DUI stays on your record forever. Vehicular manslaughter could have brought Rhoden up to 30 years in state prison. She was given a second chance. Reddish was not.

A Lakeland police officer died in a Monday afternoon crash while he was off-duty. The Florida Highway Patrol reports that the 56-year-old officer was driving out of Lake Wales while working an off-duty detail for Lakeland Regional Medical Center. Traveling on State Road 25, also known as US Highway 27 at Jackson Street, a station wagon was heading east on SR 25, while another car was traveling south on SR 25. The officer was driving north on SR 25 when the station wagon driver traveled into the path of the car. Trying to avoid a crash, the car driver went into the path of the SUV smashing the officer’s car on its side door, causing the officer to lose control and flip the SUV. The officer was thrown from the vehicle and declared dead at the scene. The officer and his passenger, a 33 –year-old woman, were returning from a patient transfer. She was hospitalized with unknown injuries.

It is always so tragic when a police officer loses his life. Our deepest sympathies go out to his family for their loss. The Lakeland Police Department confirms that the officer was one of the best with four pages of awards and commendations and was a member of the K-9 unit for 19 years.

While the article in the Miami Herald does not say whether the driver who caused the accident stopped, the FHP does say that charges are pending.

A head-on collision in Florida, particularly at a high rate of speed, is especially dangerous because it leaves so little time to avert a crash. If one car is going 65 and the other is going 50 mph, the force of 115 mph virtually ensures there will be no survivors. Just last week, a Jacksonville Sheriff’s officer reporting to work at 3 a.m. was also killed when someone traveled into his path going the wrong way.

Seat Belts and Air Bags
An accident investigator will want to determine if the officer in the abovementioned accident was wearing his seat belt. Often when someone is ejected from a vehicle, it is because they were not belted in. Severe injuries, death, or permanent brain injuries often result. I would also want to know if the seat belt was working at the time of the accident and the air bags deployed as they should have. If your car was made in the last 10 years, it likely is equipped with an air bag.

Using a seat belt and having an air bag are the two best things that can save you from death in a head-on. When facing an oncoming driver, your best bet is to drive off the road, onto a sidewalk or a field, off to the right side of the road. Try to steer to keep two wheels on pavement and two wheels on the road’s shoulder and take your foot off the gas. Do not brake, which will keep you in control of your vehicle.

All of that intensity in a split second is just another reason why we need full concentration and no distractions from cell phones, iPods or CD changers when we drive.

The Ford Motor Company recently settled a case with a woman who was paralyzed in a 2005 collision involving a 2002 Ford Explorer. A woman was a passenger in the Explorer when, unfortunately, it was hit head-on by another car. The woman was in the back seat during the head-on car collision. Her grandchildren were in booster seats on either side of her, so the only thing holding her in was the lap belt. Upon impact, the rear seat latch failed causing the back seat to collapse on top of her pushing her head and neck forward into the center console. Her spinal cord was severely injured. Today she is on a ventilator and lives in a wheelchair.

We are so sorry for her devastating injuries. Clearly this was a case of a failed or defective product and clearly the auto maker is at fault.

Personal Injury Claim
A jury heard the case that this woman brought forward and decided to order Ford to pay over $16 million in compensation for designing a flawed rear seat and seat belt on the Ford Explorer. She also challenged Ford for allowing a lap belt to take the place of a three-point lap shoulder belt.

Unfortunately, it sometimes takes the injuries of a few and the litigation that follows, to force an automaker to do the right thing. A law went into effect in 2007 that forbids automobile manufacturers from installing lap-only seat belts for rear middle seats.

In this case, her personal injury attorney also won $1.2 million from the other driver who collided head-on with the Explorer.

Liability Issues
It would be ideal if consumers could rely on automakers to make safe cars, but we’ve seen time and time again, that unless the government enforces strict standards, they will often take short cuts. This means consumers must be their own best advocates. If you are considering purchasing an automobile, make sure you visit some web sites that can make you an informed consumer.

Check out www.safercar.gov to see crash test ratings, www.Consumerreports.org, as well as the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety that has the latest on vehicle ratings. This is particularly useful if you are considering purchasing a car for a teen or young driver. Stay safe on our roads and let your kids know you consider this a priority.