Miami Personal Injury Law Blog

Drinking and driving is never a good idea. There are always those in Miami that think they are just fine to drive a car and do not feel like they are impaired. However, the reality is that alcohol and driving just do not mix.

A 28-year-old Florida man is learning this the hard way. He was recently sentenced to 10 years behind bars for killing a 64-year-old woman while he was operating a vehicle under the influence. He pled guilty to leaving the scene of the accident and DUI manslaughter. His driver’s license was permanently revoked, and after he serves his sentence, he will be on probation for an additional 10 years. 

There are traffic laws put in place in Florida that are meant to protect pedestrians. A majority of these laws are really just common sense. For instance, drivers in Miami are expected to yield to pedestrians in crosswalks, but pedestrians must not suddenly step into the street and expect the driver to stop on a dime. In another example, just because the driver might have the right of way does not mean that he has the right to hit a person who is crossing the street illegally. In fact the law states that drivers must use due care to avoid hitting a pedestrian and warn the person through the use of the car horn or other means if they cannot stop in time.

Perhaps a proper warning might have prevented a pedestrian accident that occurred recently in Florida. The couple, ages 63 and 50, had just moved to a new town where they were attempting to cross a street. They were hit by a minivan and died before they could be transported to a medical facility. The 52-year-old driver of the minivan stayed at the accident site until authorities arrived.  

Many people may think that if the person who caused a car accident dies in the crash, those injured in the crash cannot pursue legal recourse. After all, how can one sue someone who has passed on? It is actually possible to sue the deceased person's estate in order to recoup damages suffered in the car accident.

The family members of the children injured in a crash involving a daycare van may wish to do just this. Six Florida children between the ages of 3 and 8 were taken to area hospitals with minor injuries. Witnesses report that the bus driver acted quickly in unbuckling the children's seatbelts and getting them off the bus after the collision occurred.  

By very definition, an accident means that the act was not done on purpose. We refer to car collisions as accidents because for the majority of cases, the driver was not intentionally trying to crash his or her car. But just because the intention was not there, does not mean that the driver can escape without being held legally responsible for the damages caused in the accident.

A pedestrian accident that by all accounts was most likely not intentional occurred recently in Miami. Maybe the driver thought she was in reverse or maybe her foot hit the wrong petal; the details of the case are not known. What is known is that the 73-year-old driver of an SUV lost control of her vehicle outside of a church and ended up wedging the SUV between the side of the church and a palm tree. The accident occurred after school was dismissed at the church.