Auto Accident

A church van and six other vehicles were involved in an Orlando multiple vehicle accident that sent eleven people to area hospitals Wednesday morning. The crash occurred on West Colonial Drive near Paul Street. One of the victims was rushed to the hospital in critical condition, and the others suffered non-life threatening injuries. The eastbound lanes of West Colonial Drive were shut down for more than an hour after the accident so that crews could clear the scene. Read the rest »

A 19-year-old DeBary man has been charged with two counts of vehicular homicide and one count of reckless driving causing serious injury in connection with a “car surfing” incident. Police say the man was behind the wheel of a 2001 Nissan Xterra when he lost control and threw two passengers riding on the outside. Orlando personal injury attorney James O. Cunningham would like to caution all Florida drivers that it only takes a moment to do something that you’ll regret for the rest of your life, and this sad story is an unfortunate example of this.

Police say the accident occurred last February 1 in the 700 block of Fort Florida Road in DeBary when the driver allowed two friends to ride on the outside of his car while it traveled at high speeds. The victims, an 18-year-old Orange City man and an 18-year-old DeBary man, were riding outside the driver’s door and on the back bumper when the driver lost control and the vehicle burst into flames. The teen riding on the outside of the driver’s door was thrown an undisclosed distance from the car and landed in a ditch. The other victim was trapped in the car when it burst into flames and was unable to escape the burning vehicle.

Another passenger who was unhurt in the accident was recording video of the car surfing incident before the crash. Police confiscated the cell phone used to take the video and used it as evidence against the driver. The video showed that the vehicle traveled at speeds up to 80 mph prior to the crash, and accident reconstruction experts estimate that the car was traveling around 67 mph in a 35 mph zone when the driver lost control and rolled the vehicle.

“One portion of the video even showed the vehicle’s speedometer hovering at around 80 mph,” one investigating officer said. “Prior to the crash, according to investigators, the five teens drove up and down Fort Florida Road, changing positions and taking turns riding on the exterior of the vehicle.”

Orlando personal injury lawyer James O. Cunningham knows all too well that teen drivers often engage in very risky behavior while behind the wheel, such as drag racing, car surfing, bumper surfing and other foolish and potentially deadly activities. In many cases, innocent bystanders are injured or killed during these stunts when a young driver loses control. If a reckless driver has injured you or a close family member and you would like to seek compensation, contact Mr. Cunningham today at 888-425-2004 or 407-425-2000.

Orlando personal injury attorney James O. Cunningham has been hoping that our state will finally pass substantive laws that ban texting and talking on cell phones while driving but has seen one bill after another fail due to a governor’s veto or die in committee. Florida is one of the few remaining states in the country without bans on texting and talking on cell phones while driving, but Mr. Cunningham is hopeful that a new coalition will pressure lawmakers to get a new law passed soon.
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A popular rapper and others were at the scene of a recent multi-car accident near Orlando when an Audi R8 lost control and triggered a five-car collision. Accident investigators say that rapper Ice-T was one of many participants in an infamous Las Vegas to Miami road rally called the Bullrun Rally. Named after an illegal cross-country race where drivers sped their cars at reckless speeds across the country to claim a prize, the Bullrun Rally is trying to distance itself from that unsafe and unsavory reputation. It is now marketed as a “lifestyle event” for high-end luxury automobiles from one waypoint to another, usually at speeds well above the posted speed limit. Local police call the rally “a nightmare,” and Orlando personal injury attorney James O. Cunningham would have to agree.
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Orlando personal injury lawyer James O. Cunningham fully supports anything that reduces the number of drunk drivers on our roads and believes that an 18th Circuit Court judge in Seminole County may be onto something. Judge Carmine Bravo has been famous for his creative approach to sentencing for quite some time, but the never-ending parade of DUI cases in his court has prompted him to hand down some unusual sentencing since 2004. Since then, he has sentenced those convicted of drunk driving and other traffic offenses to write 500-word essays about people whose names appear on the many roadside markers in Central Florida.
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A three-vehicle crash on Interstate 4 near the St. Johns River Bridge has claimed the life of one man and injured a 23-year-old Deltona woman. According to a statement from the Florida Highway Patrol, the fatality was a 38-year-old Port Orange man. Troopers say the accident occurred around 1:15 a.m. on June 21 on I-4 on the Volusia-Seminole county line. The victim was driving his 1994 Jeep in the center lane when a 27-year-old Orange City man driving a 2001 Lexus approached from behind at a high rate of speed. Troopers say the man did not slow at all as he got closer to the victim and eventually slammed his Lexus into the rear of the victim’s Jeep.
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Longwood city officials have voted to delay a decision on installing four red light cameras until July 18. The vote came after Deputy Mayor Bob Cortes requested that city commissioners delay making a decision on the four planned photo-enforcement devices. Cortes voiced his concern regarding a proposed contract that Longwood would have to sign with Sensys America, a red light camera manufacturer. He said that the city would have to pay a $40,000 early termination fee for each camera installed inside the city limits as his primary reason for caution.
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A deadly series of collisions on Interstate 4 in Hillsborough County involving a Deltona man has left two people dead and others seriously injured. Florida Highway Patrol officers investigating the accidents say the series of collisions began when a 36-year-old Deltona man who was traveling eastbound on I-4 near Thonotosassa Road failed to notice that a car in front of his truck had slowed. A FHP spokesman said the man was driving a 2006 Ford pickup truck near mile marker 19 when he rear-ended a 2007 Toyota Camry that had slowed for unknown reasons.
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A 41-year-old Orlando woman was killed on the evening of May 31 when a BBQ smoker being towed by a sports utility vehicle in front of her detached from its hitch and struck her vehicle. The accident occurred around 10:21 p.m. on Old Winter Garden Road near the intersection with Deleon Avenue when a smoker being towed by a 1998 Lincoln Navigator became detached. The smoker then traveled across Old Winter Garden Road and collided with the driver’s side of a 1988 Ford Mustang driven by the victim. Officials with the Florida Highway Patrol say that the woman died at the scene from her injuries, and charges are pending against the driver of the SUV.
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A recent drunk driving accident illustrated the dangers that impaired drivers present to themselves and anyone else on the road. A drunk driver involved in an accident with a school bus in south Lake County this year had a blood-alcohol level that doctors say would be lethal to most people. The 54-year-old driver had a BAC of 0.426 percent, more than five times the 0.08 percent level that is considered legally drunk in Florida. Florida Highway Patrol officers were not surprised that the driver survived the accident, but were astonished that he survived imbibing a lethal dose of alcohol.

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