Deadly Distracted Driving Accidents on the Rise in Orange County

By Orlando Personal Injury Attorney on October 8, 2018

New information compiled by numerous groups such as ValuePenguin shows some disturbing information regarding Central Florida in general and Orange County in particular. The information was compiled in an attempt to discover what percentage of accidents are the result of distracted driving as well as to ascertain whether or not the amount of distracted driving crashes has decreased over the past few years. As indicated, the findings of the studies are less than comforting.

From the years of 2013 to 2017, the amount of accidents caused by distracted drivers in Orange County has increased by 33 percent. Specifically, 2013 saw a total of 5,390 accidents that were caused by distracted drivers in Orange County. In 2016, the number of crashes in Orange County rose to 6,100. In 2017, that number leapt upwards by almost a thousand, leaving police and other first responders scrambling to keep on top of the 6,972 accidents caused by distracted drivers.

A spokesperson for ValuePenguin indicated that the study showed that the amount of distracted driving accidents in Orange County was nearly two-and-a-half times that of the rest of the state. This means that — solely looking at the number of distracted driving accidents — it is likely more dangerous to drive in Orange County than anywhere else inside of the state of Florida.

As well as being the number one county in the state for crashes caused by distracted driving, Orange County is also the number one county in the state for deaths caused by distracted driving. Looking again at the years mentioned above, 2013 saw a total of 19 fatalities as a result of distracted driving. By the time 2017 concluded, five years later, over 106 people had died as a result of crashes caused by distracted drivers. In 2017 alone there were 31 fatalities.

While the news about Orange County is grim, it is made even worse when the rest of the state is taken into consideration. Overall, the amount of crashes caused by distracted driving is sharply rising. As cellphones, smartphones, and other distractions become more and more endemic in our lives, the number of distractions available to us when we are inside of our cars rises steeply. And while numerous law enforcement agencies claim to be concerned about the rise in these crashes and deaths, there does not seem to be much happening on the legal end to initiate policy changes to help protect the people living within Orange County and the surrounding state.

Sources:

• Orange County most dangerous place in Florida for distracted driving

James O. Cunningham

Since 1977, personal injury lawyer James Cunningham has provided effective legal advocacy to people who are injured through the negligent actions of another person or entity throughout the Central Florida area. He fights to obtain recoveries for his clients’ physical and emotional pain and suffering and pursues his clients’ personal injury cases with a commitment to excellence and impeccable preparation.