Elderly drivers on Florida’s streets and highways are much more likely to suffer very serious and even fatal injuries in auto accidents. Many no longer have the reflexes and driving skills that they once had and as a result, they must take and pass driving competency tests far more often than younger drivers do to ensure that they can safely operate their vehicles. If they are involved in a car accident, they face a long and very expensive road to recovery and may not have the financial means to pay their medical bills, putting them and their families in a very difficult position.

If you have been injured or a family member has been injured or killed in an auto accident, Orlando auto accident lawyer James O. Cunningham may be able to assist you in the recovery of the financial compensation you deserve to help pay medical expenses and other bills. He offers free consultations and works on a contingency-fee basis. Call Orlando auto accident attorney James O. Cunningham today to schedule your free consultation at one of his Central Florida law offices near you.

In a press release, Col. Czernis said that Florida state troopers and officers in the MCC will work together to watch for drivers operating their vehicles in unsafe, negligent and potentially hazardous ways and issue citations as necessary. They will pay special attention to unsafe driving habits that often contribute to collisions between passenger vehicles and large trucks and school buses. The campaign is part of the Florida Highway Patrol’s Be Smart, Drive Smart, Florida! Program, which is a series of measures to raise awareness about dangerous driving and reduce deaths and injuries from Florida auto accidents on the state’s streets and highways.

Col. Dees highlighted the dangers and disadvantages that passenger vehicles and pedestrians have in collisions with larger vehicles that outweigh them by many thousands of pounds. He said, “Because of vehicle size, weight and the cargo tractor trailers haul, the impact of a crash with a commercial truck can be catastrophic.”

It is very likely that both Dees and Czernis have responded to many auto accidents between large trucks, pedestrians and passenger vehicles where the pedestrian or occupants of the passenger vehicle died or sustained serious injury. The physics of a large truck weighting tens of thousands of pounds colliding with a person or a passenger vehicle weighing four thousand pounds or less dictate that the damage to a person or vehicle hit by the truck is disproportionate.

Florida trucking accident lawyer James O. Cunningham has been helping Florida truck accident victims recover the financial compensation they deserve since 1977. With his vast legal experience, accident victims and their families get much-needed help with catastrophic medical bills, lost wages and other accident-related damages. He offers free consultations and isn’t afraid to take on the big insurance companies. Call Orlando trucking accident attorney James O. Cunningham today to schedule a free consultation.

According to the Florida Highway Patrol investigating the trucking accident, the accident occurred around 1:23 p.m. on November 5 when the Dodge van, towing a utility trailer loaded with sod, had slowed to 15 mph in the outside lane of Interstate 75. A semi truck struck the back of the trailer and the van, sending both the van and semi truck into the guardrail. The van reportedly came to a stop after the impact, but the semi jackknifed and eventually rolled several times before striking a concrete embankment on Interstate 10.

An 80,000-pound vehicle traveling at 55 mph strikes other vehicles with a fearsome amount of force and survivors face a long, painful and catastrophically expensive road to recovery. A trucking accident changes the course of their lives forever.

For more than 32 years, Orlando trucking accident attorney James O. Cunningham has dedicated his Orlando personal injury law practice to helping the victims of trucking accidents, auto accidents, motorcycle accidents and other accidents caused by the negligence of others. If you or a loved one sustained injury or if a loved one died in a Central Florida trucking accident, call the Law Offices of James O. Cunningham today. He offers free consultations and works on a contingency-fee basis, which means if he accepts your case, there is no attorney fee unless he makes a financial recovery on your behalf. Call Orlando trucking accident lawyer James O. Cunningham today and receive answers to your questions.

The 30-year-old father and 26-year-old mother were pronounced dead after transportation to Tallahassee Memorial Hospital. The daughter was reportedly riding in the back seat of the car when struck by the drunk driver and was unhurt in the accident. A sergeant on the Florida Highway Patrol said the 62-year-old driver of the truck was clearly intoxicated at the accident scene and was arrested on two counts of DUI manslaughter. The drunk driver reportedly bonded out of the Gadsden County Jail the day after the accident.

“Because someone made a bad choice that child is now without her parents,” he said. “Who knows, that man might be a good person, but he made a bad choice.”

It’s clear that many Florida drivers make bad choices. Florida is third in the nation every year for people injured and killed in drunk driving accidents. Despite tougher laws and criminal penalties, publicity campaigns, and increased public awareness, people still get behind the wheel after drinking. This negligent behavior puts other drivers and passengers at risk and can lead to tragedies like this DUI manslaughter case.

If you or someone you care for has been injured or killed by a drunk driver, call Orlando drunk driving accident attorney James O. Cunningham today to schedule a free consultation about your case. He serves clients from his law offices throughout Central Florida.

The victim’s mother has urged law enforcement authorities to investigate the pedestrian accident, but the lack of publicity in the case has made her uncertain whether or not the police were looking for the driver who struck the young man and fled from the scene. She went public recently with her dissatisfaction about the lack of cooperation and communication in the case.

“They left my son laying face down in a ditch for 45 minutes,” she said this week. “That 45 minutes could have saved my son’s life…My 10-year-old son wants to know why this happened to his brother. I want to have some kind of closure on this—why my baby had to be taken from me. I have not seen anybody since the day they came to my house and told me my son was hit.”

The Lake County Sheriff’s Office were the first to respond to the pedestrian accident, but turned the case over to the Florida Highway Patrol. After the mother made repeated inquiries about the case, Sgt. Kim Montes located the case in the department’s computer system.

“As to why the PIO wasn’t notified, I don’t know,” Montes said after finding the incident report. “I haven’t had a chance to talk to those two investigators yet. Per our policy, they’re supposed to send me a press release on any fatality.”

The computer system shows that the FHP received the call at 8:40 p.m. that evening and arrived on the scene at 9:24 p.m., the victim was airlifted to the hospital in critical condition at about 8:52 p.m. and the parent was notified about the accident around 10:08 p.m. that night. The driver of the vehicle that struck the teen and fled from the scene was identified as a 29-year-old woman also from Okahumpka.

Pedestrian accidents claim over 100 lives each year in Florida, and thousands more suffer severe injuries that require long and expensive stays in the hospital. Expensive medical care and other accident-related expenses cause terrible financial hardship for victims and their families. Orlando pedestrian accident attorney James O. Cunningham has been helping victims and their families receive the compensation they deserve to help with expenses since 1977. If you or someone you care for has been hurt or killed in a pedestrian accident, call the Law Offices of James O. Cunningham today to schedule a free consultation.

The pickup’s driver was killed in the accident, as was the motorcycle’s passenger-a woman whose identity and age was not released by the FHP when the article was published. The 55-year-old motorcycle rider suffered critical injuries in the accident and was flown to Tampa General Hospital in a helicopter. The 51-year old driver of a Ford pickup truck behind the motorcycle also died in the accident. FHP officials say that he swerved to avoid the initial accident, but crashed into the left front of the oncoming Chevy pickup. The force of the collision caused the Ford pickup to land on its roof.

The 27-year-old passenger in the Ford pickup suffered serious injuries and was taken to an undisclosed hospital for treatment. His condition was unavailable when the article was published. Accident investigators do not yet know what caused the Chevy pickup to veer into the oncoming lane of traffic. The drivers of the other two vehicles involved in the Florida car accident sustained no injuries in the crash and investigators said that all of the people in the vehicles were wearing safety belts at the time of the accident. The accident closed U.S. 98 in both directions for several hours while emergency response personnel investigated the accident scene and cleared debris.

Auto accident victims and their families face physical and financial hardship while they recover from their injuries. In addition to the steep costs of medical care and rehabilitation, they also must contend with loss of function and income, life-changing injuries and terrible loss. Orlando car accident lawyer James O. Cunningham has been helping accident victims for well over thirty years. When people are injured and least able to deal with big insurance companies, he looks out for their interests and protects their rights. If you received injuries in a Central Florida car accident or lost a loved one as a result of an accident, call the Law Offices of James O. Cunningham today to schedule a free consultation.

FHP officers investigating the pedestrian accident scene said that one victim was a 23-year-old Sarasota man and the other victim was believed to be around 19-years-old. His name and address had not been released when the article was published. Troopers said that a witness to the accident called 911, and emergency response personnel called the FHP. A FHP spokesperson said that the 18-year-old driver of the truck remained at the accident scene.

A FHP spokesperson said, “The law says when you’re walking along the roadway, you have to walk off the roadway. You can’t walk in the street. Number two, you’re supposed to walk against the flow of traffic. These individuals were walking in the roadway, with no street lighting. It’s a very dangerous situation to be in.”

The stretch of road where the victims were hit has a posted 60 mph speed limit. If the truck driver was going the speed limit, he would have been traveling at 87 feet per second.

Although the article suggests that the two victims were responsible for the dangerous position, hundreds more Floridians are injured and killed each year. Many are struck by motorists who are distracted by cell phones, driving under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs or disobeying a traffic signal. No matter what negligent behavior distracts or impairs a driver’s ability to react and avoid striking a pedestrian, they can still be held responsible for their actions.

Orlando pedestrian accident attorney James Cunningham has helped the victims of pedestrian accidents and their families since 1977. In well over three decades of practicing personal injury law, Mr. Cunningham has helped countless pedestrian accident victims receive the financial compensation they deserve to help offset the steep costs of hospital care and rehabilitation. If you or a member of your family has been hurt in a pedestrian accident, call Florida pedestrian accident lawyer James Cunningham today to schedule a free consultation.