2 people died and another 4 were injured in a 1 car accident.
Randall Landry, 43, of Naples, was driving his truck with five passengers in it Saturday night when he tried to do a doughnut in an empty lot. The truck started rotating clockwise and overturned.
As reported by the Sun Sentinel, Landry and fellow passenger, Jose Castillo, 28, were thrown from the car and pinned underneath. Both died at the scene. Neither Landry, nor his passengers were wearing their seatbelts.
This is a tragic story, where the outcome would likely have been different if the occupants were wearing their seat-belts.
75 % of passengers thrown from a car die. Unbelted occupants are 30 times more likely to be thrown from a car.
In a crash at 30mph, if unrestrained, you will be thrown forward with a force up to 60 times your own bodyweight
Over 40,000 people die each year in motor vehicle crashes, the leading cause of death for every age from 3 through 33. Research has found that lap/shoulder seat belts, when used, reduce the risk of fatal injury to front-seat passenger car occupants by 45 percent and the risk of moderate-to-critical injury by 50 percent.
In 2005, 55 percent of those killed in passenger vehicles were not wearing seat belts.
From 1975 through 2005, safety belts saved about 211,128 lives.
The statistics are overwhelming, and because of those statistics people who are injured in a car accident and not wearing their seatbelt may have their award reduced by their comparative fault. For example, if a person is involved in a car accident, and then ejected from their vehicle, the insurance company will argue that had the person been wearing their seatbelt, they would not have been ejected, and thus the insurance company will not pay for those damages caused by the ejection.
Florida Personal Injury Law is complex, and allows for expert testimony on the issue of seatbelts. Thus, as a Miami car accident attorney, I often retain accident reconstruction experts to assist me in these cases, and try to argue that even if my client was wearing a seatbelt he still would have been ejected or suffered serious injuries. However, as evidenced by the statistics, this is sometimes a difficult argument to make.
Buckle up
Mark Kaire has been practicing law in Miami for nearly 30 years. He is dedicated to helping the injured people of Miami receive compensation. Mr. Kaire has been blogging on Miami’s legal issues for many years.