Deadly Hit and Run Car Accidents on the Rise on Miami

Sadly one of the most frequent types of accidents Fort Lauderdale Personal Injury lawyer Joseph Lipsky is asked to help accident victims with involve hit and run car accidents which cause someone’s wrongful death. In fact, about once a week someone needless dies in a hit and run accident somewhere in Miami, Fort Lauderdale or the Palm Beaches.

Given the increase in these deadly accidents, a bill requiring tougher mandatory sentencing is making its way through the Florida Legislature. The bill titled the “Aaron Cohen Life Protection Act,” is named after a bike rider killed on the Rickenbacker Causeway in 2012.

The proposed legislation would require a minimum jail sentence of 10 years for someone convicted of leaving the scene of a crash resulting in a wrongful death. Currently, there is no minimum sentence for running from the scene of a deadly accident. The proposed legislation would also require the convicted driver to have his license suspended for at least 3 years.

According to the Florida Highway Patrol, over the past year there was an increase of more than 500 deadly hit and run car accidents. Incredibly, in 2012, there were about seventy thousand hit and run accidents in Florida alone. Of those, more than 90 resulting in wrongful deaths in Miami, Fort Lauderdale and the Palm Beaches.

In an effort to reduce the number of hit and run accidents, hoping to make motorist take responsibility for the carelessness, the Florida Highway Patrol started a campaign, called “Hit and Run. From Bad 2 Worse.” Miami personal injury lawyer Joseph Lipsky reminds our fellow drivers to take responsibility for their carelessness; while causing an accident is just negligence, leaving the scene makes it a crime.