Motor Vehicle Accidents

Published on: January 18, 2013

Two Separate Accidents Leave Fort Lauderdale Residents Hospitalized

A1A remains one of the deadliest stretches of road in South Florida. On Wednesday night, two motorists were injured and one died in two separate crashes along A1A. In the first accident, an elderly couple was walking down South Ocean Drive around 6:30 p.m. As they attempted to cross the exit driveway of the Westin Diplomat Hotel, they were struck by a shuttle bus. The Chaputs were transported to a local hospital, where husband Lucein died and where wife Fernanda remains in critical condition. The driver of the bus, Alex Garcia, has not been charged, but Hollywood Police are still investigating the accident.

In a separate accident, cyclist William Wiener was riding his bicycle down Ocean Drive as well when he was struck by a car. The driver of the card fled the scene. Wiener was transported to Memorial Regional Hospital, where is suffering serious injuries. Police are looking for leads into this accident.

Two injured, one dead in Hollywood crashes, www.miamiherald.com January 18, 2013

Published on: January 17, 2013

Three Dead After Plane Crashes Into Palm Coast Home

by Friedland | Carmona

Last week, a plane travelling from Fort Pierce to Knoxville, Tennessee when their small plane experienced mechanical failure and crashed into a Palm Coast house before bursting into flames. The plane attempted to land at a central Florida airport but was unable to make it. The pilot, Michael Anders, told air-traffic controllers that the plane had been smoking and vibrating, while dealing with oil pressure and bad weather problems right before the crash.

Florida Highway Patrol has identified the three victims of the crash as pilot Michael Anders, Duane Shaw and Charissee Peoples. Controllers were trying to “use a surveillance approach to guide the plane into the Flagler County Airport,” but Anders warned the controllers that the plane was going to drop quickly. Moments later, the plane fell.

Officials from the National Transportation Safety Board were at the site of the crash the day after to investigate the matter. The crash “produced an intense heat fire that consumed a lot of the wreckage.” Investigators plan to send the plane’s engine to the manufacturer for closer analysis.

3 victims ID’d after plane crashes into Fla. home, www.miamiherald.com January 05, 2013

Published on: January 10, 2013

2 Buses Crash in New Jersey; 2 Critically Injured

by Friedland | Carmona

Earlier today, a commuter bus headed into New York City collided with a mini school bus. Daniel Jean-Pierre, a driver for Academy Bus Lines, was carrying roughly thirty people into the City when he rear-ended the school bus, which then flipped over. The Academy Bus then veered off the roadway and struck both a telephone pole and a tree. The driver of the Academy bus suffered severe leg injuries and was take to a local hospital for surgery. Fortunately, at the time of the accident there were no children on the school bus.

At least seventeen people were injured aboard the Academy bus, with two currently in critical condition at local hospitals. The other fifteen passengers were taken to local hospitals and are in stable condition. When the bus crashed into the tress, the tree caved, “shattering its windshield and pinning the drivers leg, while a large branch protruded from the vehicle’s roof.” The school bus has slowed down to make a right hand turn to pick up students from an apartment complex when the Academy bus hit it from behind. The bus flipped onto its side, “atop a fenced-off backup power supply station.” The school bus driver and an aide aboard the bus were able to escape via a roof hatch.

NYC-bound commuter bus, school bus, crash in NJ, www.miamiherald.com January 10, 2013

Published on: January 8, 2013

Two Victims of Deadly Oregon Bus Crash File Suit

by Friedland | Carmona

An eastern Oregon bus crash killed nine passengers on December 30, 2012 and now two of the survivors have filed lawsuits against the bus company. The lawsuit alleges that the driver was tired, did not head to warnings and was going too fast on a road with patches of snow and ice. The two survivors, two teenage South Korean exchange students, were among thirty-eight total people injured in the crash.

The lawsuit against Mi Joo Tour & Travel states that the bus driver “doubled” as a tour guide and had worked over 90 hours without any relief in the first eight days of the nine-day tour package. Federal regulations limit driver to a maximum of 70 hours in an eight-day span. On the last day of the tour, the bus departed a hotel in Boise, Idaho and traveled about 200 miles over the course of three hours before crashing through a guardrail and falling 200 feet down an embankment. Police have yet to determine the cause of the crash, but the crash occurred on a cold, overcast morning on a flat and straight stretch of the road. The posted speed limit for trucks and buses was 55 miles per hour, but police are still unsure of how fast the bus was travelling. The attorney for the exchange students stated that the driver “was going ‘just too fast
for the ice and the snow and the fog’ and not necessarily exceeding the speed limit.”

The driver of the bus, Haeng-Kyu Hwang, was not named as a defendant in the lawsuit. One of the two exchange students was knocked unconscious during the crash and both were hospitalized for eight hours after the accident. The lawsuit has not listed a damage amount as the attorney stated that the extent of the injuries remains unknown at this time.

2 survivors of Oregon bus crash file, www.miamiherald.com January 07, 2013

Published on: January 3, 2013

Changes to PIP Law Are Ineffective

by Friedland | Carmona

The new Personal Injury Protection (“PIP”) law is designed to crack down on no-fault auto insurance fraud may not be actually be saving money. Reports indicate that this new law does little to help insurance companies, as well as Florida drivers, save money. “Any potential savings coming on the personal injury protection portion of a policy is so slight that it is likely to be offset by increases in other parts of the coverage.”

The “new” PIP law, which took effect in July of this past year, limits benefits to $2,500 unless a medical professional determines the accident victim is suffering from an “emergency medical condition.” “Medical professional” includes doctors, osteopathic physician, dentist or a supervised physician’s assistant or advanced registered nurse practitioner, but excludes chiropractors. Prior to the change, $10,000 was the maximum amount insurance companies were required to pay for medical bills and lost wages, no matter who was at fault for the accident.

New PIP Law Begins, But Will You Pay Less?, www.miami.cbslocal.com January 01, 2013

Published on: January 2, 2013

Three Teens Dead in Alabama Plane Crash

by Friedland | Carmona

A teen pilot and two friends perished in a plane crash in Alabama this week. Seventeen year old Jordan Smith was flying the plane, a plane that he had piloted several times, on Tuesday night when he crashed less than a mile from the Walker County Airport in Jasper, Alaska. Smith’s mother, Sherrie stated that Jordan had flown the plane several times and the owner of the plane had given Jordan his own key to the aircraft. Jordan was one test short of achieving his pilot’s license.

Jordan and his friends left the house around 6 p.m. to meet friends near the airport and departed around 10:30 p.m. National news reported that the teens had stolen the plane and were “joyriding” around in it, but according to those close to Jordan, that is not the case. Regardless, according to airport manager, “It was a student pilot flying an airplane without permission, an airplane that he was not qualified to fly at night.”
Jordan’s friends Tyler Ary and Jordan Seth Montgomery perished in the crash. The plane went down in a “wooded, swampy area” near a farm that training flights routinely circled. “It’s just three kids making a wrong decision,” one neighbor stated.

Mom: Boy didn’t steal plane in crash, www.miamiherald.com January 02, 2013

Published on: December 31, 2012

Four Cyclists Injured In Weston Crash

by Friedland | Carmona

Four South Florida cyclists remain in critical condition at area hospitals after being struck by a car Saturday morning. The cyclists were out with a group on U.S. 27 when an oncoming car struck them and several others. One of cyclists was airlifted to a Broward area hospital. Two of the cyclists have been listed as “trauma alerts” by the hospitals.

Broward Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Dani Moschella said the Weston accident is still under investigation as police try to determine the cause of the crash. U.S. 27 was closed while police investigated the incident and while the helicopter came for the one airlifted victim.

Car crash sends 4 cyclists to S Florida hospital, www.miamiherald.com December 23, 2012.

Published on: December 21, 2012

Two Injured In Hialeah Two-Bike Motorcycle Crash

by Friedland | Carmona

Two people have been hospitalized after a motorcycle crash left part of Okeechobee Road closed last night. The crash, which occurred in Hialeah, took place around 8:00 p.m. in the northbound lanes of Okeechobee Road. Two motorcycles, both larger models with small trailers attached them, were each carrying two people when one of the motorcycles “lost control and threw a passenger from the bike but kept rolling.” The second motorcycle them somehow tipped on its side. It unknown what caused the two motorcycles to collide.

Two of the people involved in the accident were taken via helicopter to Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Ryder Trauma Center. The other two victims refused to be transported. Police are still investigating the crash and interviewing witnesses, as well as the victims who refused to be transported to the hospital.

Motorcycle crash on Okeechobee Road in Hialeah sends 2 to hospital, www.miamiherald.com December 20, 2012.

Published on: December 5, 2012

A Third Passenger Injured in Miami Airport Bus Crash Dies

by Friedland | Carmona

Earlier this week, reports indicated that two passengers died as a result of the bus crash at the Miami International Airport. Now a third passenger has passed. The bus, which crashed into a concrete overpass last week, killed 86-year-old Serafin Castillo and 56-year-old Francisco Urana on the day of the accident. Ryder Trauma Center announced Monday that 75-year-old Gliceria Emerida Garcia died as a result of injuries sustained in the accident.

Police have not charged the driver, who crashed into an overpass on December 1, 2012 while carrying thirty-two members of a Jehovah’s Witness group. The driver got lost and found himself at the Miami International Airport. All of the 30 injured passengers were taken to the hopistal. Nine of the thirteen passengers taken to Ryder Trauma Center/Jackson Memorial Hospital have been released. Two of the four still being held are in good condition.

As previously reported, the families of two of the deceased passengers and one of the injured passengers have filed negligence lawsuits against the bus driver and the bus company. The bus is privately owned and was typically used for tours.

Third passenger dies after Miami airport bus crash, www.miamiherald.com December 05, 2012

Published on: December 3, 2012

Two Die in Miami Bus Accident, Families File Suit

by Friedland | Carmona

Last weekend, on December 1, 2012, several passengers died and several more were injured in a bus crash at Miami International airport. The survivors and the families of the deceased have since filed lawsuits claiming the bus driver and the bus service company was negligent. The family of Francisco Ureña, one of the two passengers who died in the accident accused the bus driver of negligent homicide.

The bus driver, Ramón Ferreiro, a worker for Miami Bus Service Company, was driving thirty-two members of a local Jehovah’s Witness congregation to a general assembly in West Palm Beach when he got lost. Confused when he found himself at the airport, Ferreiro drove the 11-foot high bus past several signs indicating that the maximum height allowed was 8 feet, 6 inches and into the arrival area. He smashed the 11-foot-tall bus into an overpass, injuring thirty passengers onboard and killing the passengers closes to the front. All of the injured passengers went to local hospitals. According to reports, he took a wrong turn on Le Jeune Road and was speeding when he crashed into the overpass.

Families and survivors who have filed suit claimed they could not comprehend how Ferreiro missed the warning signs. “It is really mind-boggling how he could not pay attention to all the warnings that were there before his eyes when he is supposed to be a professional driver,” said one survivor’s attorney. “We find it to be total negligence and carelessness.” Ferreiro has not been charged criminally with any wrongdoing in the crash.

Families, survivors file suit in MIA bus crash, www.miamiherald.com December 04, 2012.