Tampa St. Petersburg Injury Lawyer Blog

Jim Key, of Winter Haven, was leaving work on Recker Highway for his lunch break on the morning of February 9^th, when another driver slammed into him, ejecting him from his motorcycle.

As the other driver drove off, Key's bike went up in flames, and co-workers extinguished the fire, dragging Key away. Co-workers and witnesses hastily made a tourniquet, attempting to treat Key while waiting for emergency services to arrive.

According to NewsCheif.com, after being airlifted to Tampa General Hospital and undergoing an extensive 30 hour surgery, as well as spending one month in the hospital and attending weeks of physical therapy, Key is finally able to return home and to work. While he is thankful and glad to be back, he still faces another trying six months before he is able to walk.

Key states he is not holding a grudge against the other driver, but has no interest in meeting her. The woman, who was driving a minivan was arrested a few days following the accident, with charges of leaving the scene of a crash, which is a third-degree felony.

Motorcycle accidents occur every day in Florida. Many of these accidents cause significant injuries to the motorcyclist simply due to their lack of protection from the vehicle impacting it or the roadway itself. Motorists must use the utmost care to watch for motorcycles on the roadways. Although not required in Florida, our office recommends that our clients who ride carry extra uninsured motorist coverage to protect themselves against the medical expense and life expense associated with an accident. The Law Offices of John T. Grove handles motorcycle accident cases on a regular basis.

There were four local teens killed in an accident on 86^th Avenue North in Seminole, FL late in the evening on April 10. The Florida Highway Patrol reported that the car the teens were in swiped another vehicle, spun, and slammed into a large pine tree along 86^th Avenue North.

Four boys, ages 15 to 17, were killed in the accident, leaving 17 year old Corey Kenneth LaPore as the only survivor. Investigators are not yet ruling out excessive speeding as the cause of the crash.

Although schools were on Spring Break that week, on the Saturday morning following the accident, hundreds of students met at Seminole High School, where three of the four boys attended school. They gathered to mourn the loss of their friends and classmates. A representative from the school stated that grief counselors would be available and that the school intended to help and support the families of the victims.

Our sincere condolences go out to the family and friends of these young men. This accident was certainly a shock to our community and devastating to those close to them. The accident brings to the forefront the dangers associated everyday with motor vehicles.

A February 21, 2008 edition of The Villages community newspaper, The Villages Daily Sun, reported that one of its female residents had died as a result of an accident. Likewise, The Villages Daily Sun December 18, 2007 edition reported that two separate crashes resulted in injuries of two of their residents. The surprisingly link connecting all of these isolated incidents is that those who were injured were driving golf carts.

One of the reasons so many people enjoy living at The Villages is having the convenience to a system of multi-modal transportation paths that span the community. These paths are intended to be used by pedestrians, bicyclists, and golf cart drivers. The early developers of these paths may have not taken golf cart travel into consideration and the paths were therefore not constructed with golf cart drivers' safety in mind. The new path developers do seem to have taken more into consideration however, as the new paths are better designed, wider and paved with asphalt.

However, some are still arguing that the paths were simply created to be visually appealing, involving many blind curves and shrubs that can be dangerous to those traveling the path. The shrubbery growing right to the edge of the path and the sharp curves indeed provide a challenge and a great risk of collision, leaving little room for pedestrians or fellow golf cart drivers to avoid a potentially life-threatening crash.

While these multi-modal paths are an important part in aiding with the high amount of traffic in The Villages, they would prove to be much more beneficial if they were developed with the safety of their travelers as first priority. For the time being, it has been suggested that these paths be widened, the blind curves be eliminated and the shrubbery be cut back from the paths.

As a Florida golf cart injury attorney when I review a golf cart accident, I look at the vehicles involved, the roadway conditions and construction, the speed involved and generally the lack of seat belts in the golf carts. Certainly the golf cart occupant is at a disadvantage in a cart vs. automobile accident. Our office will handle golf cart accidents throughout the state of Florida.