Florida Car Accident Lawyers
Explaining Different Crash Environments

Florida is a state with a diverse landscape and even more diverse driving conditions.  Anyone in a vehicle could be driving through an ultra-modern business district in an urban setting and less than an hour later experience surroundings that seem to never have been impacted by human inhabitation.  Unfortunately, Florida car accidents occur in every setting, and while anyone who’s been injured in a crash should seek the help of Florida car accident lawyers, below is a breakdown of the different crash environments in Florida.

Florida Car Accident Environmental Breakdown Statistics

Below you’ll find the statistics regarding the crash environments in Florida for the calendar year of 2008:

• Florida car accidents in business areas – 144,731
• Fatal Florida car accidents in business areas – 1,176
• Florida car accidents in residential areas – 69,444
• Fatal Florida car accidents in residential areas – 761
• Florida car accidents in open country – 29,159
• Fatal Florida car accidents in open country – 827

As the state records note, just under 60 percent of all Florida car accidents occurred in business areas, while more than 53 percent of all fatal Florida car accidents occurred in open country and residential areas.

How Florida Crash Environments Can Affect You

After reviewing the relevant statistics, one could come to some basic logical conclusions and therefore plan accordingly when they get behind the wheel for travel.  A few of these conclusions are listed below:

1. Drivers are more likely to experience non-fatal Florida car accidents in business areas than in residential areas, but a higher percentage of non-fatal Florida car accidents occur in these business areas than anywhere else.
2. Drivers face the greatest danger of encountering a fatal Florida car accident in an open country setting.

Aside from these obvious conclusions, explanations could be gleaned from these statistics in regards to how these results came to be.  For instance, driving in business areas can involve a high degree of congestion, thereby increasing the chances of relatively minor Florida car accidents.  However, these areas also tend to include drivers moving at slower speeds, thereby decreasing the chances of the accidents being fatal.

In terms of Florida car accidents that occur in an open country setting, it’s a small leap to theorize as to how so many of them are fatal.  Open country roads feature high speeds, little infrastructure to control traffic such as traffic signals and lights and a greater distance between almost any Florida car accident site in open country and available medical care.