Gainesville, Ocala, Lake City & Inverness, Florida Accident Attorney and Alachua County DUI Lawyer Blogs

More unbuckled teens injured in on rural roads.

Recently, 4 teens from Levy county were serioulsy injured when their pick-up truck rolled, ejecting two teens, on a Levy County Road, when the driver, trying to avoid a dictch, lost control of the vehicle, none were wearing seatbelts. 

Our hearts go out to the families of these young children that were just out for a day of swimming and fun. 

A similar tragic accident occurred in Suwannee County a week prior to this accident that injured 5 unbuckled teens when their vehicle hit loose sand and then a tree.

The similarities in these two accidents are easy to see: rural roads, lots of teens in a car and no seatbelt use.  This is a common theme and one we have bloged about before.

As a local accident attorney I can say, that these 9 children were lucky, as crashes are the leading cause of death for teens in Florida and across the country.

I would like to encourage parents to have frequent serious talks with their young drivers about road safety, especially in this day and age of all types of distractions from cell phones, I-pods, and texting. In addition, rural roads, of which we have plenty of around Gainesville and throughout North Florida, are a mcuh more dangerous roadway, and also a common place for teens to pile into a vehicle and ignore their seatbelts.

Additionally, teens are at a higher risk for risky behavior and for not following the law and in fact are the highest risk drivers, not only because of their lack of experience but also because of their still developing brains resulting in poorer judgement than that of a 20 year old.  

I would also like to recommend a new interactive website put out by the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles called, Drive With Care.  This site has valuable safety information for both teens and parents and also discusses Florida's new Graduated Driver Licensing Laws.  The National Safety Council also has a downloadable teen driving information and guide.

Be safe, buckle up, obey the law,  and have a safe summer.

For more information:

Rural Driving Dangers and no Seatbelts Result in Injured Suwannee Teens

Teens - Buckle Up Its The Law

Deadly Rural Driving: Safety Belts Save Lives

Rural Teen Drivers Are At a Higher Risk

Risk Factors Teens Bring to The Road

One Video Says it All!