Hit & Runs Are Rising
Michael Babboni
Car Accidents
A “hit and run” is a very specific type of vehicular accident where a driver strikes another driver, cyclist, or even pedestrian, and rather than doing the right and legal thing of remaining at the accident, flees the scene. On a national level, statistics are now indicating, tragically, that unlike drunk driving, or even smoking ciga-rettes—which are both national trends moving downwards—hit and run incidents are actually increasing in the USA.Perhaps more alarmingly, Florida is one of the top three states in which hit and run accidents occur. Unfortunately, as with the national trend, Florida’s own rates of hit and run incidents look set to increase, not decrease with the passing of time. But why? Why are hit and run rates rising instead of falling?
Distracted Driving
Even as drunk driving incidents are thankfully dropping, a new danger has arisen, and that is the smartphone. Smartphones are not drugs, or alcohol, and if you’re using a smartphone, you can easily pass any blood or breathalyzer test and be legally declared sober.
However, that very safety net has also created a lot of false confidence. Because smartphones are so easy to use, more and more people are checking text messages, replying on social media, taking photographs of themselves, or even shooting videos, instead of paying attention to the road.
As a result of this, there’s a general trend in car accidents on the rise, as people allow themselves to get distracted by smartphone use. These are not alcoholics strongly advised not to get behind the wheel at a party, these are teenagers, parents, and grandparents. And when someone who doesn’t feel that they should be penalized for “an honest mistake,” they may be tempted to avoid an “unfair” situation by fleeing the scene.
Fear
Fear in a hit and run situation takes many forms. On the one hand, some people may flee a scene simply because of the understandable, documented phenomenon of the fear response making people do irrational things. In a panic situation, what a person does is not always going to be calm and sensible.
However, the 21st century has also brought with it an unexpected side-effect from technology; accessible evidence gathering tools.
In the past, if two people got into an accident, it was, on a regularly occurring basis, usually just a contest of one word versus another. With few or no witnesses on the road, assigning fault in an accident could be quite nebulous and difficult.
These days, the mere presence of a smartphone means people can take photos and shoot video that can preserve evidence. The presence of a dashboard cam even means that the accident itself may have been recorded. And accident reconstruction techniques are now much more sophisticated at “reading the road” and piecing together forensic evidence to credibly recreate the exact sequence of events and who is at fault.
In other words, it is now much easier to figure out exactly who is responsible for an accident, and many people, realizing that they are at fault, with credible evidence present, simply choose to flee. Had circumstances been different, and they realized they might be able to blame it on the other driver, they might have stayed at the scene, hoping that bullying their way into insisting the other person was at fault could win the day. But, for example, with dashboard cam footage clearly showing they were at fault, they know that shouting won’t do them much good, and so they leave instead, hoping to evade the punishment they know they’ve earned.
Stay Alert
This is why it’s so important for Florida drivers, cyclists and pedestrians to be aware of their surroundings, and take appropriate precautions. You can’t go to court for personal injury, if you don’t know who to go to court against.