South Florida Injury Lawyer Blog
A pedestrian is in danger when walking near any moving vehicles – cars, trucks, motorcycles, mopeds, and even bicycles and skateboards. Anything that’s moving faster than you are has a risk of hurting you if you collide, and the faster and bigger the object, the greater damage that it can inflict.
Unfortunately, Florida ranks as the second most dangerous state for pedestrians, with 3.32 pedestrian deaths per 100,000 people as of 2023. The most dangerous city for pedestrians is also in Florida – Fort Lauderdale, with an incredible rate of 8.1 annual pedestrian deaths per 100,000 residents. These numbers do not take into account the many thousands of pedestrians seriously injured every year.
Interestingly, in Florida, pedestrians include not only walkers and runners, but also bicyclists, skateboarders, roller skaters, and Segway riders. So if you are injured in a collision with someone traveling in this manner, the accident would be considered between two pedestrians. But that doesn’t mean you can’t be seriously injured. And if a bicyclist is hit by a car, according to Florida law, the automobile driver hit a pedestrian.