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Published on Sunday, January 4, 2004
in the Fort Myers News-Press
Once again, motorists are dying on Lee County roads in record numbers.
Law enforcement officials point to a number of causes —growing population and trooper shortages among them — for the disturbing trend, but careless driving tops the list.
Blame is being directed at individual drivers, whose complex lives are crammed into a finite amount of time, making the act of driving just another time-stealer. Human error was the cause of almost all Lee County traffic crashes in 2003.
“Inattention is killing people,” said Lt. Dennis Brooks, head of the Lee County Sheriff’s Office traffic unit. “A big factor is people haven’t got time. They’re in a hurry.”
A record 123 people were killed in Lee County traffic crashes in 2003, surpassing the previous mark of 118 set in 2001. Last year, just 76 people lost their lives in crashes here in what Florida Highway Patrol officials now say was an anomaly.
“We don’t know why it was less last year, but the fatalities have been on a steady increase since the late 1990s,” said FHP Sgt. Owen Keen.
So what is careless driving?
It seems to be anything that hinders the ability to focus on the road, police say. Keen, a 19-year member of the Florida Highway Patrol, recently pulled a man over on a stretch of Interstate 75 in Lee County. Keen said the man was driving at night reading a paperback novel with his dome light on.
“He was all over the road going about 70 mph,” said Keen, who has been a traffic homicide specialist in the Fort Myers FHP district since 1988. “That’s careless driving.”
Following another car too closely, shaving, putting on makeup, reading a newspaper, talking on a cell phone and eating behind the wheel all can be considered elements of careless driving, law enforcement officials say.
Writing, smoking, talking, combing hair and fiddling with the radio are others.
“You’ll see women driving down the road putting on lipstick,” said Lee County’s Brooks.
Careless driving was cited in 45 of the Lee County traffic fatalities in 2003 through Dec. 21, the single-leading cause well in front of violating right of way with 12.
Fort Myers police Cpl. Michael Payne, a traffic homicide investigator, said he’s even seen people using laptop computers and watching portable DVD players while driving.
Careless driving, the statute, is used as a catchall for traffic crash investigators because of its broad definition, Brooks said.
“If you can’t determine the exact cause of a traffic fatality, it will probably be listed as careless driving,” Brooks said. “Somebody violated something.”
FHP Sgt. Dan Taylor said troopers cite careless driving in high numbers because it’s often easier to prove in traffic court than other statutes such as following too close or driving at unlawful speeds.
Cape Coral police spokesman Angelo Bitsis said two of the city’s most recent traffic fatalities involved drivers who pulled out in front of someone.
“The cause of both accidents was violation of right of way, but you can easily say both of those drivers were careless in their driving,” Bitsis said.
DEADLY CONSEQUENCES
Miguel Montoya, 82, said he still feels terrible about the Dec. 3 crash he was involved in that killed a motorcyclist at the intersection of Chiquita Boulevard and Southwest 43rd Street in Cape Coral.
Montoya, who was accompanied by three family members, was heading eastbound on Southwest 43rd.
He entered the intersection at Chiquita and struck a motorcycle driven by Cape Coral’s Justin Velez, 20, who was thrown from his motorcycle and killed.
Police listed careless driving as the cause of the crash, FHP statistics show. Montoya said he was not ticketed.
“I didn’t see anything,” said Montoya, who added he had never been in a crash before. “I was surprised. I didn’t know I hit anyone at first.”
Montoya said he was trying to turn left when the crash occurred. He suffered just a cut on his face, though living with the memory has been difficult for the World War II veteran.
“I feel terrible because in my life, I never had an experience like that,” he said. “This is awful.
“I had no intentions to kill anybody. We keep thinking of him.”
Montoya’s experience is a painful reality for many drivers. More people on the road mean there will be more crashes, Bitsis said.
“It’s a fact of life,” he said.
Police say careless driving should not be confused with intentional reckless driving, which is a crime.
“Careless driving is usually an unintentional act, but you’re not paying attention,” Payne said.
TRYING TO STEM TIDE
To get a better understanding of what’s behind careless driving crashes, FHP added “driver distractions” to its investigation of wrecks in 2002. The agency conducts nearly all of the investigations into fatal traffic crashes in unincorporated Lee County.
“The state wants us to start keeping track of who was talking on the phone,” Keen said.
Cell phones have earned a bad reputation on the road as a contributing factor to careless driving, but they are not the main driver distraction, according to one study.
A 2003 study funded by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety found that using a cell phone was the eighth-ranked driver distraction at 30 percent, well behind reaching/leaning (97.1 percent), music controls (91.4 percent), eating/drinking (71.4 percent), conversing (77.1 percent), grooming (45.7 percent), passenger (44.4 percent) and reading/writing (40 percent). Only smoking was lower than cell phones at 7.1 percent.
Area traffic units are attempting to address careless driving, but it’s a difficult challenge.
The Florida Highway Patrol instituted its Statewide Overtime Action Response program in 2002 to help offset the perennial problem of trooper shortages. SOAR authorizes every deputy to work 32 overtime hours, or up to 72 hours a week, patroling the county’s busiest roads in search of, among other violations, careless driving.
More than $2 million was allocated to the state program, Keen said.
“The overtime seems to help out a little bit,” said Keen, who added that Lee County’s FHP unit is down six troopers from its authorized 18. “We really hit on speed enforcement and looking for aggressive drivers.”
To target careless drivers, Cape Coral and Fort Myers police are participating in the national “You Drink, You Drive, You Lose” campaign, which targets all types of driving infractions.
In addition, Cape Coral police have begun the High Intensity Traffic Saturation program, focusing some patrols in problem traffic areas.
FHP, the Lee County Sheriff’s Office and Fort Myers police agree that the Florida Department of Education should require everyone to complete a mandatory driver’s education class prior to getting a license. This, they say, would decrease the number of careless drivers over time.
The state no longer requires high school students to complete a mandatory driver’s education course.
“Those classes taught good driving habits,” Brooks said. “Unfortunately, it sometimes takes a tragedy to a loved one before people start thinking about their driving.”