Published on Saturday, March 4, 2006
in the WAWS Fox30 News

Traffic Deaths Increase on Florida's Highways

It’s some sobering stats to tell you about from the Florida Highway Patrol. The FHP says the number of people who died in car crashes in 2005 jumped eight percent from 2004.

Distractions and speeding is part of the reasons FHP says there’s been so many wrecks in Florida. "I've actually pulled over a Florida driver talking on two cell phones at the same time and doing 70 miles per hour in this zone”, says Trooper Hattle. He says the reason the number of deadly wrecks is up in Florida has a lot to do with aggressive drivers and their speedometers.

For the next couple days, you can expect more troopers on the road. FHP is trying to get the number of fatalities down and will have some extra motorcycles and unmarked vehicles out monitoring speed.

The number of people who died in wrecks in Florida last year was also an all-time record for the state.