Bicyclist Killed in Vehicle Accident in St. Petersburg
Jul 6, 2012
Tampa, FL (Law Firm Newswire) July 5, 2012 – A man who was standing over his bike as he waited for a traffic signal to change in St. Petersburg was struck by a vehicle which had been impacted by another.
A Kia cut in front of a Honda and hit it, which caused the Honda to suddenly veer into the man on the sidewalk.
The fatal accident took place near the intersection of 13th Avenue N and 34th Street. The fifty-four year-old David Formato was killed upon impact. He had one son and one daughter. The drivers of the vehicles only suffered minor injuries and no charges have been filed so far. An investigation by police is being conducted. It is the second bike-related fatality this year in the area. There were five bike fatalities there last year.
Florida is one of the most dangerous states for pedestrians and bicyclists. The Orlando area was ranked first in a survey of most dangerous places for non-motorists. There were over 550 pedestrian fatalities in this part of Florida, from 2000 to 2009. In second place on the list was the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater area.
“People living in dense, urban areas with large feeder roads for freeways need to be very careful when they are near roads and not in a vehicle,” said Tampa personal injury attorney Robert T. Joyce.
Ironically, bus riders are also at an especially high risk, because when they are walking to or from a bus stop, they may try to take a short cut by running across a busy street, rather than walking further to an officially designated crosswalk. When pedestrians are outside a crosswalk, motorists may not see them since they expect to only see pedestrians within those legally defined spaces. Motorists may also be less attentive in general, when they are driving on roads where there is a constant flow of traffic and no pedestrians in sight.
To learn more or to contact a Tampa personal injury lawyer at the Joyce & Reyes Law Firm, P.A. visit http://www.joyceandreyespa.com/ or call 1.888.771.1529.
Joyce and Reyes Law Firm, P.A.
307 S Hyde Park Ave,
Tampa, FL 33606
Call: 813.251.2007
