Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL Motor Vehicle Accidents Blog

Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy (RSD) is also known as Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS). This condition can be related to a major trauma, such as a fracture or surgery or even a soft tissue injury. However, it can also occur following a minor injury sometimes several weeks or months after an injury. In some cases, RSD may occur without a known cause or history of trauma. Some symptoms and characteristics of RSD may include the following:

• Severe pain disproportionate to an injury
• Pain spreading throughout the affected extremity or area
• Continuous burning and throbbing type pain
• Pain that does not respond to medical treatment
• Pain is worse when exposed to cold weather or water
• Unusual sensitivity to light touch
• Affected region has periodic changes in color and temperature
• Episodes of excessive sweating in affected area
• Swelling
• Loss or changes in hair and nail growth
• Spasms and loss of range of motion in affected area

Yet, not all patients will exhibit or complain of all the above symptoms of RSD, and the diagnosis is often determined by a combination of these signs. There is no easy test to diagnose and confirm the diagnosis of RSD, and as a result, there is frequently a delay in diagnosing RSD. Nonetheless, medical research is clear that the earlier treatment for RSD is initiated, the better the results and outcome.

Most understand that if you were injured in an accident involving a motor vehicle, expenses related to your injuries should be covered by the driver's automobile insurance. Well, if you are a tourist in Florida who is hurt while outside of a vehicle (i.e. being struck as a pedestrian or bicyclist or after having fallen off a rented moped or scooter), you may be wrong.

In spite of the fact that Florida's sunny shores and myriad amusements draw in millions of visitors a year, its insurance laws are surprisingly anti-tourist. Florida statutes mandate that every licensed driver carry a minimum of $10,000 in personal injury protection (PIP) with their automotive insurance policy. PIP coverage is designed to foot the bill for emergency medical care for people injured in a Tampa car accident.

Logically, the law should cover people injured in Florida car crashes regardless of where the injured person calls home. Unfortunately, that isn't the case. Loopholes in the law allow the coverage to be circumvented if a non-resident is injured while walking, riding a bike or after having fallen off of/stepped out of a vehicle.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has recommended that regulating and law-making agencies formally prohibit commercial drivers from all use of cell phones while driving.

The recommendation came after the NTSB's ruling that found truck driver Kenneth Laymon responsible for truck accident that caused the death of himself and ten van passengers on an interstate in Kentucky. Laymon was on his phone when he veered into oncoming traffic, panicked and slammed on the brakes to avoid oncoming vehicles. He hit a van carrying a family on their way to a wedding, killing the van's passengers and himself. The NTSB's investigation found that Laymon had used his cell phone 69 times in the 24 hours before the crash.

Unfortunately, this accident is only one of many fatal truck accidents that involve distracted commercial drivers. Another truck driver, Peter Barnum, killed himself and injured others when he drove his truck into an oncoming Amtrak commuter train in Maine. Barnum failed to stop at the lights and barrier across the tracks. The local police department investigation found that Barnum was on his cell phone at the time.

Tampa police reported that a driver lost consciousness while behind the wheel last week before running a red light and crashing into a minivan on Hillsborough Avenue. Two people in the minivan were killed and a 3-year-old passenger was injured.

Not far from this deadly Tampa Bay car accident, the same driver was involved in a similar accident four years ago. The driver blacked out, again while behind the wheel, and slammed into two parked cars. Luckily, no one was killed in that Florida car crash.

After the 2007 crash, the Medical Review Section of the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles requested information regarding a medical condition that may have affected whether or not the driver was ok to drive. The Medical Review Section requested that the driver submit information from his doctor related to his condition as well as documentation of his treatment. The driver's license was revoked in 2008 after he failed to send in the requested information.

Over two dozen red-light cameras are being installed throughout the Tampa Bay area in a citywide attempt to reduce the number of car accidents occurring at stop-light-controlled intersections. Over the past three years, over ½ of the total car accidents related to red lights in Hillsborough County happened in Tampa. In 2010, 371 car crashes in Tampa were caused by a driver running a red light.

Tampa mayor Bob Buckhorn believes that drivers running a red light have created an epidemic in Tampa. He even waits an extra three seconds after a light turns green before believing he can safely enter an intersection.

Tampa car accident attorneys have seen the serious injuries that can result when one car runs a red light. From head and neck injuries to broken bones and spinal injuries, a t-bone car crash caused by running a red light can have catastrophic and even fatal consequences for the driver, his or her passengers and other cars on the road.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has two open investigations at the Tampa Pepsi warehouse and production plant after two serious incidents killed one individual and injured two others already this year.

Last Sunday, a worker's left leg was trapped in the plant's conveyor while he was attempting to clean the system. Coworkers were alerted to the accident by his screams. It took rescue workers 90 minutes to free him and he was then transported to the hospital for treatment and recovery.

Earlier this year, two employees of Westfalia Technology were attempting to repair a mechanical lift used to move pallets in the Pepsi warehouse. The lift spontaneously fell from 15 feet, trapping and killing one and injuring the other.

Following the latest accident, Pepsi has begun its own equipment safety inspections early, originally scheduled for September.

Tampa Area Workplace Injuries

The Florida worker's compensation system is designed to cover any related medical expenses, partial lost wages and any long term consequences of an on-the-job injury. Tampa worker's compensation attorneys help injured employees understand and work through the process so that benefits may be secured as quickly as possible and the injured worker can focus on recovery.

Friday, June 24, 2011: For the estimated 194 passengers on board an Amtrak train that journeyed from Chicago to Emeryville, and the 14 crewmembers on hand to perform the daily customer service and engineering tasks, the Amtrak train ride seemed a standard run.

At roughly 11:25 a.m. near a secluded crossing between Fallon and Lovelock, a driver from John Davis Trucking missed his cue and the Amtrak run suddenly turned ugly when the semi-truck ran into the passenger train.

The truck driver had time to realize his error. He slammed down on the brakes. The big rig skidded 320 feet, but failed to stop before impact. Six people, including the truck driver, died when the commercial truck collided with Amtrak's California Zephyr.

In all, over twenty people were transported to local area hospitals. The injuries ranged from minor abrasions and lacerations to blunt trauma and internal organ injuries. No one can measure the depth of associated personal suffering, fear and emotional turmoil that accompanies such an event.

Distracted driving, intoxicated drivers and reckless maneuvers all pose huge risks to pedestrians at intersections, near driveway entrances and in parking ramps. But a large share of pedestrian deaths may be attributable to--and avoidable with--proper roadway design, according to a report released in May by Transportation for America.

The study is based on statistics from every county in the U.S. and ranks the 52 largest American metropolitan areas for pedestrian safety. The most dangerous are all in Florida: Orlando, Tampa, Miami and Jacksonville ranked one through four. Tampa's "Pedestrian Danger Index," based on its average yearly fatality rate for pedestrians as well as overall pedestrian activity, is nearly double the tenth city on the list and almost ten times higher than the safest cities: Boston and Minneapolis-St. Paul.