Estimates for traffic deaths in Florida climbed to more than 3,200 in 2016, a jump of nearly ten percent from the previous year. Lee County leads Southwest Florida with the deadliest roads in the region with more than 100 deaths in traffic accidents last year, nearly three times the fatalities seen in Collier and Charlotte counties.
The increasingly deadly roads are due on part to more than half a million new drivers on Florida streets since 2011. Florida drivers now rack up more than 550 million miles a day.
Beyond fatal crashes, the growing number of drivers and miles driven have led to a surge hit-and-run crashes and thousands of tickets annually for aggressive driving, commonly called road rage.
Monday at 1 p.m. on Gulf Coast Live, Lt. Greg Bueno with the Florida Highway Patrol joins the program to talk about rage on Florida roads, the more than 99,000 hit-and-run accidents in Florida last year, and efforts to get motorists to share the road.
Also joining the conversation is Dan Moser with Bike Walk Lee, talking about how safety concerns and road rage impact road users not on four wheels.
This segment of Gulf Coast Live answered a question that was submitted to Curious Gulf Coast by a person who wished to remain anonymous. Do you have a question about Southwest Florida or its people that you'd like WGCU to check out? Click here to submit.
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