Lee County is having a record-breaking year for traffic fatalities. As of Dec. 8, there have been 119 traffic fatalities in the county, including 9 bicyclists and 24 pedestrians. Those numbers are up from last year, and continue a years-long trend of increasing traffic-related deaths here in Southwest Florida. While east coast communities like Miami-Dade, Broward, and Orange counties have more traffic fatalities overall, per-capita it is still more dangerous on this side of the state.
In fact, Southwest Florida has always been more dangerous for drivers than many parts of the state, and country. And we’re at the top of the charts when it comes to dangers faced by bicyclists and pedestrians.
We explore some of the reasons behind these numbers and this ongoing trend with Jay Anderson, he is Executive director of the nonprofit Stay Alive....Just Drive! and a longtime advocate for traffic safety; and Dan Moser, he is a founding member of the Bike Walk Lee Coalition and a traffic safety consultant in Lee County.
Click here to see the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles’ website that breaks the numbers down by county and year.
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