Note of press, case of Valeria Sonely Torres Rodriguez
ENTRAL FLORIDA The Area In Brief
ORLANDO - Orlando police identified Valeria S. Torres-Rodriguez as the victim of a fatal accident on Semoran Boulevard on Thursday.
Police spokeswoman Sgt. Barbara Jones said, "Torres-Rodriguez had been drinking prior to the accident."
The crash shut down the roadway at Semoran Boulevard and Yew Drive, just north of the East-West Expressway, for nearly five hours.
Woman dies in crash on Semoran
February 22, 2008ORLANDO - Orlando police identified Valeria S. Torres-Rodriguez as the victim of a fatal accident on Semoran Boulevard on Thursday.
Police spokeswoman Sgt. Barbara Jones said, "Torres-Rodriguez had been drinking prior to the accident."
The crash shut down the roadway at Semoran Boulevard and Yew Drive, just north of the East-West Expressway, for nearly five hours.
Torres-Rodriguez, 20, of Casselberry was driving north on Semoran Boulevard at a high speed sometime before 3:30 a.m. as Tran Q. Thanh, 19, of Orlando was driving south on Semoran, police said.
At some point near Yew Drive in the Azalea Park neighborhood, Torres-Rodriguez's Mitsubishi Eclipse crossed over a median and into the path of Thanh's Hummer H2.
The Hummer flipped and the Eclipse kept going until it hit a building, Jones said.
Rescue crews took Torres-Rodriguez to Orlando Regional Medical Center, where she died, Jones said. Thanh suffered a minor injury.
It was the eighth traffic death this year in Orlando, records show.
Banca Prieto, Walter Pacheco, Christine Show, Gabrielle Finley and Rene Stutzman of the Sentinel staff contributed to this report. Information from The Associated Press also was used.
Dangers of Driving While Texting
Orlando Personal Injury Lawyer
February 23, 2008
By Ed Normand
Category: Auto Accidents
Recent studies have confirmed what most of us know already: that driving while using a cell phone is highly dangerous. In fact, after just 3 minutes of driving and talking on a cell phone there is a higher risk of an auto accident than when the driver is legally impaired with a .08 percent blood alcohol level. The theory is that one has to concentrate to such a degree when talking on the phone that they lose the ability to remain safely alert to traffic conditions. The tests put drivers in a simulator and engaged in cell phone conversations. The same drivers then became legally drunk and drove the same simulator without a cell phone. The results were dramatic. The cell phone users had multiple accidents and the alcohol impaired drivers had none. Testing also showed that the result was the same even when a hands free unit was used.
One can only imagine the number of car accidents that happen when people text while they drive. Some have advocated laws to prevent driving while texting. In a civil court a jury can evaluate the negligence of a driver based on the use of a cell phone. Texting while driving is so reckless that it should subject the offender to liability for punitive damages. Laws already subject alcohol impaired drivers to liability for punitive damages. Driving and using a cell phone, based on these test results, it is possible that similar liability may result from driving and using a cell phone.
http://orlando.injuryboard.com/auto-accidents/dangers-of-driving-while-texting.php
