{"id":6140,"date":"2016-05-03T16:36:33","date_gmt":"2016-05-03T20:36:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/students.com.miami.edu\/reporting\/?page_id=6140"},"modified":"2016-05-07T11:34:15","modified_gmt":"2016-05-07T15:34:15","slug":"drivers-who-ignore-or-break-traffic-laws-make-miami-driving-a-risky-proposition","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/students.com.miami.edu\/reporting\/projects\/drivers-who-ignore-or-break-traffic-laws-make-miami-driving-a-risky-proposition\/","title":{"rendered":"Drivers who ignore or break traffic laws make Miami driving a risky proposition"},"content":{"rendered":"

Posted April 30, 2016<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

By BREANA ROSS<\/p>\n

University of Miami sophomore Chantel Batista was driving to campus one afternoon on U.S. 1, when a car bolted in front of her unexpectedly, causing her to have to slam on her brakes and catch her breath.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt just taught me not to trust other drivers around me,\u201d Batista said. This is the norm for many drivers in Miami.<\/p>\n

From the wheel of a car, Miami\u2019s beautiful scenery turns into a not-so-attractive, potentially dangerous scene. According to the Florida Highway Patrol, Miami-Dade leads Florida\u2019s three major counties in car accidents; with 17,497 crashes this year alone and 2,252 crashes just this month.<\/p>\n

\"Drivers<\/a>

Drivers sit in traffic on U.S. Route 1 during rush hour (Photo by Breana Ross).<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cI think the Miami area is a challenging area for commuting and driving,\u201d said University of Miami Crime Prevention Specialist John Gulla. \u201cThere are a lot of people in the area. There\u2019s a lot of traffic and I think it\u2019s not necessarily indicative of other areas of the country where things may be a little bit more easily navigated for drivers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although cities like New York and Los Angeles are significantly larger in area and population, Miami has a comparable number of crashes. Miami is a relatively small city, in comparison, with an overpopulation of cars on the road. Within Miami\u2019s 1.54 billion square feet, there are 1.98 million registered vehicles.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have lived in places like Washington, D.C., and New York and even larger cities where there\u2019s still a lot of traffic, but Miami seems to have a lot more commuters than those areas so there\u2019s a lot of competition on the roads, which leads to a lot of aggressive driving as well,\u201d Gulla said.<\/p>\n

With so many cars on the road, there is little room for error without consequence. Miami drivers tend to disregard the basics of driving.<\/p>\n

\"<\/a>

The bumper of a University of Miami student’s car hangs after an accident (Photo courtesy of Sidney Sterling).<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cA turn signal doesn\u2019t mean a turn and lack of a turn signal doesn\u2019t mean they\u2019re not turning,\u201d said David Steinberg, a University of Miami Communication Studies professor. \u201cPeople do not signal. If they are signaling, it\u2019s probably random and it doesn\u2019t mean they\u2019re turning.\u201d<\/p>\n

Miami-Dade County Police Officer David Torres said that failure to use a signal and improper lane changes are two main causes of accidents in Miami. Speeding is another accident cause and common ticketing offense.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn average I give around seven to eight speeding tickets a day,\u201d Torres said.<\/p>\n

According to freshman commuter Isabella Cendan, the tendencies for speeding, failure to use a signal and improper lane changes have to do with the attitudes of local drivers.<\/p>\n

\u201cI grew up in Miami, so a lot of people that I know here put themselves first,\u201d Cendan said. \u201cIt\u2019s always like they need to be somewhere so they\u2019ll get there no matter what.\u2026They won\u2019t use their blinkers or they won\u2019t wait the full time at a stop sign just to get somewhere faster.\u201d<\/p>\n

In such a diverse city, many Miami drivers come from different countries, which also contributes to confusion on the roads.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like the bad driving can be attributed to more of an international scene,\u201d said Kemble Mountcastle, a sophomore from Virginia. \u201cThere\u2019s obviously a big Spanish scene and Latin American scene down here. Maybe, if they moved recently from their home county, the driving rules are different.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although the overload of cars and diverse culture of drivers make driving in Miami unique from other large cities, there is one problem that remains consistent in Miami and nationwide; distracted driving.<\/p>\n

Sgt. Alejandro Escobar reported that Coral Gables police officers gave out 1,338 careless driving citations last year.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>

A driver holds a phone while one hand remains on the steering wheel. (Photo courtesy of U.S. Marine Corps).<\/p><\/div>\n

Using a phone or texting while driving is the main form of distracted driving, but some Miami drivers do not stop there.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been in traffic and I\u2019ve seen a guy shave while he\u2019s driving,\u201d said Association of Commuter Students member Antonella Valdivia. \u201cActually shaving in traffic with shaving cream, looking in the mirror.\u201d<\/p>\n

The problem of distracted driving, among other offenses, also carries over to University of Miami\u2019s campus in Coral Gables. Gulla said University of Miami police officers catch many students texting while driving or texting while crossing streets.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have this convergence of distracted activities, which unfortunately leads to a significant rise in safety issues, especially for our population,\u201d Gulla said.<\/p>\n

Speeding, failure to stop at stop signs and failure to give pedestrians the right of way are other problems University of Miami police see from students.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur focus is not on ticketing,\u201d Gulla said. \u201cWe don\u2019t gain anything by the ticket in that way. What we\u2019re gaining is we\u2019re trying to make sure that people are understanding of how much commuter traffic we have on campus.\u201d<\/p>\n

In an effort to educate and inform students on campus about traffic safety, University of Miami Police Department works with the Florida Department of Transportation on the \u201cPut it Down Campaign\u201d to stop texting and driving and the \u201cDrive Safe\u201d campaign to stop aggressive driving.<\/p>\n

The UM Police has also participated in multi-agency law enforcement, teaming up with Coral Gables Police Officers and South Miami Officers to pass out information to commuters on roads surrounding campus. These events will b<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Posted April 30, 2016 By BREANA ROSS University of Miami sophomore Chantel Batista was driving to campus one afternoon on U.S. 1, when a car bolted in front of her unexpectedly, causing her to have to slam on her brakes … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":3284,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"sidebar-page.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-6140","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/students.com.miami.edu\/reporting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6140","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/students.com.miami.edu\/reporting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/students.com.miami.edu\/reporting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/students.com.miami.edu\/reporting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/students.com.miami.edu\/reporting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6140"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/students.com.miami.edu\/reporting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6140\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6279,"href":"https:\/\/students.com.miami.edu\/reporting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6140\/revisions\/6279"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/students.com.miami.edu\/reporting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3284"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/students.com.miami.edu\/reporting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6140"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}