Nobody thinks they’re a bad driver, which is a problem for those of us who see too many of these nobodies on our local roadways.
Worse, though, are the motorists who’ve deluded themselves into believing they’re actually good drivers – who believe they possess the skills to maneuver as expeditiously as possible through and around the increasing traffic in our growing community, even when employing illegal tactics to do so.
And those numbers are growing.
So is the number and frequency of traffic accidents, especially crashes that result in serious injury and, sometimes, death.
“The number of crashes is going through the roof,” said Sgt. Doug Mackenzie of the Sheriff’s Office’s Traffic Unit. “We’re seeing quite an increase in traffic-homicide investigations and other serious crashes.”
Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Debbie Carson said last week the exact numbers weren’t available because the agency was in the process of compiling and analyzing traffic-accident data for a report that will be filed with the state.
But anyone who travels around the county – or reads the breaking-news stories on VeroNews.com – knows our roadways are becoming more dangerous.
Since the calendar turned to 2022, there has been a rash of crashes from one end of the county to the other. Several of them have been serious. One of them left three people dead.
On Jan. 8, a 58-year-old Vero Beach man and two elderly people from Fort Pierce were killed in a two-vehicle crash on U.S. 1, near the McDonald’s restaurant just north of Oslo Road.
The crash occurred shortly after 10 a.m., when a southbound van turned left into the path of an oncoming northbound car. A 7-year-old boy, who was a passenger in the van, was injured and flown to St. Mary’s Medical Center in West Palm Beach for treatment.
One day earlier, two drivers were hospitalized after a three-vehicle crash near the intersection of U.S. 1 and 69th Street in Wabasso, where authorities said a bakery delivery van rolled over and one person was ejected.
Three days before that, a Vero Beach man was seriously injured in a crash involving a motorcycle and car on U.S. 1, near 45th Street in Gifford.
Last Thursday, Vero Beach police responded to a seven-car crash on U.S. 1, near the intersection of Aviation Boulevard, where the driver of a stolen vehicle ran a red light.
That’s four serious crashes in nine days, and it doesn’t include a collision between a car and golf cart inside the gates of John’s Island last week, when the cart driver apparently rolled through a stop sign and two women were ejected and injured.
Maybe it’s just a rough stretch and not a sign of the times, but those of us who regularly travel the county can’t help but be alarmed by what we’re seeing – especially the distracted, unpredictable, sloppy and aggressive driving that wreaks havoc on our roadways.
And we’re not alone: Local law enforcement officers see it, too.
The barrier island’s major thoroughfare isn’t as busy as U.S. 1, but Indian River Shores Police Chief Rich Rosell said he has noticed a “tremendous increase” in aggressive driving along A1A, particularly during the state transportation department’s seemingly endless road-widening project.
“The speed limit was reduced to 35 mph to accommodate this debacle of a construction job,” Rosell said, “but driving to work every day, I see people pass me – or try to pass me – going in excess of 50 mph.”
He said he also has seen drivers, frustrated by backups at traffic lights, using turn lanes to pass slower vehicles.
“It’s been a problem the whole time we’ve had this road construction,” Rosell said. “I’ve been here seven years and, hands down, this is the worst I’ve seen it.”
The aggressive driving epidemic, however, hasn’t been as obvious inside the Vero Beach city limits.
Vero Beach Police Lt. Dan Cook said the department’s statistics show that the number of traffic accidents, people injured in crashes and crashes resulting in serious injury increased last year – but only because the numbers dropped noticeably during 2020, when COVID prompted businesses and schools to shut down and fewer drivers were on the road.
In fact, there were no traffic fatalities in the city in 2021, after three were reported in 2018, four in 2019 and three in 2020.
That doesn’t mean Vero Beach is immune from bad driving, as we saw when a women struck two pedestrians on Ocean Drive shortly after the conclusion of last month’s Christmas parade.
And most local drivers eventually find their way into the city for one reason or another.
But Cook said the city’s speed limits are generally lower, there are fewer long stretches of road without traffic signals, and it’s easier for police to patrol only 14 square miles than it is for the Sheriff’s Office to patrol the entire county.
“I don’t know the numbers, but it does seem the county has had more serious crashes in their jurisdiction,” Cook said. “The county is growing, and so is the volume of traffic on the roads.
“There are a lot of people here this time of year, and some aren’t familiar with the community and aren’t sure where they’re going,” he added. “You see people making sudden stops and turns.
“I’ve seen them turning from the center lane when they realize they’re about to pass where they want to go.”
To be sure, driving too slowly causes problems, too – because it frustrates motorists who need to get somewhere, especially for work – and the county’s traffic engineering too often makes a bad situation worse.
Local drivers should never be required to wait two light changes to get through an intersection, nor should they be forced to stop at three consecutive red lights, especially when traffic isn’t heavy.
But that’s no excuse.
There’s no excuse for not being patient, tolerant and courteous on our roadways. This is, after all, Vero Beach, where we’re supposed to embrace our sense of community by being neighborly and showing consideration for others.
Local law enforcement agencies say their traffic units are taking steps to combat aggressive and distracted driving, speeding and running red lights.
“We have our traffic unit out in force – monitoring speeds, pulling people over, stepping up enforcement,” Mackenzie said. “People are in a hurry, and they need to slow down.”
The Sheriff’s Office recently concluded a holiday-season campaign to educate the public about the dangers of running red lights, and Carson said the agency is now working with the school district to nab drivers who don’t stop for school buses.
Rosell said he has encouraged his officers to crack down on speeders and drivers passing in no-passing zones in the town, even if it’s only to give warnings.
The Vero Beach police, meanwhile, continue to patrol the city streets and respond to complaints from the public in an effort to prevent the kinds of crashes we’re seeing in the county.
“We’re really dedicated to what we enforce,” Cook said. “We don’t want to see people get hurt.”
Nor do we.
So be careful out there.
We know there are too many bad drivers on our roads – even if they don’t.
