110 W. New York Ave., DeLand, FL
386-734-4622
By Pat Hatfield
posted Mar 2, 2010 - 8:12:07pm
UPDATE 11 A.M. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 3: Lt. Jack Waples, who heads up traffic and special operations units for the DeLand Police Department, offered these tips for safe driving to Beacon readers:
No one plans to get into a car crash, but accidents can and often do happen. Drivers become distracted by cell phone usage, taking their eyes off the road or simply do not pay attention. Aggressive drivers will speed, switch lanes abruptly or follow other vehicles too closely. You can’t prevent crashes entirely, but you can decrease their likelihood by practicing some good defensive driving skills. Defensive driving is all about anticipation, basically street survival. Knowing what’s going on around you, predicating what might happen and knowing how to react quickly in case another driver catches you off guard.
Stay focused: Look ahead, anticipate and recognize potentially hazardous situations which may affect you. Don’t let passengers distract you.
Be in control: Drugs and alcohol will slow your reflexes and impair your judgment. Lack of sleep is also a danger on the road.
Be wary: You may be the best driver in the world, but you still need to worry about other drivers. Put space between your car and the one in front of you to give other drivers enough room to make unexpected moves. Check your mirrors constantly, and always try to look as far as you can down the road ahead. Always have an escape route you can use quickly.
Be safe: Lock your doors, wear your seat belt at all times and make sure your passengers do the same. Drive within the legal speed limit and obey traffic laws. Inspect your vehicle for proper tire pressure, exterior lights and windshield wipers.
Pay attention to the road:Cell phone use and/or texting while driving are distractions that have directly contributed to car crashes. Pay attention to the road and not your next phone call.
Driving defensively is an important part of safety when it comes to road travel. Just because you are a safe driver doesn’t mean that everyone else who’s driving will drive safely.
PREVIOUSLY REPORTED:
Maybe it's been the rain. Maybe it is the extra traffic, with winter visitors on the roads. There's been a spate of single-vehicle accidents in West Volusia in recent days.
One of the most spectacular was in the 2300 block of South Woodland Avenue just after 6 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 28.
DeLand Police, firefighters and rescue personnel, EVAC, Volusia County Sheriff's deputies and more converged on the scene of the one-car accident.
A vehicle with three people inside had been traveling northbound on the Boulevard near the intersection of Orange Camp Road, when the vehicle swerved, crossed the grass median and rolled into a ditch. Its three occupants, Brian Travis Foster, 28, David Allen Gutierrez, 19, and an unidentified juvenile, all of DeLand, were ejected from the vehicle.
Two were in critical condition and were airlifted to Halifax Medical Center in Daytona Beach, where both remain, with some improvement. The juvenile, also taken to the hospital, is expected to be released within a day or so.
The road was blocked while investigators and emergency personnel worked the scene. The cause of the accident has not been determined.
In Deltona, the Sheriff's Office reported a vehicle flipped and then collided into a house at 804 E. Normandy Blvd. in Deltona around 2:29 a.m. Tuesday, March 2. None of the five occupants inside the house was injured in the crash.
The driver of the vehicle, a 2006 Mazda Miata traveling northbound, lost control of her car, drove off the roadway and crashed into the residence. Deltona firefighters extricated her from the wreck. The 48-year-old woman had no pulse, but was revived by paramedics at the scene and airlifted by a Sheriff’s Office helicopter to Halifax Health Medical Center in Daytona Beach, where she remains in critical condition. Her name was not released.
On Monday around 11:50 a.m., 53-year-old Paul Allen Jarrett of Charleston, W.Va., lost his life in a single-motorcycle accident on State Road 15 in DeLeon Springs, the Florida Highway Patrol reported. The Sheriff's Office assisted at the scene.
Jarrett was traveling northbound in the outside lane when he drove off the roadway to the right, struck a barbed-wire fence, and was ejected from the motorcycle. He was dead at the scene. It's unknown what caused Jarrett to swerve off the road.
Read reporter Pat Hatfield's blog, Life in Interesting Times.
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