Police have identified the elderly couple that recently died in a car-pedestrian incident near Malabar, Florida as a 77-year-old man and his 70-year-old wife from Palm Bay. The couple was crossing Highway 1 on their way to a local cafe when they were hit by a car. They were declared dead by personnel at the scene.
The crash badly damaged the car, driven by a 25-year-old man, who was taken to a local hospital. Florida Highway Patrol officers estimate that the man was driving approximately 50 miles per hour at the time of the fatal car accident. The posted speed limit is 55 mph. The cause of the accident is not yet known and no charges have been filed, but an investigation is continuing.
According to the Highway Patrol, the scene of the accident is not near a crosswalk and pedestrians are obliged to yield the right of way to vehicles if they choose to cross the road.
In a collision between a motor vehicle and a pedestrian, the pedestrian is almost always the party who suffers. In this case, one of the Highway Patrol officers investigating the accident said it was one of the worst he had ever seen.
Injuries from motor vehicle crashes involving pedestrians can range from the minor to fatal as in this case. The loss of loved ones is heartbreaking, and substantial financial expenses come with such losses, including medical bills and funeral expenses.
In this accident, the results of the investigation will be critical in establishing who is at fault. If the findings show that the driver was negligent, then surviving family members should be able to file a wrongful death lawsuit to seek compensation not only for the costs incurred but also for emotional distress from the loss of two family members.
Source: Florida Today, “Married Couple Identified in US 1 Accident near Yellow Dog,” Andrew Ford, Dec. 7, 2013
