Doral: Fast and Furious.
From the big screen to our City.
It appears as if those that speed through our city’s streets ignores that speeding is one of the most frequent causes of traffic accidents with fatal consequences.
Edda Pujadas, @epujadas
DORAL – Mimicking the style of the famous movie Fast and Furious, many of the streets in our city have turn into the perfect scene for those that drive their vehicles at high speeds, endangering the lives of those that commute around, the pedestrians and themselves.
Every day there are more residents that complain about vehicles that have been modified or “tuned”, as commonly called, and that are speeding. Not only these cars are more visually enticing but also louder, they cause a terrible noise around them and generate noise contamination.
The fact that a car is “tuned” means that this car has been customized through different mechanical modifications for better performance and also has gone through external changes to the bodywork to make it more striking, it has also, as well have had the silencer systems modified to generate a more powerful sound.
Generally speaking, these cars are seen and heard in residential areas of Doral after 10 o’clock at night and even when there has not been detected that there are organized races going on, there have been cases of automobiles speeding indiscriminately, especially along NW 107th Avenue around Ronald Reagan Doral Senior High School.
Officer Rey Valdes from the Doral Police Department informed us that they have received complaints from residents of the city who claim that in a private parcel located north of NW 58th Street and NW 102nd Avenue there are cars that move at high speeds to register their times.
Given these allegations, the Doral Police Department has implemented several operatives to detect people linked to these facts. “Recently we had a group of agents surveilling the area indicated by the community complaints, for a month, however, they were not able to detect anything irregular,” explains Officer Valdes.
More recently, the Doral Police Department conducted a new operative around Ronald Reagan High School, and although they were not able to locate any car speeding, these type of preventative and safeguard actions have achieved the decrease the incidence of speeding.
For Officer Valdes, it is very important to listen to the complaints of the community, for this reason, the Doral Police Department will continue to be vigilant to this situation and it urges the neighbors to keep calling the Police to notify about these types of events or any situation of danger or crime. “The complaint is the starting point of the police work, for this reason, it is vital for us to have the help of the community.”
ALARMING FIGURES
For the speed lovers, it might be good to remind them of some figures. According to the American Automobile Association, almost 1.25 million people worldwide, die in traffic accidents every year, with an average of 3,287 per day. Additionally, around 20 million people have been injured or become disabled due to traffic accidents.
These statistics state at the same time, that more than half of the traffic accident deaths happen among young adults between the ages of 15 and 44 years of age. Traffic accidents are the ninth cause of death and represent 2.2% of all the deaths worldwide. However, it is estimated that these can turn into the fifth cause of death by the year 2030.
In the United States, more than 37 million people die in traffic accidents yearly, while 2.35 million are injured or become disabled for the same cause. This incidence of traffic accidents makes this the main cause of death for healthy citizens in this country.
Some other data that merits attention comes from a study that was conducted by the activist group Smart Growth America, according to which, Florida is the most dangerous state for pedestrians. An average of 2.7 in every 100 inhabitants die in this state every year while walking.
In order to fully understand these figures, it is important to know the main causes of traffic accidents. Distracted driving is one of them, which includes the use of cellular phones, slowing down to see an accident, contemplate the landscape and converse or interact with other passengers in the car, among others.
The second cause is fatigue or weariness of the driver. According to the National Traffic Safety Administration of the United States, driver’s fatigue is responsible for approximately one hundred thousand accidents in the United States, per year, with the highest risk hours between 11 at night and 8 in the morning.
It is not a surprise that driving under the influence of alcohol is the third cause of traffic accidents, despite the many traffic laws that exist today. Speeding is the fourth cause of traffic accidents, given the huge danger that this implies not only for drivers but also for bystanders. In fact, collision statistics indicate that 27% of the deaths and 19% of serious injuries are due to or involve speeding.
Unfortunately, speeding while driving tends to be related to the youth in drivers. 40% of the people driving at high speed and who were involved in fatal accidents were in the age range between 16 and 24 years. 80% of the young adult passengers who died in an accident caused by speeding were with a driver of similar age to theirs.
Even when speed limits are present throughout the country, there are still many people that evade or ignore them, endangering their lives and the ones of other drivers, together with pedestrians and without taking into consideration that when they speed, they face the possibility of losing control of the vehicle, reducing the effectiveness of the occupant’s protection systems, increasing the distance required to stop the vehicle and increasing the level of the injuries in case of an accident.
Respecting the speed limits is an attitude of conscience that being behind the wheel is more than a right, a privilege. For this reason, it is imperative to respect and comply with all the traffic laws.
Doral: Fast and Furious. Doral News – Noticias Doral
” Generally speaking, these cars are seen and heard in residential areas of Doral after 10 o’clock at night”
The author hit a home run. I work at night and get home roughly 2 to 3 am and this is true .
Putting this aside there has been an over all increase of reckless drivers , illegal vehicles from pick ups to cars ( when you change the height / width of the vehicle on the registration it is illegal ) , Fri / Sat drunk drivers and police do not patrol like they used to .
Plenty seem to hang out the entire shift . This is no longer the Police of years ago and it is noticeable but again MOST people here rather complain to each other then email the Mayor .
The Doral police are very good if you notify them of a problem going on in a business , etc but as far as just patrolling like years ago , they do not .
This is absolutely true, I live by NW 107 AVE / NW 50th Street (By John I Smith Middle)
I have recently been hearing a lot of Revving noises, racing noises and loud cars noises throughout the Midnight.
I usually hear them racing by the 41st Street or Worse, passing by my neighborhood on the 107th Ave…
Once, our beautiful city has become the new Hialeah. (Not being racist) but this new immigration needs to abide by the Laws. And get educated on living in the US. I was living in Venezuela for 6 years due to a job and it is exactly what is happening here in our city.
-Also teenagers, as a mother of a 15 year old. We need to teach our teens how to be a better citizen and teach them the laws.
Hernan Zylez.
I am Cuban born in Cuba and nothing racist at all about your Hialeah comment , My experience there was that It is a poorly run city with incredibly low political standards and the MAJORITY of residents there wouldn’t have it any other way .
However my experience has been that It doesn’t make any difference whether born in Latin America or born here , Miami has some serious savage and DRUNK drivers .
I work at night and Doral police DO NOT patrol like they used to BUT they are VERY good if called ( I have seen them kick into gear ) but I wish they would patrol like they did under Chief Gomez during night AND day .
Come spring break and summer its the worst with bars and clubs all over Miami going 7 days a week and plenty pump out drunk drivers , add to that as many 24 hour gas stations sell under age teenagers alcohol , all they do is ask them their age , no ID needed ( I have NEVER seen this in Doral) but have lots of times in Coral way .