Tom and Lauren Hanley’s lives abruptly changed forever on their wedding day in June 2010 when a shuttle bus driver transporting their entire wedding party ran a red light. Their best friend and wedding officiant, Jim, was killed in the tragic crash.
In Florida, benefits of red-light safety cameras extend beyond public safety and into the world of cutting edge science. The Mark Wandall Traffic Safety Act allocates a portion of traffic fines collected from safety cameras to Florida’s trauma centers and to The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis. The Miami Project’s research into spinal cord and brain injuries has a direct impact on the many victims of motor vehicle accidents that suffer these types of life altering injuries.
Amanda was severely injured in 2004 when a dump-truck driver ran a red light and broadsided into her SUV. Amanda suffered a severe traumatic brain injury, lost her spleen and almost lost a kidney. The truck was 12-seconds late going through the intersection.
In 2007, my mom was on her way to my house from work. She had just gotten off of a bus and was waiting with several other pedestrians at a crosswalk on a busy highway. A truck driver ran a red light — eight seconds after it turned — and collided with a front-loading tractor in the intersection. The truck careened into the people in the crosswalk and killed my mom instantly.
