MANATEE COUNTY, Fla. — Janice Martinez is lucky to be alive.
“Oh, extremely fortunate,” she said Thursday.
The former Florida Highway Patrol trooper remembers the scary night she had on the job 10 years ago.
“I was on my way to the jail with a drunk, and I was traveling eastbound on Hillsborough Avenue, and over the Hillsborough River, head on at me, comes another drunk,” she said. “I got hit head-on on top of the Hillsborough Bridge.”
Martinez — and the others involved — survived unscathed, but the incident changed her perspective and her career trajectory.
She’s now the law enforcement liaison for the Florida Department of Transportation District One, which includes Charlotte, Collier, De Soto, Glades, Hardee, Hendry, Highlands, Lee, Manatee, Okeechobee, Polk, and Sarasota counties. In her new role, Martinez does whatever she can to prevent crashes, especially those that cause severe injury and death.
“Our numbers keep creeping up,” she said. “There were over 3,800 fatalities last year in the State of Florida.”
According to FDOT, eight people die, and 49 are seriously injured in preventable crashes every day across Florida.
Keith Robins, the District Safety Administrator for FDOT District One, said extensive research and focus groups helped the department determine that most crashes happen when drivers depart their lane, collide at intersections, or hit people walking or biking.
Through further study, FDOT also learned that many crashes result from aggressive driving, and 50% of the drivers involved are young men ages 22 to 27.
“They’re not invincible,” Robins said. “Their actions do have repercussions not just on them but on others around them.”
So, FDOT is trying to reach those young drivers with a brand new campaign.
In the coming months, the department will conduct a media campaign in regions where aggressive driving is the worst, including West Florida counties like Manatee and Polk.
The department and its partners will also attend fairs, festivals, and racetracks to educate young people and their parents using literature, promotional items, and interactive demonstrations.
“We hope that parents would not only demonstrate a positive example for their children but also talk to their kids about the danger of aggressive driving,” said Robins. “Ultimately, the thing that can really help make the greatest impact is for the individual driver to be more responsible and more careful on the roadway.”
Thursday, FDOT, and FHP held the campaign’s inaugural event at the Bradenton Motorsports Park in Manatee County.
Martinez, who attended the event, hopes the effort will help educate and help improve Florida’s deadly statistics.
“That is our hope,” she said. “Zero is the only acceptable number.”
