A tragic accident claimed the life of a man in a wheelchair in Miami earlier this week. The car accident occurred at the intersection of Northwest 4th Avenue and 62nd Street as the man in the wheelchair was attempting to cross the street. The force of the impact reportedly threw the man from his wheelchair.
According to a detective with Miami Police Traffic Homicide, the driver of the van that hit the man did not see him. This failure to see the man was reportedly due to a street light that was not working.
The problem of inoperable lighting has run rampant in the area of this accident. Last fall we wrote a post on a similar accident. In that instance a woman was killed at Northwest Seventh Avenue and 59th Street after she was hit by a car that did not see her because the street lights were not working. The reason the lights in that area were not working was the theft of copper necessary to make them work.
The city has reportedly addressed the issue by fixing the street lights. In addition, the county has created a task force to deal with the theft of copper.
Miami residents rely on the city to provide a safe place to live. The maintenance of street lights are just one way that safety can be maintained. The deaths of both this man and the woman last year highlight just how much citizens of the city rely on the infrastructure it provides.
Source: CBS Miami, “Wheelchair Bound Man Killed In Accident,” Feb. 23, 2012