Key West Injury Lawyer Blog
Following the deaths of at least 29 people on Key West and Stock Island streets from 2018 to 2024, the Key West City Commission adopted a comprehensive Safety Action Plan, according to reporting from Keys News.
The plan — which was voted on last week and has been developed by city staff in collaboration with the University of Florida over the last year — aims to eliminate traffic deaths and serious injuries by 2035. In it, officials plan to crackdown on illegal e-motos on city streets congested with tourists, cyclists and other pedestrians. While sometimes marketed as e-bikes — micromobility devices with their own host of issues that have gained traction over the last decade — e-motos have no pedals, use throttle-only motors, and can reach speeds from 40 to 70 mph.
Data presented paints a sobering reality — while bicyclists and pedestrians only account for about 8% of total crashes in the city they also account for 26% of all fatalities and serious injuries related to crashes. From 2018 to 2024, officials at the University of Florida found that there were just shy of 300 crashes resulting in a fatality or serious injury in Key west. Officials were also able to identify areas and intersections that were a part of this “high injury network.”
Those areas included:
- North Roosevelt Boulevard — which proved to be the most dangerous corridor
- South Roosevelt Boulevard
- Overseas Highway/US-1 — specifically on Stock Island between the Triangle and Key Haven
- Truman Avenue
- Duval Street
- Eaton Street
- Simonton Street
- Whitehead Street — the historic area where Leesfield & Partners has operated its Florida Bar Award-Winning office since at least the 1980s
- Flagler Avenue
The plan identifies 23 policy recommendations, addresses various transit and parking challenges, and zeroes in on 36 safety projects, according to media reporting. The e-moto plan is only one of the recommended policies to improve pedestrian and bicyclist safety. Two of the safety projects that were proposed include implementing corridor-wide improvements of North Roosevelt Boulevard, a project that would take an estimated $650,000 to complete, and installing better signage at the Triangle, an estimated $30,000 cost.
Monroe County Crashes
In 2025, there were 1,674 crashes in all of Monroe County, according to the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles’ Crash Dashboard. While data from that year showed that overall crashes in the county were down from 2024, it also revealed that roadway deaths had almost doubled.
In 2024, there were a total of 1,732 crashes with six fatalities. In 2025, at least 12 people died. In 2023, at least 18 people died as the result of tragic crashes in the area. There were approximately 1,400 crashes recorded for that year.
In 2024, 1,252 people were injured in crashes. Of these incidents, at least 161 were bicycle crashes and 60 involved pedestrians. At least one bicyclist died and two pedestrians were killed. There were 63 motorcycle crashes in Monroe County that year with no fatalities. The month with the highest number of crashes overall was March, according to the data.
In 2025, the area had 1,600 crashes with 12 deaths and 981 injuries. There were 127 bicycle crashes, 53 motorcycle crashes, and 47 crashes involving pedestrians. At least two bicyclists and three pedestrians were killed. Just as in 2024, March had the most crashes at 179, according to the data.
Leesfield & Partners
Since 1976, Leesfield & Partners has represented thousands of clients and their grieving families throughout motor vehicle accident cases that have yielded historic and record-breaking results in Florida. In a case that involved the death of a family’s medical-school-bound daughter and permanent injury to their son, Leesfield & Partners attorneys obtained a $95 million verdict for the family. In that case, the family was on their way to drop off their daughter at her medical school’s orientation when a drunk driver was speeding down the wrong side of the road on I-95. The result was a head-on collision that killed their daughter, 23, and caused severe injuries to their 21-year-old son. Following the crash, the young man was left needing a wheelchair and unable to speak. Additionally, he required round-the-clock care due to his injuries.
At trial, the jury awarded $57 million to the son and $38 million to the parents, marking the largest verdict in Miami-Dade County history for a motor vehicle accident case.
“The result in this case shows what hard work and creative lawyering can do for clients with devastating injuries,” said Ira Leesfield, the firm’s Founder and Managing Partner. “Along with co-counsel Aaron Davis, we are happy to settle with two defendants and to obtain this record verdict for them.”
The firm also recovered over $36 million for a family who lost their loved one in a fatal motor vehicle accident case.
Leesfield & Partners obtained over $29 million in another crash case that resulted in severe injuries to our clients. The crash in this instance was caused by road construction.
Partner Justin B. Shapiro and Trial Attorney Eric Shane are representing a man whose live was forever changed after a crash in Key West. Our client, who was driving a motor scooter the day of the crash, was hit by a negligent driver who failed to yield at an intersection and caused a horrific collision. Our client was ejected from his scooter and hit the driver’s windshield with such a force that it was significantly cracked.
He was left with a traumatic brain injury, a crushed left tibia and fibula. Since the tragic incident, he has remained at a long-term care and rehabilitation facility.
“Sadly, our client’s life has been destroyed by this crash and he remains in in-patient rehabilitation,” Mr. Shane said. “We are aggressively pursuing all avenues of recovery under the law.”
That case is ongoing.
Mr. Leesfield and Trial Attorney Bernardo Pimentel II are representing a bicyclist in an ongoing case. In that incident, our client was approaching the intersection of College Road, where he had the right-of-way to proceed. At the same time, another man behind the wheel of a commercial truck was approaching from the opposite direction and failed to yield, plowing through the intersection and making an illegal left turn. In doing so, this driver hit our client who was then ejected from his bicycle and sent into the air before eventually falling onto the hood of another vehicle. He was then thrown onto the road.
“This crash underscores the serious responsibility truck drivers have to protect vulnerable road users, including bicyclists, who have the same legal right to be on the road,” Mr. Pimentel said. “We intend to pursue full accountability.”
Ira Leesfield on Giving Back
Pedestrian safety is of the utmost importance to thriving cities. When tragedy strikes for these unsuspecting individuals at the hands of distracted, impaired, and/or negligent drivers, it is personal injury law firms like Leesfield & Partners that step in to ensure all responsible parties are held accountable.
In Miami, where Leesfield & Partners is headquartered, there were approximately 1,083 crashes involving bicyclists and 1,881 crashes involving pedestrians in 2025. Of these crashes, at least 15 bicyclists were killed and 81 pedestrians died. With bogged down traffic on nearly every city street at any time of day, our attorneys know just how dangerous distracted and/or impaired driving can be to both bicyclists and pedestrians.
This is why Mr. Leesfield has previously partnered with safety organizations such as Mothers Against Drunk Driving and Friends of The Underline. In joining The Underline’s Board of Directors in 2023, Mr. Leesfield affirmed a commitment to pedestrian safety. While the organization’s main goal is to transform he previously unused land underneath Miami’s Metrorail system into a 10-mile walkable urban path and community park, it also creates a space where bikers, dog walkers, wheelchair users, and other pedestrians can get around while staying away from city traffic.
“Ira’s commitment to community service and public safety, as well as his law firm’s proximity to The Underline, make him a welcome addition to our dynamic board,” said Meg Daly, Friends of The Underline Founder.
In a longstanding commitment to the Florida Keys community, Mr. Leesfield has repeatedly donated to charities and initiatives aimed at improving the lives of locals who need it most. This means supporting local food pantries and youth athletics. Last year, Mr. Leesfield established the Dexter Butler College Scholarship in honor of a beloved teacher and coach who died in March of 2024.
“The Butler family has done many great things for the Key West community, and this is one way that we can honor them and pay tribute to their son,” Mr. Leesfield said.
The scholarship is now open for 2026.
Click here for further instructions on how to apply or email Sanchez@Leesfield.com.
Previous Cases
Mr. Shapiro previously represented a family in a wrongful death motor vehicle case involving a pedestrian. A verdict of over $36 million was obtained for the family in that case.
In a motor vehicle accident involving negligent road construction, Leesfield & Partners attorneys obtained over $29 million for the injured clients.
Mr. Leesfield obtained a $19.8 million verdict against Honda in a design defect case involving a motorcycle kickstand. In that case, our client was in the middle of a ride when the kickstand deployed and caused his motorcycle to spin out of control. He was paralyzed as the result of this violent collision.
This was the start of litigation against multiple manufacturers involving the same dangerous design defect handled by Mr. Leesfield on behalf of injured clients.
A $15.4 million recovery was obtained for a Fort Lauderdale handyman who was injured as a backseat passenger in a high-speed motor vehicle accident. The man in that case was in a car that was stopped at a drawbridge when another car hit it from behind, causing skull fractures, frontal lobe brain damage and facial fractures.
As a result of his injuries, our client developed a seizure disorder that could not be controlled by medication. This ended the then-22-year-old’s career as a handyman in the area.
Leesfield & Partners previously represented the families of three teenage girls after they were struck by a commercial truck driver making an illegal U-turn on the turnpike. The girls in that case were on their way to the library when the driver turned directly into their path. Tragically, one girl was killed and the other two sustained serious injuries.
Our attorneys worked tirelessly to settle the case for over $8.6 million for the families. The firm also obtained an over $7.6 million arbitration award for the family who lost their daughter.
In the case of a woman who was walking back to her office following a midday break, Mr. Shapiro secured the maximum recoverable amount set forth in the defendant’s insurance policy limits. The woman was crossing the street in a marked crosswalk when a pickup truck driver made an illegal left turn, claiming to not have seen her. Injuries to our client included skull fractures and brain hemorrhages in addition to injuries to her left leg.
A $6 million settlement was secured for the client in that case.
Previously, the firm represented a bicyclist who was injured when she was hit by a car while stopped off the shoulder of the Overseas Highway. The driver in that case hit our client after losing control of the vehicle while fiddling with the GPS.
Leesfield & Partners obtained $5.35 million for the bicyclist’s multiple, life-threatening injuries.
In another pedestrian-involved case, Leesfield & Partners obtained a $2.9 million recovery our client who was injured due to a driver’s negligence.
Leesfield & Partners client represented a well-known businessman and restauranteur in Key West involved in a crash with an ambulance that left him permanently injured and disfigured. The driver of the ambulance in that case claimed he was on his way to an emergency but did not have on his lights or signals when he ran through an intersection in which he had the red light. Due to the lack of emergency signals, our client, who was riding a scooter, had no way of knowing that the ambulance would not stop as he crossed the intersection.
A jury awarded our client a $2.1 million verdict.
The firm represented injured clients in a case involving an officer with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission who was driving a truck towing a 31-foot fishing boat near Marathon, Florida. The officer was going the speed limit when the trailer began to fishtail from side-to-side and went into oncoming traffic. A driver in a van tried to avoid a collision but couldn’t.
At least two people died, and catastrophic injuries were suffered by multiple others. The driver of the van survived but had nine broken bones, numerous lacerations to her face and was left traumatized by the ordeal. An investigation from the Florida Highway Patrol concluded that the combined weight of the trailer and the boat exceeded the maximum towing capacity of the trailer hitch on the truck, causing the crash.
Leesfield & Partners settled the case for above the available insurance coverage.
In a Monroe County case, this time involving a Monroe County Sheriff’s Office Deputy, the firm secured the entirety of insurance policy limits. In that case, the deputy was driving a car with his son, a minor, when another car failed to yield the right-of-way when pulling onto the Overseas Highway. The other driver, who was speeding, pulled out directly in front of the deputy, causing the inevitable crash.
A child who was crossing the street suffered a traumatic brain injury after a driver hit him. In that case, Leesfield & Partners secured a $1.2 million settlement for the Fort Lauderdale family.
Mr. Pimentel secured a $1 million recovery for a family involved in a fatal car crash at the hands of a negligent driver.
Mr. Shane obtained a confidential amount for a young passenger who was injured in a severe Florida crash.
Mr. Pimentel obtained a confidential settlement for a family whose young son was severely injured when a car slammed through a Florida discount store’s windows.
Trial Attorney Evan Robinson secured a six-figure settlement for a client injured in a Monroe County crash.
In an ongoing case, Carlos A. Fabano, a Trial Attorney at the firm, is representing a pedestrian who was severely and permanently injured by a negligent driver.
