SUV Car Driving on a beach: Boon or Bane?

Everyone loves the beach and Florida is famous the world over for its pristine beaches. The beaches in Florida are normally jam-packed due to traffic from the hordes of tourists and the people who frequent these beaches are quite used to the traffic, the tourists, the wildlife and the infrequent hurricanes. The places in and around Daytona Beach have legalized pathways for passenger vehicles which is a tradition of over a century which intermittently ends in death.

There was a report from The New York Times, early this summer which carried the news of the death of 4 year old Aiden Patrick, who became the second victim of driving on Daytona-beach. The first case was of a British tourist Ellie Bland also 4 years of age who died in March this year. In both cases the children had run into the paths of the oncoming vehicles which were driven by perfectly sober, legally licensed drivers. Driving cars and SUVs on Daytona Beach is a tradition which goes way back to over a hundred years; however it is not widespread to other Florida Beaches. The St. Augustine beaches were closed to traffic after an accident which took place a decade ago, made a teenager slip into coma, the victim died thereafter.

In many other states, especially on beaches, driving has been banned and made illegal for several reasons. Either to protect wildlife as in the case of Gulf Islands National Seashore that links the Panhandle’s beaches between Destin and Pensacola. Here only law officers are allowed to patrol the beaches on tiny pickup trucks and ATVs but civilians are prohibited to park on the sands leave alone drive on it due to apprehensions for migratory birds and sea turtles.

The latest SUV and car accidents in Daytona which resulted in death have sent alarm bells ringing to close down the beaches to all vehicular traffic and the situation is quite the same as the off-road parks in California that have been in divergence with environmentalists from the dawn of the SUV Renaissance. The divergence came to a head in August when an off-road race truck in southern California, lost control and rammed into spectators killing 8 of them and leaving many other injured. However, the majority of residents in Daytona Beach/ New Smyrna Beach area have a preference of leaving the beaches open.

The beaches have been home to the budding sport of NASCAR from as early as the 1950s and even hosted races till the racing series moved to Daytona International Speedway in 1959. The areas surrounding Volusia County depend much on NASCAR and on the income they get from tourists and the residents despise losing that income and the tradition which dates back to the 1800s. Nevertheless, with so many accidents happening and people wanting to conserve natural habitations, it is still left to the majority to decide what they want to do with their beaches.