Florida Cities That Allow People To Drive On Their Beaches May Crackdown After A Series Of Accidents

MIAMI (CBSMiami) - Millions of people will head to the beach this holiday weekend and, in some cases, so will drivers.

But a series of recent accidents on several beaches in that state that allow people to drive on them is forcing some communities to reconsider the long-standing tradition.

A security camera video captured the moment a Jeep Grand Cherokee drove over a sand dune and hit a sunbather on Amelia Island.

It wasn't an isolated incident.

Just weeks earlier, Amanda Gonzalez was laying on the same beach when she too was run over by a different Jeep. Gonzalez wants vehicles off the beach.

"I felt a lotta pain. I sat up and I come nose to tire with a jeep," she said.

A third vehicle, driving at night on the beach, ran over a well-marked endangered sea turtle nest.

Nassau County, home to Amelia Island, charges five dollars a day for visitors to take a vehicle on the beach.

"It's preposterous," said John Phillips.

Phillips, an attorney, has represented six women in the last seven years who were run over while sunbathing on Florida beaches. He said he's identified more than 40 other incidents in Florida alone.

"Letting pedestrian vehicles on a beach seems to be driven by almost antiquated yore. I mean their grandfathers drove on the beach so they're gonna drive on the beach," he said.

At least a dozen states allow some form of beach driving-while deaths are uncommon, they have happened and accidents are not well tracked.

The city of Fernandina Beach tightened it's beach regulations and police now encourage sunbathers not to lay in the area open to vehicles. Officials are weighing whether to make the beaches car free but that's controversial with residents and tourists alike.

Cars and people continue to share the beach at Amelia Island as both the county and city really struggle with what to do to try and make the practice safer.