One minute you’re driving around Orange County Roads minding your own business, the next you’ve been rattled by a car accident in the middle of Florida with not a lot of solutions to your new problems. Who will pay for your medical bills? How will you make rent if you can’t work? What about your actual car? Don’t let these questions stress you out.
Leesburg car accident attorney Guy DiMartino has handled cases all across the state of Florida and can handle yours too. He will make sure your medical bills are paid, your work income will be taken care of and your car is fixed back to working order. Florida insurance companies have an incentive to lowball your financial needs after a car accident, so always go to a Florida auto accident attorney first before you even get the accident claim process started.
Florida Car Accident Facts
Auto accidents are constantly on the rise in Florida. The number of car accidents increases in this state by an average of 20,000 per year, leaving the last reported number by Florida Highway Safety in 2016 at 395,785 — totaling a number of 668, 699 people involved in Florida car accidents.
These accidents resulted in a total of 254,155 injuries and 3,176 deaths. This means over a third of the people listed above were injured in Florida car accidents. These statistics point towards there being a strong chance you, reading this webpage now, being involved in a car accident in Florida at some point in your life.
Even if you’re a safe driver who follows the rules of the road and drives defensively, an accident can find you. No one chooses to have their life altered by a car accident, but you can choose whether or not you want to be protected. Make sure your car insurance is beefed up to all the maximum limits and keep a Florida car accident attorney on retainer.
What You Should Do After a Florida Car Accident
- First and foremost call 911: Having police and medical professionals on the scene will ensure you have proper accident reports and medical care at the scene. Make sure you get a copy of the police report.
- Swap insurance information: Florida PIP law requires anyone involved in a car accident to exchange insurance information. So not only is this step required by law, but it starts the insurance process of filing your car accident claim.
- Collect evidence: Don’t solely rely on the police and paramedics to do all your research. Find any potential witnesses/nearby cameras and gather any information those sources have. This will come in handy during litigation.
- See a doctor: In case you’ve suffered a serious concussion or another injury not totally obvious, go see a doctor immediately following your accident. They will be able to fully assess the damages you’ve occurred during your car accident.
- Call a Florida Car Accident Attorney: Don’t go through the accident claim process alone. Let a Florida car accident attorney deal with the insurance company for you while you recover from your trauma.
Florida PIP Law and How if Affects Drivers
PIP (Personal Injury Protection), also referred to as the ‘no-fault’ law, is a statute not totally unique to Florida which protects those liable for accidents from being sued. The PIP law extends its reach to anyone driving a “human propelled vehicle”, whether or not that’s a bicycle, car, golf cart or tractor trailer.
Medical expenses such as treatment, transport, diagnostic tests, hospitalization, and surgical services are all covered by the Florida PIP law. This law requires all Florida car drivers to carry this insurance to cover medical expenses and lost wages.
Florida Car Insurance Options
This leads us to another important topic when it comes to car drivers: insurance. Since the law requires you to have it, Florida residents would be obliged to buy additional coverage in order to protect themselves from certain kinds of accidents.
Bodily injury coverage is optional in Florida, but it is highly recommended for drivers to carry it in case they hurt someone else in an accident.
Underinsured/uninsured motorist coverage protects a driver if they’ve been hit by another driver who does not carry any insurance or doesn’t have enough insurance. While that uninsured driver will have their own problems with the law, it won’t give you recourse because they have no way of paying you. UM coverage will make sure you’re not left up the creek without a paddle.
Common Accident Injuries Involving Florida Drivers
- Following Too Closely: You see this all the time on busy Florida roads with people rushing to their work. Traffic jams are often caused when drivers want to follow each other too closely on busy roads, which lead to rear-end collisions — one of the most common cases we see as car accident lawyers.
- Distracted Driving: 33 percent of all car accidents in the country are caused by drivers leaving their lane. So what causes us to leave our lane and collide with the driver next to us? Texting while driving, eating while driving — any kind of distracted driving can lead to trouble on the roads. Sadly enough, these first two accident scenarios are both the most common and preventable we see in Florida.
- Weather-induced Accidents: We see a lot of rain here in Florida, which means the people who live here are often burdened by wet road conditions. It’s easy to drive faster than usual on wet roads, but that can lead to much easier accidents and often more severe than on dry roads.
- Rolling Right Turns: We have a lot of busy intersections here in Florida. If you approach a right turn, it’s easy to not look both ways when making your turn. Just like that, you’ve struck a bicycle rider or even worse, a pedestrian, because you never took a complete stop at the intersection.
Common Accident Injuries Involving Florida Drivers
- Traumatic Brain Injuries: Concussions fall under the TBI category, which can be caused by any major blow to the head. TBI’s focus only on hidden head injuries, which means you can’t physically tell someone has an injury by looking at their head. These injuries normally manifest themselves in the form of headaches and can develop into nausea, dizziness, light sensitivity, hearing, and mood changes.
- Whiplash: The most common neck injury associated with car accidents is whiplash. When the impact force of a car accident causes your neck to sway violently back-and-forth, it causes trauma to your brain and neck which can lead to stiffness, immobility in your neck and blurred vision.
- Spine/Back Injuries: The same high impact car collisions which can lead to concussions and whiplash can also lead to strains in your spine. When the ligaments are torn from their attachments on your spine, this can lead to herniated discs and spinal stenosis. Back injuries are often the most debilitating, causing widespread pain throughout the body because of the number of nerve endings built up in your back.
- Broken Bones: A broken bone is a fairly straightforward injury, though no less debilitating than the other three kinds of car accident injuries we see. Ribs can crack from deployed airbags, ankles can break from a rear-end collision after getting caught under a pedal — there are a number of scenarios we see from our Leesburg, Florida clients.
Call a Leesburg, Florida Car Accident Attorney Today
Guy DiMartino has been practicing personal injury law and car accident law in Central Florida for years. He’s dealt with every insurance company in Florida and has been in dozens of litigation rooms with the biggest attorneys those companies can retain. When negotiating a settlement, the experience is key in the litigation room.
It takes an experienced Florida car accident attorney to know when to settle and when to walk away. If you’re too aggressive, you can turn up in court and walk away with nothing. If you’re too passive, you’re leaving valuable settlement cash on the table. Guy DiMartino understands this careful balancing act and won’t risk your well-being trying to score the big payout.
If you or a loved one have been involved in a car accident in Leesburg, Daytona Beach, or Melbourne — call car accident attorney Guy DiMartino today for a free consultation on your accident case.
