Articles Posted in Car Accidents

Drowsy driving is a major cause of Florida car accidents. Indeed, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), drowsy driving killed 795 people in 2017 alone. However, because this data relies only on police and hospital reports, traffic safety experts, sleep scientists, and public health organizations all agree that the actual number of deaths caused by drowsy driving is much higher.

The NHTSA has identified several characteristics that are common among drowsy driving accidents. For example, these accidents typically involve vehicles occupied only by the driver and occur in the late night/early morning hours or the midafternoon. They also usually involve one vehicle drifting off the road at a high speed, without the driver making any attempt at avoiding the collision. Needless to say, these accidents are also almost always catastrophic, frequently resulting in serious injury or death.

Perhaps the most common cause of drowsy driving is a motorist’s lack of sleep. Thus, overnight workers are at unusually high risk of falling asleep behind the wheel. There is also evidence that unrecognized sleep disorders cause a significant number of drowsy driving accidents. Also, the ingestion of alcohol or certain medications may also result in a sudden onset of extreme fatigue.

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Florida is not known for its good drivers. In fact, each year there are approximately 3,000 fatalities caused by Florida car accidents. Perhaps not surprisingly for those who have spent much time navigating Florida roads, a recent study lists Florida as second among all 50 states for the number of car accidents caused by careless driving.

The category of careless driving encompasses a number of poor driving habits, most notably distracted driving and fatigued driving. These two categories compose the lion’s share of all Florida car accidents, with speeding and drunk driving rounding out the major causes.

Of course, all Florida motorists have a duty to those with whom they share the road to ensure that they are operating their vehicle in a safe and responsible manner. This includes the decisions a driver makes while behind the wheel, but also it calls into the question the decision the driver makes to get behind the wheel in the first place.

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Last month, a state appellate court issued a written opinion in a Florida car accident case involving the issue of whether the lower court was proper to grant a new trial on all of the damages categories after finding that the jury’s award for future medical expenses was excessive. The court ultimately determined that, under Florida Statutes section 768.043(1), only the category found to have been excessive should be subject to a retrial.

The Facts of the Case

The plaintiff was injured in a car accident with an uninsured motorist. Since the other driver did not have insurance, the plaintiff was forced to file a claim with her own insurance company, under the uninsured motorist (UIM) clause. Generally speaking, when a UIM clause is included in an insurance contract, the insurance company agrees to stand in the place of the uninsured driver. Thus, if the claim cannot be settled, the insurance company may be named as a defendant in a personal injury lawsuit filed by the plaintiff.

Earlier this month, a Florida State Trooper was seriously injured in a Florida car accident when he was struck by a motorist while responding to the scene of an accident on the side of the highway. According to a local news report, the original accident was between two vehicles heading south on the Palmetto Expressway. Evidently, the state trooper was on scene assisting the motorists involved in that collision when another motorist failed to take notice of the accident and crashed into the back of one of the cars.

The force from that collision sent the car spinning around, and it then crashed into the other car that was involved in the original accident. The state trooper, who was standing near both cars, was struck by one of them and was thrown to the side of the road. The trooper was flown to a nearby hospital with serious injuries.

Police told reporters that the driver who caused the subsequent collision had alcohol on his breath and consented to a blood-draw. The results confirmed that the driver was driving under the influence of alcohol. He was arrested on several DUI-related charges.

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Often at the heart of Florida personal injury claims is the issue of who is at fault for an accident. This is especially true when there are several parties involved, or when a party claims that a victim was partly at fault. For example, even in a situation in which one driver is at fault for failing to obey traffic laws, another driver may be at fault for driving too fast to respond appropriately.

Comparative Negligence in Personal Injury Claims

In 1973, the Florida Supreme Court established the rule of comparative negligence in all tort cases. Comparative negligence considers the fault of the plaintiff in determining the plaintiff’s compensation. Under Florida’s pure comparative negligence standard, the plaintiff’s total damages award will be reduced by their own percentage of fault. For example, if a jury determines the defendant was 70% at fault, and the plaintiff was 30% at fault, the plaintiff will receive 70% of their damages.

If there are multiple defendants, a jury can assign each party a percentage of fault. Even if a jury finds a plaintiff was mostly at fault, the plaintiff can still recover compensation. The idea behind comparative negligence is that often multiple parties are at fault, and thus, each party should share in the blame. Now, Florida Statute 768.81(2) states that any contributory fault chargeable to the claimant is reduced according to the amount awarded for an injury attributable to the claimant’s contributory fault, but this does not bar recovery.

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Like any other activity, safely driving a motor vehicle is something that requires practice. Whether it be remembering the rules of the road, or the muscle memory needed to safely operate the gas and brake pedals, operating a motor vehicle requires a certain amount of knowledge and coordination. In Florida, before someone is provided with a driver’s license, they must meet certain criteria. These include passing both a written and a practical driving test. However, despite these requirements, it still remains true that new and inexperienced drivers are responsible for a disproportionate number of serious and fatal car accidents each year.

It should not come as a surprise that newer drivers cause more accidents than more experienced drivers. However, under the laws of Florida, when it comes to determining who is at fault for causing a car accident, it is irrelevant how long a driver has had their license. In other words, all drivers have the same obligation to safely operate their vehicle while on public roads. This means that if a new driver causes an accident resulting in serious injuries or death, they may be held financially liable to the victims of that accident and potentially the victim’s family members as well through a South Florida personal injury lawsuit.

In order to be successful in a personal injury claim, an accident victim must be able to show that some negligent act of the other driver resulted in their injuries. A driver’s negligence can be proven through evidence showing that the other driver committed a traffic violation, was intoxicated at the time of the accident, was distracted by their cell phone, or was careless in a variety of other ways.

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