South Florida Injury Attorneys Blog
No one wants to be involved in a serious auto accident. However, according to a recent report, some states are better than others when it comes to the ability of accident victims to recover for their injuries from an at-fault driver and his or her insurance company. Unfortunately, Florida didn’t quite make the top of the list. In fact, Florida came in second-to-last.
The report looked mostly at the required amount of insurance that all drivers must have to legally drive and compared that number to the percentage of compliant drivers. For example, in Florida motorists need to carry the following insurance coverage:
- $10,000 in bodily injury per person;
- $20,000 in bodily injury per accident; and
- $10,000 in property damage per accident.
In the insurance business, this kind of coverage is written as $10,000/$20,000/$10,000. Other states, such as Maine, require drivers to insure themselves with $50,000/$100,000/$25,000.
It isn’t just Florida’s paltry insurance requirements that contribute to it being such a bad state for accident victims. The state also has record-low compliance among drivers, even though the limits are so low.
It is estimated that 23.8% of Florida drivers are not insured. When an uninsured driver causes an accident, it then is up to the accident victim’s insurance to step up and cover the bill, assuming that the accident victim has uninsured motorist protection on his or her policy.
To give the reader an idea of the percentage of non-compliant drivers in other states, Maine is estimated to have over 95% compliance. That makes Florida the second-worst again, next to Oklahoma.
Getting into an Accident with an Uninsured Motorist
If you are hit by a driver who does not have insurance, you may be able to make a claim under your own insurance, just as you would under the at-fault driver’s insurance. However, uninsured motorist protection is not a requirement in Florida, so many drivers do not have the coverage. If you don’t have uninsured motorist coverage, consider increasing your auto insurance coverage to include it, since it can make a huge difference in certain situations.
The same principle holds true for underinsured motorists. If a driver causes an accident but has only low limits, such as those required by the State of Florida, the medical bills and property damage may easily exceed the driver’s insurance. In this case, uninsured motorist coverage would kick in to allow the accident victim to recover financially for his or her medical bills and other related expenses.
Have You Been Injured in a South Florida Car Accident?
If you or a loved one has recently been involved in a South Florida car accident, you may be entitled to monetary compensation based on the negligence of the other driver. Even if that driver was not insured at the time of the accident, you may be able to recover by filing a claim with your own insurance, depending on your coverage. To learn more about how you may be able to recover for an accident you have been in, call 800-753-5529 to set up a free initial consultation with a dedicated personal injury attorney today.
More Blog Posts:
Man Injured in Workplace Injury Recovers $5 Million in Settlement Offer, Cecere Santana Injury Lawyers Blog, published January 13, 2014.
Man Injured in Workplace Injury Recovers $5 Million in Settlement Offer, Cecere Santana Injury Lawyers Blog, published January 13, 2015.