The wreck happened near State Highway 559 on Interstate 4. A trooper was helping a road construction crew. When he pulled into the inside traffic lane, he did not see an approaching motorcyclist, who then slammed into the cruiser’s right side. The force of the impact propelled the rider off his bike and onto the pavement. An oncoming large truck was unable to avoid hitting the injured man. He died at the scene.

No other details were available.

Motorcycle Crash Injuries

There is a saying among motorcyclists that there are only two kinds of riders: those who have gone down, and those who will go down. Motorcycle wrecks are part of the riding experience, and in many cases, these injuries are serious or even fatal. The motorcycle rider fatality rate is more than twenty times higher than the vehicle occupant fatality rate. Some of these serious injuries include:

• Broken Bones: When their bikes stop suddenly in crashes, riders keep moving forward at the same speed. The resulting falls often shatter their bones instead of merely breaking them. As a result, doctors must often perform highly invasive surgical procedures to set these bones. Then, the victim must undergo long-term physical therapy to regain lost function.
• Biker’s Arm: As riders fall, they naturally extend their arms to break their falls. These reactions often snap the nerves in the brachial plexus nerve bundle under the arms. This injury usually causes permanent paralysis.
• Head Injuries: The motion of a fall, as opposed to the impact, often causes a head injury. During a fall and landing, the victim’s brain repeatedly and violently slams against the skull. The resulting brain injuries are permanent. Once brain cells die, they never regenerate.

These injuries, and others like them, often mean tens of thousands of dollars in medical bills. To alleviate the resulting financial stress, a Tampa personal injury attorney works with doctors, so they defer collection until the case is resolved. In other words, most crash victims pay nothing upfront for top-quality medical care.

Wrecks like the one in the above story often involve foreseeability issues. The semi-truck driver probably had nothing to do with the wreck. However, that driver most likely caused the victim’s death.

In legal terms, “foreseeable” usually means “possible.” It certainly is not likely that drivers will encounter injured people lying in the road in front of them. But such events are certainly possible.

The applicable duty of care sometimes comes into play as well. In Florida, commercial drivers usually have a higher duty of care than noncommercial operators. They have additional responsibilities when it comes to looking out for unexpected hazards.

Distracted Driving Wrecks

The officer who pulled out in front of the motorcycle was assisting a construction crew. That divided attention is distracting enough. Making matters worse, most police cruisers resemble mobile command centers. A vast array of flashing lights and incoming information streams demand the driver’s immediate attention. As a result, distracted driving usually contributes to a number of officer-involved collisions.

In general, Florida has very weak distracted driving laws. For example, the Sunshine State has one of the laxest cell phone laws in the country. It normally only applies to texting while driving.

However, the weak state of the law does not affect a driver’s duty of care. This duty requires motorists to focus on the road while they are behind the wheel. Multitasking behind the wheel clearly violates this duty. There’s a big difference between multitasking at home and multitasking while one is behind the wheel of a fast-moving car. If distraction causes a crash, the tortfeasor (negligent driver) could be legally responsible for damages.

These damages normally include compensation for economic losses, such as medical bills, and noneconomic losses, such as pain and suffering.

Contact a Hard-Working Hillsborough County Lawyer

Injury victims are usually entitled to significant compensation. For a free consultation with an experienced Tampa car accident attorney, contact Mark H. Wright, PLLC. Attorneys can connect victims with doctors, even if they have no insurance or money.

Resource:

wfla.com/news/polk-county/motorcyclist-killed-in-collision-with-fhp-cruiser-tractor-trailer-on-i-4-in-polk-county/

According to investigators, at the intersection of North 29th Street and MLK, an officer looking for a hit-and-run suspect smashed into the rear passenger side of a Nissan Sentra. The police cruiser then careened into a utility pole. Both drivers were rushed to nearby hospitals with serious injuries.

No details were available about the hit-and-run collision.

Burden of Proof in Hit-and-Run Wrecks

Quite possibly, the officer in question was more focused on obtaining hit-and-run evidence, most likely apprehending a fleeing suspect, than on driving the patrol car. Such evidence is critical in criminal court cases. Usually, unless officers apprehend suspects at or near the accident scene, it’s almost impossible to obtain convictions in criminal court.

The burden of proof in a criminal case is evidence beyond any reasonable doubt. Credible evidence that the defendant was driving the car at the time of the crash is about the only way to meet this burden of proof.

Civil court is much different. The burden of proof is only a preponderance of the evidence (more likely than not). So, a Tampa personal injury attorney must present compelling proof as opposed to overwhelming proof. There’s a big difference.

In most cases, victim/plaintiffs need only identify the vehicle, perhaps from a plate number recorded on a nearby surveillance camera. Usually, it’s more likely than not that the vehicle’s owner was behind the wheel at a given time. Such proof might not be enough to establish guilt in criminal court, but it’s typically enough to obtain maximum compensation in civil court.

This compensation normally includes money for economic losses, such as medical bills, and noneconomic losses, such as pain and suffering.

Liability in Non-Device Distracted Driving Crashes

Distracted drivers are responsible for a significant number of fatal and serious injury collisions in Florida. Pundits and politicians frequently focus on device distraction crashes. But such collisions account for only a small number of these wrecks. Other causes, and more common causes, include eating while driving, drinking while driving, and anything else which causes:

• Manual distraction (hand off the wheel),
• Cognitive distraction (mind off driving), and/or
• Visual distraction (eyes off the road).

Police cruisers, which are in effect mobile command centers, are very distracting. These drivers must deal with things like multiple flashing lights and information streaming across computer screens. In other words, it takes so much concentration to simply drive that many officers simply cannot perform any additional multitasking.

The duty of care requires motorists to focus on the road and drive defensively. Distraction clearly violates this duty of care. Circumstantial evidence in these claims includes device use logs, erratic driving prior to the wreck, and the tortfeasor’s (negligent driver’s) statements about driving while distracted.

The same burden of proof discussed above applies in ordinary negligence claims. So, a little evidence goes a long way.

A few brief words about officer-involved collisions and other injuries. Normally, these victims must initially file a notice of claim. This notice gives the police department, city, or other responsible entity a chance to settle the matter quietly. Special rules also apply in terms of negligence, because officers have limited immunity in these situations.

Work With a Savvy Hillsborough County Lawyer

Injury victims are usually entitled to significant compensation. For a free consultation with an experienced Tampa car accident attorney, contact Mark H. Wright, PLLC. Attorneys can connect victims with doctors, even if they have no insurance or money.

Resource:

abcactionnews.com/news/region-hillsborough/tampa-police-officer-involved-in-a-crash-responding-to-a-hit-and-run-accident

Investigators from the Florida Highway Patrol say that the man was trying to cross the westbound lanes of Hillsborough Avenue. The man died at the scene. The pickup driver who fatally struck him is not facing charges at this time.

Pedestrian Injuries

Advanced restraint systems and engineering changes have made today’s cars and trucks much safer than the ones which rolled off assembly lines in the 1990s. Today’s vehicles are also larger and faster than those earlier cars and trucks, which is one reason the vehicle collision fatality rate has actually increased since 2007.

However, pedestrians literally only have the clothes on their backs to protect them from onrushing vehicles. As a result, these individuals often sustain catastrophic injuries, like:

• Blood Loss: External trauma injuries bleed significantly. Furthermore, the violent motion causes internal organs to smash against each other. Since these organs have no protective skin layer, they usually bleed very badly. As a result, many pedestrian accident victims have lost about a third of their blood by the time they reach a hospital.
• Head Injuries: The force of an impact usually propels victims through the air. The hard landing often causes a severe head injury. Usually, these injuries are permanent. When brain cells die, they don’t regenerate. At best, doctors can ease the symptoms, so these victims can live somewhat longer lives.
• Broken Bones: These injuries are normally not life-threatening. However, much like head injuries, they are normally permanent. Since doctors must often use metal components to reconstruct severely broken bones, some permanent loss of use, like reduced range of motion, is normally inevitable.

The medical bills alone related to such injuries usually exceed $50,000. If the insurance company drags its feet in paying these bills, as is usually the case, a Tampa personal injury lawyer can send a letter of protection to a medical provider. Since this letter guarantees payment when the case ends, the provider usually defers billing, or at least collection, until that time.

Liability Scenarios

Even if the victim was jaywalking across the road, compensation is still available, as outlined below.

First, let’s talk about permanent crosswalk accidents. If the pedestrian was in the crosswalk and walking with the light, the tortfeasor is most likely fully liable for damages as a matter of law.

These damages usually include compensation for economic losses, such as medical bills, and noneconomic losses, such as pain and suffering.

Yellow-light collisions are a bit different. Frequently, traffic lanes are so wide and red lights are so short that if a victim has any mobility impairments, it’s almost impossible to cross the street before the light changes. So, the pedestrian does not technically have the right-of-way at the time of impact. However, the tortfeasor still has a duty of care to avoid accidents. Therefore, the jury must divide fault between the two parties on a percentage basis.

Florida is a pure comparative fault state. Even if the victim was 99 percent responsible for the wreck, perhaps because s/h inexplicably stopped while crossing the street, the tortfeasor is liable for a proportionate share of damages.

This rule, which is called comparative fault, also applies in jaywalking pedestrian injury claims. Sometimes, insurance company lawyers try to use the sudden emergency defense in these wrecks as well. This legal doctrine excuses negligence if the tortfeasor reasonably reacted to a sudden emergency. However, the defense usually does not apply in these situations. A jaywalking pedestrian is an everyday hazard and not a “sudden emergency.”

Contact a Thorough Hillsborough County Lawyer

Injury victims are usually entitled to significant compensation. For a free consultation with an experienced Tampa car accident attorney, contact Mark H. Wright, PLLC. Home, virtual, and hospital visits are available.

Resource:

wfla.com/news/hillsborough-county/fatal-pedestrian-crash-closes-busy-town-n-country-intersection/

Investigators offered few other details. Apparently, the motorist clipped the bicycle rider and then spun into a tree. The bicyclist died at the scene. The driver was injured but doctors expect him to survive.

Bicycle Wrecks

The weather is mild in Tampa Bay pretty much all year. As a result, bicycle riders are on area streets pretty much all year. At most, these riders only have thin bicycle helmets to protect themselves. So, they often suffer catastrophic or fatal injuries in collisions. Designated bicycle lanes guarded by concrete pylons or other barriers could effectively prevent many of these crashes. But mostly for aesthetic or selfish reasons, motorists usually oppose these things. Furthermore, in some cases, these barriers cause crashes, instead of preventing them.

Many bicycle-on-vehicle accidents are left turn wrecks. A tortfeasor (negligent driver) who is waiting to make an unprotected left turn against traffic does not see an approaching bicycle. As a result, the tortfeasor turns directly into the rider’s path. These wrecks are especially common in downtown areas, where traffic is congested and driver visibility is limited.

Other bicycle-on-vehicle accidents are right turn wrecks. A tortfeasor and bicyclist approach a green light at about the same time. Typically, when people turn right, they only look to the left. As a result, the tortfeasor might not see a bicyclist in the lane to their right. These wrecks are especially common if concrete pylons or another barrier separates the right-hand traffic lane from the designated bicycle lane, and thus limits the driver’s visibility.

Limited visibility is never an excuse for negligence. If anything, motorists have a responsibility to slow down even more and use even more caution in these situations.

Speed and Vehicle Collisions

Excessive velocity is a factor in about a third of the fatal traffic accidents in Florida. That’s because speed increases the risk of a wreck and the force of a collision.

Speed multiplies stopping distance. A motor vehicle does not stop on a dime. First, the driver must spot a hazard. Second, the driver must move his/her foot onto the brake pedal. Finally, the driver must gently apply the brakes to safely stop the vehicle without losing control.

At 30mph, most cars move about six car lengths during this process. At 60mph, stopping distance multiples to eighteen car lengths. Certain factors, such as vehicle weight and environmental conditions, increase stopping distance even further.

Additionally, according to Newton’s Second Law of Motion, speed multiples the force in a collision between two objects. If I knock my smartphone off my dining room table, the fall might cause little or no damage to it. However, if I drop my smartphone from my second story window, it will probably shatter when it hits the sidewalk.

Damages in a vehicle collision claim usually include compensation for economic losses, such as medical bills, and noneconomic losses, such as pain and suffering. A Tampa car accident lawyer can also obtain additional punitive damages in some cases.

Contact a Hard-Working Hillsborough County Lawyer

Injury victims are usually entitled to significant compensation. For a free consultation with an experienced personal injury attorney in Tampa, contact Mark H. Wright, PLLC. Attorneys can connect victims with doctors, even if they have no insurance or money.

Resource:

wtsp.com/article/news/local/hillsboroughcounty/deadly-bicycle-crash-tampa/67-a5d1fcc5-cdcb-408b-8976-47f99eb5d0e7

The wreck happened near the intersection of Martin Luther King Boulevard and Waring Drive. According to police and witnesses, a 27-year-old man driving a passenger car was eastbound in a turn lane. He tried to turn left and pulled into the pathway of an oncoming large truck. That vehicle could not stop. The truck driver was killed at the scene and the passenger car operator was rushed to a nearby hospital with serious injuries.

The trucker was not wearing a seat belt at the time of the wreck.

Liability in Intersection Collision Claims

Truck drivers are rarely killed in these wrecks. Their vehicles weigh up to 80,000 pounds and they sit very high in their cabs. These two features also make large trucks very dangerous, especially when the operator is fatigued.

Time of day or night is often key circumstantial evidence in fatigued operator cases. Most people are naturally drowsy early in the morning, around midday, and late at night, no matter how much sleep they had the night before.

Other circumstantial evidence includes recent amphetamine use, sleep apnea, and prior HOS (Hours of Service) compliance issues. Roughly a third of truckers use speed to get through the day. When this drug wears off, the user crashes hard. Sleep apnea, a condition which robs people of restful sleep at night, is common among truckers, mostly because they sit for prolonged periods. Prior compliance issues are recorded in a written report which is usually admissible in car wreck claims.

Liability is far from clear in cases like this, even if one driver was impaired. Turning in front of an oncoming vehicle is a classic failure to yield the right of way. If police officers issued a citation, which they frequently do to establish fault, and the traffic violation caused the wreck, the tortfeasor (negligent driver) is presumptively liable for damages in Florida.

These damages normally include compensation for economic losses, such as medical bills, and noneconomic losses, such as pain and suffering.

Legal doctrines, like the last clear chance rule, sometimes come into play as well. This doctrine excuses negligence, like pulling out in front of an oncoming truck, if the other driver had the last clear chance to avoid a wreck. Possibilities include quickly changing lanes or speeds. However, large trucks cannot do any of these things quickly.

The Seat Belt Defense in Florida

Another legal doctrine, the seat belt defense, often comes up in many car crash claims. Overall, the seat belt compliance rate is about 90 percent. So, there are a significant number of unrestrained car wreck victims.

The legal doctrine varies significantly in different states. Under Florida’s version of the seat belt defense, an insurance company can use failure to wear proper restraint as evidence of contributory negligence.

In comparative fault cases, jurors must divide fault on a percentage basis between the two parties. Hypothetically, in a wrongful death claim, jurors might divide fault 50-50 in the above case. They might equally split responsibility between the driver who pulled in front of the truck and the trucker who failed to wear a seat belt.

A Tampa car accident attorney can alter this division of responsibility, mostly by challenging the claim that failure to wear a seat belt substantially caused injury. Insurance company lawyers must present concrete proof that the failure to wear a belt, as opposed to the tortfeasor’s negligence, substantially caused the wreck. Furthermore, the insurance company must prove that the seat belt was in good, working order at the time.

Florida is a pure comparative fault state. So, even if the victim was 99 percent responsible for the crash, the tortfeasor is liable for a proportionate share of damages.

Connect with a Hard-Working Hillsborough County Lawyer

Injury victims are usually entitled to significant compensation. For a free consultation with an experienced personal injury attorney in Tampa, contact Mark H. Wright, PLLC. You have a limited amount of time to act.

Resource:

fox13news.com/news/troopers-investigatig-deadly-tampa-crsah-involving-a-semi-truck

This accident happened in Sebring, near the intersection of Tubbs Ranch Road and U.S. Highway 98. According to police, a sedan containing two adults and a child crossed the centerline, sideswiped a second car, and hit a third one hear-on. All three people in the first car died. The two adults were declared dead at the scene, and the child died later at a nearby hospital. One other person was killed and one other was seriously injured.

Investigators don’t know which victims, if any, were wearing seat belts.

Wrongful Death Claims

The untimely death of a loved one is always very difficult to deal with. These difficulties are immensely worse when the victim is a child. They are worse still when someone else’s negligence or wrongdoing causes that death. In the above story, it appears that either the driver’s negligence or a defective vehicle component caused this young man’s death.

Frequently, the victim and the tortfeasor (negligent driver) had a close relationship. That’s almost always the case if the victim was a passenger in the vehicle. Often, and understandably, these victims hesitate to file legal claims.

But when a Tampa personal injury attorney files a legal claim, this action does not “blame” anyone for the accident. Moreover, the individual is not financially responsible for any damages. Rather, the claim is about obtaining the financial compensation the family needs and deserves. The insurance company is financially responsible for this compensation, as well as legal fees and other associated costs.

Granted, the insurance company will most likely raise the tortfeasor’s rates or even drop coverage. But these things probably would have happened anyway.

Statistically, defective products cause about one in twenty of the car crashes in Florida. Defective tires are by far the leading culprit, followed by defective airbags. These two issues illustrate the two kinds of defective product claims:

• Design Defect: Mostly to save money, many tire manufacturers use the minimum amount of materials necessary. Furthermore, they often exaggerate the amount of wear-and-tear these tires can take. Therefore, in many cases, a tire is more like a time bomb.
• Manufacturing Defect: In the 1990s, the world’s largest airbag manufacturer began using ammonium nitrate as a chemical propellant. This unstable and explosive substance is basically the same compound Timothy McVeigh used in the Oklahoma City truck bomb.

Typically, manufacturers are strictly liable for the damages their defective products cause. In a wrongful death claim, these damages usually include compensation for economic losses, such as lost future economic contributions, and noneconomic losses, such as lost future emotional support.

The Seat Belt Defense in Florida

For some highly technical legal reasons which aren’t relevant here, most states prohibit the so-called seat belt defense. Florida is one of the few exceptions. If victims are not properly restrained, insurance companies may use this fact to reduce or deny compensation.

However, the seat belt defense is far from automatic. Insurance company lawyers must do much more than cite safety statistics in court.

First, the insurance company must prove that the seat belt was in good working order. This showing is often difficult to make, given the frequency of seat belt recalls and the lack of physical evidence in many catastrophic injury wrecks. Second, the insurance company must prove that the failure to wear a seat belt, as opposed to the tortfeasor’s negligence or the manufacturer’s defective product, substantially caused the victim’s injuries.

Rely on an Experienced Hillsborough County Lawyer

Car crash victims are usually entitled to significant compensation. For a free consultation with an experienced Tampa car accident attorney, contact Mark H. Wright, PLLC. We routinely handle matters throughout the Tampa Bay area.

Resource:

abcactionnews.com/news/region-desoto-highlands-hardee/4-killed-including-child-in-highlands-county-crash

When emergency responders arrived, they found a pickup truck inside the restaurant. One adult and one child were trapped under debris and seriously injured. Three other individuals also received medical treatment.

Although the investigation is not complete, authorities don’t expect to file charges in the case.

Car Crash Injuries

Every year, vehicle collisions kill or seriously injure millions of Americans. These collisions could involve vehicle-on-vehicle collisions or, more rarely, vehicle collisions with fixed objects. Legally, driver negligence is rather easy to establish in these situations. However, as outlined below, the landowner could also be legally responsible for these injuries. More on that below.

The average hospital bill in a vehicle collision case is over $50,000. Some of the serious injuries that these victims often sustain include:

• Broken Bones: Especially if victims are trapped under rubble or inside wreckage, their shattered bones usually require highly invasive tactics, such as the implantation of metal parts, to set. As a result, some loss of function is almost inevitable, even after victims undergo extensive physical therapy.
• Head Injuries: These wounds are, by far, the most common car crash injuries. Once again, that’s especially true if the victim wasn’t inside a protected vehicle and was thus completely exposed to danger. Head injuries are always permanent. Once brain cells die, they never regenerate.
• Blood Loss: Exsanguination (extreme blood loss) is often the official cause of death in car wreck cases. Internal bleeding, which is difficult to detect and stop, is the leading culprit. In fact, by the time victims reach hospitals, they have often lost about a fifth of their blood.

Generally, health insurance companies refuse to pay these and other costs, since there is some question about financial responsibility. The resulting financial strain adds stress to an already extremely stressful situation. So, a Tampa personal injury attorney connects victims with doctors who charge nothing upfront for their services.

Drivers have a duty of reasonable care in these situations. This duty includes pressing the right pedal at the right time. Drivers cannot use age, medical condition, or anything else as an excuse in these situations.

Landowner Safety Responsibilities

Alternatively, victims could file legal claims against property owners and obtain compensation for their damages. These damages usually include compensation for economic losses, such as medical bills, and noneconomic losses, such as pain and suffering. Most of the basic elements of a premises liability claim are not too difficult to establish in these situations. However, foreseeability could be a different matter.

Initially, victims must prove that the landowner had a legal duty, and that the landowner knew, or should have known, about the hazard which caused injury. Restaurant patrons are invitees in Florida. Therefore, the landowner’s duty of care is very high in these situations. As for knowledge of the hazard, most Waffle Houses have mostly plexiglass or glass walls, and the parking area is adjacent to the wall. That’s an accident waiting to happen.

Nevertheless, to establish foreseeability, or possibility, additional evidence is usually necessary. This evidence could be prior similar incidents in the area, or prior similar incidents at that location.

Count on a Dedicated Hillsborough County Lawyer

Car crash victims are usually entitled to significant compensation. For a free consultation with an experienced Tampa car accident attorney, contact Mark H. Wright, PLLC. We do not charge upfront legal fees in these situations.

Resource:

patch.com/florida/southtampa/car-crashes-waffle-house-tampa-injuring-several-reports

The wreck happened on U.S. Highway 301 near Chancey Road. According to police and witnesses, a pickup truck plowed into a disabled car, which was partially on the shoulder and partially in the right traffic lane. The force of the collision propelled the car onto the median, where it quickly caught fire. The vehicle was fully engulfed by the time emergency responders arrived.

The car driver died at the scene. The pickup driver, who was not seriously injured, does not face charges at this time.

Liability Issues in Rear-End Wreck Cases

Fireball collisions often cause more catastrophic injuries than any other kind of car wreck. Even if the victims survive, the serious burns they sustain usually leave permanent physical and emotional scars behind. Frequently, these scars are difficult to overcome.

A Tampa personal injury attorney can obtain compensation for these injuries if a driver was negligent. Since rear-end wrecks violate Florida’s right-of-way statute, these tortfeasors (negligent drivers) are presumptively liable for damages. These damages normally include compensation for economic losses, such as medical bills, and noneconomic losses, such as pain and suffering.

Proving negligence is insufficient. The evidence must be strong enough to refute some common insurance company defenses. Frequently, the last clear chance doctrine is a factor in rear-end wreck cases. Assume Chris rear-ends David. If David had a chance to avoid the wreck, perhaps by speeding up or changing lanes, and he didn’t take advantage of that chance, David could be legally responsible for the wreck, even though he did nothing wrong.

This defense is quite common in the “swoop and squat” insurance fraud which is so common in Florida and most other states. Driver A pulls out in front of Driver B. Then, Driver A stops suddenly to induce a rear-end collision.

However, in the above case, sudden emergency, which is the legal cousin of last clear chance, could be a factor. Tortfeasors are not responsible for damages if they:

• Reasonably react to
• A sudden emergency.

The first prong of this doctrine is usually easy for an insurance company lawyer to prove, unless the tortfeasor fled the scene of the accident. However, a stalled car, although it is not unusual, is not a “sudden emergency” in this context. That category belongs to things like hood fly-ups, lightning strikes, and other completely unexpected events. Even if a hill or curve limited driver visibility, a stalled car usually is not a sudden emergency.

Insurance companies frequently try to use the sudden emergency defense in pedestrian injury claims. However, jaywalking pedestrians usually are not sudden emergencies either, as outlined above.

Negligence Claims and Mediation

Once these preliminary matters are resolved, most car crash claims settle out of court. A significant number of them settle during mediation.

Hillsborough County judges almost always refer contested cases to mediation. The judge appoints a third-party mediation, who is usually an unaffiliated Tampa personal injury attorney, to lead a settlement conference. The mediator conveys settlement offers and counter-offers back and forth, all the while trying to move the parties closer together on a settlement figure.

During mediation, both sides have a duty to negotiate in good faith. This responsibility is twofold. First, they must sincerely want to settle the case. They cannot simply go through the motions. Second, they must be willing to make some compromises, if that’s what it takes to reach an agreement.

Largely because of this good faith negotiation requirement, mediation is about 90 percent successful in most cases.

Count on a Diligent Hillsborough County Lawyer

Injury victims are usually entitled to significant compensation. For a free consultation with an experienced Tampa car accident attorney, contact Mark H. Wright, PLLC. Virtual, home, and hospital visits are available.

Resource:

patch.com/florida/lutz/tampa-man-dies-fiery-crash-after-car-breaks-down-u-s-301

Tracking Down the Tortfeasor

Alas, many hit-and-run investigations resemble the one in the above story. Investigators have few or no leads, so as a result, they quickly move on to other matters. Law enforcement’s attitude about car crashes sometimes comes into play as well. Many officers consider car wrecks civil disputes, so they do not want to get overly involved, even if the wreck had some criminal elements, like a failure to stop and render aid.

But once a Tampa car accident attorney gets involved, the picture changes considerably. Attorneys work for victims, and not for the system. So, if the initial investigation is a dead end, attorneys keep digging. Some of these efforts include:

• Surveillance Video: At least one security, traffic, or other camera covers pretty much every stretch of every major roadway in the Tampa Bay area. Frequently, one of these cameras captures part of the tortfeasor’s (negligent driver’s) license plate number. Even if the camera was several blocks away, or several miles away, from the accident scene, this evidence could be admissible in a civil proceeding. More on that below.
• Body Shops: Hit-and-run drivers must get their vehicles repaired someplace. But they do not want to draw attention to themselves. Attorneys are patient enough to visit as many small body shops as necessary until they find the clues they need.
• Additional Witness Statements: Emergency responders only interview witnesses who voluntarily loiter at the accident scene. Many other witness statements are available, and valuable. For example, a witness a few blocks from the scene might have seen a damaged vehicle. These individuals often aren’t willing to talk to police officers. But they will share information with an attorney or an attorney’s representative.

This evidence often makes little difference in criminal court, because the burden of proof is so high. Usually, unless someone voluntarily confesses, it’s impossible to obtain a conviction in these cases.

But in civil court, the burden of proof is only a preponderance of the evidence, or more likely than not. So, in many cases, identifying the owner is as good as identifying the driver. It’s more likely than not that a vehicle owner was driving it at a particular time. That’s why something like a partial plate number could be a game-changer.

UIM Insurance

If an attorney cannot track down the tortfeasor, hit-and-run victims might still have legal options. Usually, these options involve uninsured/underinsured motorist insurance.

Most people have UIM policies. If the responsible party cannot be found, these victims may file claims with their own insurance companies. Frequently, these matters settle quickly, and on victim-friendly terms. The insurance company wants to keep its paying customer happy. If the two sides cannot reach an agreement, the matter usually goes to arbitration instead of trial. Basically, arbitration is a private trial.

In other cases, UIM policies are supplementary. Assume Ben hits Jerry. Jerry’s damages are $100,000, but Ben only has $50,000 of insurance coverage. Jerry’s UIM policy could cover the unpaid portion.

Car crash damages usually include compensation for economic losses, such as medical bills, and noneconomic losses, such as pain and suffering.

Count on a Diligent Hillsborough County Lawyer

Injury victims are usually entitled to significant compensation. For a free consultation with an experienced personal injury attorney in Tampa, contact Mark H. Wright, PLLC. Attorneys can connect victims with doctors, even if they have no insurance or money.

Resource:

wflanews.iheart.com/content/2021-08-30-troopers-look-for-hit-and-run-driver-in-deadly-tampa-crash/

Few details about the wreck were available, except that it happened on Manning Road and involved a Tesla which failed to stop at a stop sign at a T intersection. The vehicle barreled into a home and killed a 69-year-old woman.

A passenger inside the Tesla was also killed.

Speed and Vehicle Collisions

Excessive velocity is a factor in about a third of the fatal vehicle collisions in Florida. Many driver errors, such as making an unsafe lane change, only increase the risk of a collision. But speed increases the risk of a crash as well as the force in a collision.

In both cases, velocity is a multiplying factor. As for the risk, at 30mph, most vehicles move forward about six car lengths in the brief moment it takes for a driver to safely stop a vehicle. At 60mph, safe stopping distance multiples to eighteen car lengths.

Frequently, speed causes loss-of-control wrecks. Since fast-moving vehicles are more sensitive to direction changes than slow-moving vehicles, many drivers oversteer when they speed around curves. Then, they overcorrect to try and regain control of their vehicles. As a result, the car or truck usually spins out of control. That’s especially true if the road is wet or conditions are otherwise less than ideal.

Speed also multiplies the force in a collision between two objects, according to Sir Isaac Newton’s Second Law of Motion. In other words, excessive speed transforms a non-injury fender bender accident into a serious injury collision.

Damages in a vehicle collision claim usually include compensation for economic losses, such as medical bills, and noneconomic losses, such as pain and suffering. Additional punitive damages are sometimes available as well, in some extreme cases.

Fixed-Object Crashes

Compensation is usually higher in these claims, because the settlement value is higher. A negligence claim’s settlement value is a little like a new car’s sticker price. Both figures serve as a starting point for settlement or sales negotiations.

To a Tampa car accident attorney, risk is a factor in car crash settlement negotiations. If the insurance company has a legal defense, the risk of losing the case is higher, which means its settlement value is lower. But most defenses, like comparative fault, are unavailable in fixed-object crashes. In these situations, the tortfeasor (negligent driver) is 100 percent at fault, at least in most cases.

These principles apply in both direct and collateral fixed-object crashes. A direct crash is a wreck like the one in the above story. These wrecks usually involve residential abodes or commercial buildings. A collateral fixed-object crash usually happens when a driver jumps a curb or hits a light pole, the vehicle spins out of control, and hits someone.

Foreseeability is sometimes an issue in collateral fixed-object crashes. Basically, there must be a connection between the driver’s negligence and the victim’s injury. If Steve hits the curb and his pickup careens into Joe, Joe’s injury is probably foreseeable. However, if Steve’s truck hits the curb and careens into a wall, and the wall falls onto Joe, his injury is probably not foreseeable.

Turn to a Diligent Hillsborough County Lawyer

Injury victims are usually entitled to significant compensation. For a free consultation with an experienced personal injury attorney in Tampa, contact Mark H. Wright, PLLC. Attorneys can connect victims with doctors, even if they have no insurance or money.

Resource:

abcactionnews.com/news/region-pinellas/two-confirmed-dead-after-car-crashes-into-house-in-pinellas-county