According to Florida Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles (FLHSMV), there are over 1,000 car accidents that happen each day in the sunny state of Florida. That’s over 400,000 vehicle accidents every single year. While you may not want to think about being involved in a motor vehicle accident, they do happen.
While some accidents may be a simple fender bender that both of you can drive away from, others aren’t that simple. In fact, many individuals and their families are affected by bad accidents each week. Getting compensation for your accident isn’t so much about want but need to help pay for those medical bills and other unexpected expenses along the way.
A Naples Car Accident Lawyer That Fights For You
Just trusting that the insurance company will pay for all of your associated expenses isn’t enough. Many times, it takes an experienced lawyer to help navigate through the aftermath of an accident with insurance companies. Remember that insurance companies are businesses that are trying to keep their costs to a minimum. They’ll examine your case for loopholes and other ways to get out of paying for the associated costs involved with your accident.
The Most Common Causes of Roadway Accidents
With over 400,000 accidents happening every year in the great state of Florida, it can leave you wondering just what causes all of these accidents. There are actually eight main causes of traffic accidents in the state. We’re going to take a look at each of these below.
Speeding
It probably comes as no surprise that speeding is the number one cause of accidents in the state. Too many drivers are in a hurry to get to their destination that they don’t pay attention to others around them. Whether it’s another driver slowing down or wet weather coming down, a speeding driver can lose control and not react quickly enough to stop an accident.
Fatigued Driving
Many people are burning the candle at both ends. This can drastically reduce the ability to stay active and react quickly to things going on around them. Multiple studies have shown that drivers who are overly tired will exhibit a lack of spatial perception and vision. Some will even fall asleep behind the wheel, leading to catastrophic accidents.
Impaired Driving
Another cause of accidents that aren’t likely to surprise many is impaired driving. Those who are under the influence of alcohol or drugs will exhibit a variety of symptoms that will impair their ability to safely operate a vehicle. The most well-known are a decrease in spatial perception, double vision, poor decision-making, and slowed reaction time.
Distracted Driving
With consistent advancements in technology, more people than ever before are becoming distracted while behind the wheel. Distracted driving institutes driving when your attention is not on the sole task of driving. This could be driving while you’re on the phone, texting, playing with your GPS, combing your hair, and so forth.
Tailgating
An extremely dangerous behavior for all drivers is tailgating. This is when you follow too closely behind another motor vehicle. When you tailgate, you greatly reduce your ability to react to quick movements. For example, if the person in front of you has to slow down to miss an animal that ran out on the roadway, you’re likely going to run into the back of them if you’re tailgating their vehicle.
Not Clearing Blind Spots
Another cause of Florida vehicle accidents is the failure of some drivers to properly clear their blind spots before moving. This could be when switching lanes or turning. It’s imperative that all drivers properly check their blind spots for all different types of obstructions, including bicycles and motorcycles.
Running Yellow Lights
You’ve undoubtedly seen a driver punch the gas when they’re approaching a yellow light to try and beat it. This usually results in a dangerous maneuver that can lead to terrible accidents. It always pays to slow down as nothing is so important to get to that you should risk someone else’s life to get there.
Lack of Turn Signal Use
Cars are outfitted with turn signals so that we can alert others where we intend to go. Those who consider turn signals optional can make quick last-minute maneuvers that can cause other drivers to be misinformed. The majority of instances where turn signals aren’t used properly are when turning and switching between lanes on the highway.
Top Benefits of Hiring a Naples Car Accident Attorney
If you’ve never hired an attorney in the past, it can be a bit overwhelming to think about doing so. This holds especially true when you’re dealing with the pain and aftermath of a vehicle accident. However, we’re highly experienced and here to help you.
- Deal With Your Insurance Company: One of the biggest advantages of hiring an attorney is that you don’t have to physically deal with the insurance company. We’ll handle all of your communications so that you can focus on healing. This, in turn, helps to alleviate stress and allows you to focus on what’s important to you.
- Gather Evidence to Prove Your Case: In order to prove your case, you’ll need to present evidence to the insurance company or in a court of law. That’s where we can help. We’ll talk with your doctors, the police, and witnesses to provide a large stack of evidence in your favor. Trying to obtain all of this information on your own can be quite challenging, especially when you don’t know exactly what you’ll need.
- Help to Determine the Value of Your Claim: When you’re first involved in an accident, it’s not unlikely for an insurance company to try and settle your claim early on. Many times, they will swoop in and offer you what seems like a large lump sum. In reality, it usually won’t even touch the surface of the ongoing medical and other bills associated with the accident. As an experienced law firm, we know how to determine the estimated value of your claim and ensure that you don’t fall victim to taking a settlement amount for much less.
- Make Your Claim Legally Legitimate: Unfortunately, it’s very true that insurance companies and many others will respond differently to an attorney as opposed to a victim. They know that most car accident victims don’t know the many laws associated with their rights. When you hire our law firm, you can ensure that your accident claim is taken seriously because we know your rights and will fight for them.
- Prevent You From Damaging Your Case: When you don’t know your rights, it can be very easy to damage your case. Realize that insurance companies will record you and try and use anything you say against you to decrease the amount of money that they have to pay out for your car accident claim. When you opt for hiring an attorney, we can direct you away from damaging your case with anything you do or say.
Most of the time, hiring a car accident attorney is in your best interests to ensure that you get the compensation that you deserve after being involved in a car accident.
Suing for Auto Accident Negligence in Naples, FL
If you’ve been injured in a car accident due to another driver’s negligence or risky driving, then you can hold them accountable for your damages. These can include financial losses, medical expenses, pain, suffering, mental anguish, lost income, and other damages allowed by Florida law.
As our Naples Car Accident Attorneys will explain to you during your initial case consultation, Florida law requires that you prove that the other driver exhibited negligence. There are four main elements to proving negligence, which include:
- The other driver owed you a duty of care
- The other driver breached that duty
- Their breach resulted in your injuries
- You suffered damages from their breach of duty
Many drivers are surprised to find out that they may sue another driver, even if they were found partially at fault for the accident. This holds true under Section 768.81 of Florida Statutes. While it’s important to note that the amount of compensation that you can receive will be restricted based on the amount of fault that you had in the accident, you can still collect damages.
Filing a Lawsuit for A Car Accident in Naples, FL
Filing a lawsuit after a car accident needs to be done before the statutes of limitations runs out. In Florida, this statute specifies that you have two years from the date that the accident occurred to file a personal injury case. When it comes to filing a lawsuit for a wrongful death caused by a car accident, you’re given a two-year limitation.
It’s obviously better to file a lawsuit sooner rather than later. Not only will you receive compensation sooner, but the details of the case will be much fresher. It’s best to speak with our Naples car accident attorney as soon as you can after being involved in a vehicle accident. The sooner we’re brought on board, the better chance we’re going to have at gathering solid evidence for your case.
How A Naples Car Accident Lawyer Can Help
One of the biggest reasons that victims of car accidents hesitate to contact an attorney is that they believe they can’t afford one. If you don’t have cash on hand, you may think that an attorney is out of your realm of possibilities. We’re here to tell you that that’s simply not the case.
When it comes to auto accidents, we work on a contingency basis. This means that we only get paid if we win your case. Our payment is received as a set percentage of the total judgment awarded to your case. This means that you never have to worry about paying a dime out of pocket to get the legal counsel that you need to fight your car accident case.
If you’ve been injured as a result of a car accident, then it’s time to contact Shiner Law Group to get the legal help that you need!
