Florida Child Injury Law Blog

Posts Tagged ‘car crash’

Early Friday morning a New Port Richey couple were about to retire to bed when the unexpected happened. 

 “We were walking into the bathroom and we heard this … crash. I came outside, saw the car where you see it now.”  A teen driver lost control of her car, sideswiped another vehicle, drove through the front yard and crashed into the home of Michael Whaley.  The impact pinned a van inside the garage.  Troopers cited the 17-year-old driver with careless driving.

 “I asked both kids… if either were hurt,” the retired police was quoted as saying.   Very fortunately for the teen and her passenger, there were no serious injuries in the car crash. Whaley’s home, though reportedly,  has $20,000 in damages. The accident could have had  serious injuries and consequences  had he and  his wife  been in the area where the car crashed. Whaley, it seems from a news report,  had a fairly calm reaction to the evening’s events and was relieved  no one was injured.

He remarked,  ”I got insurance…everybody got insurance.” Fortunately, in this case it sounds like insurance is not an issue, but that’s not always the case.

Many drivers in Florida are extremely underinsured and unprepared if they are responsible for damages far beyond the coverage they bought.  The damage to property caused in this accident may be covered by the driver’s Property Damage insurance on any policy insuring the car. Too many Floridians opt for the minimum Property Damage coverage of $10,000. Such coverage would pay for only half the reported loss to the home in this accident, leaving the driver on the hook potentially for the rest. Far too many crashes involving expensive cars cause property damaged liablity well in excess of $10,000 and drivers need to be aware of such potential liabilty and get the coverage they need. 

In addition,  many injured people I see in my office after an auto accident believe they have full coverage or are unclear about what they do have. Unfortunately, there are many uninsured or underinsured drivers on our roads – as many as 665,000 Florida drivers have no insurance, according to a 2004 report.  The Dodson Law Firm stresses the importance of uninsured motorist coverage - the least expensive and best bargain when it comes to your coverage. Check your policy’s coverage today!

For more information on car insurance from Florida Car Accident and Child Injury Lawyer Jim Dodson, request a FREE copy of his consumer guide about Buying Car Insurance in Florida It’s available on Amazon for $12.95 but offered at NO COST to Florida drivers on our website www.JWDodsonlaw.com.   

 Authorities don’t know why a 44-year-old Kissimmee man lost control of his car Sunday night, causing him to hit a light pole and sign post. The man was taken to Osceola Regional Medical Center where he died from his injuries.

A 9-year-old boy who was a passenger in the car was taken to Arnold Palmer Hospital to treat serious injuries he sustained in the car crash. Florida Highway Patrol says  the boy was not wearing a seatbelt.

The Dodson Law Firm urges all drivers and passengers to wear seatbelts.  The failure of a child to wear a seatbelt or use a child restraint safety device is a contributing factor in more than one-half of the accidents in which a child dies.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports, “safety belts, when used, reduce the risk of fatal injury to front-seat passenger car occupants by forty-five percent. Wearing a seat belt is no longer an option. It’s the law.