Orange County in central Florida is known for its many Orlando car accidents, especially during the busy tourist season. With a population of over 1.4 million, Orange County already has pretty congested roads that only see more traffic as tourists flood in. Common types of Orlando car accidents have different causes for each circumstance, leading to certain injuries that will be more severe than others. In 2021, the total number of car crashes in Orange County was over 27,000, with 219 deaths, a record high*.
Orlando Car Accident Types & Their Causes
T-Bone or Side Impact
These types of auto accidents can cause major damage to vehicles and passengers inside depending on the speeding that the at-fault driver is going. Orlando is infamous for the number of drivers trying to make yellow lights but end up running red lights instead; this is how a majority of these accidents occur.
Drivers that run red lights and get into an accident will use the excuse that they are running late or that the light was yellow before. These drivers will always be negligent for an accident they cause while running a red light because that violates the traffic laws.
Rear End Crash
Distracted driving is one of the reasons for rear-end Orland car accidents. When drivers aren’t paying attention to the road and the drivers in front of them, it will lead to more accidents.
Distracted driving is when drivers perform dangerous tasks that take their eyes off the road, such as texting, eating or drinking, changing the radio or music, and chatting with passengers behind them. When your eyes leave the road, you become unaware of what the driver is doing in front of you, so your reaction time is decreased significantly.
Head On Collisions
Head-on vehicle accidents tend to be the most fatal type of accidents. Drivers driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol and not paying attention to traffic signs are typically the drivers that cause these types of accidents. Drunk driving leads to ignored traffic signs and potentially driving on the wrong side of the road. However, turning into incorrect lanes will also cause head-on collisions, so it is important to follow the lane lines when turning.
Orlando Car Accident Injuries
Motor vehicle accidents in Orlando typically result in injuries for all parties involved. The severity of injuries does vary for a few reasons, like the speed of the cars involved, the type of crash, and the safety precautions taken by the drivers and passengers involved. If you fail to wear a seat belt or have faulty airbags, your injuries will be more severe, and you will have more chance of being thrown from the vehicle.
For side impact crashes, depending on if the driver side or passenger side is hit, the injuries would be more severe for that occupant. Injuries like broken bones, concussions, or traumatic brain injuries tend to be more severe in these side impact crashes. Depending on the speed, wrongful death also has a high chance of happening. To avoid side impact crashes, taking a second before going on a light that just turned green will help to avoid red light runners.
Rear-ended accidents result in more intense whiplash injuries, broken bones, and spinal cord injuries. If the car slamming into you is going very quickly compared to your speed, the crash will be more jarring the more drastic the speed difference. Whiplash injuries can cause symptoms like neck pain and stiffness, dizziness, blurred vision, tingling or numbness in the arms, etc.
Paralysis, wrongful death, lacerations, and spinal cord injuries are the more severe potential damages that can come from Orlando car accidents; head-on collisions are the most dangerous accidents. Since the injuries from head-on crashes are more fatal, it is important to seek medical treatment immediately to prevent further injury. According to the PR Newswire, they reported that in 2019 the number of head-on collisions that occurred across the United States was over 2.8 million.
Recoverable Damages
Florida uses comparative negligence to identify the percentage of fault between all drivers involved in the accident. For example, if the at-fault driver was 90% at fault for the accident and the victim was found 10% at fault, the victim’s settlement would be reduced by 10%. Our Orlando car accident attorneys will be able to provide you with proper legal counsel to get you the financial compensation you deserve for your damages.
Damages that Orlando car accident victims can collect compensation on are:
- Medical bills and future medical costs
- Lost wages and future lost wages
- Rehabilitation costs
- Pain and suffering
- Emotional distress
- Loss of enjoyment of life (due to disability)
- Loss of companionship (when a loved one passes away)
When you are looking to collect on these damages, you must provide proper documentation of medical bills and an assessment of your injuries. Using all the evidence available from the accident, our experienced Orlando car accident lawyers will use this to prove the at-fault driver is more negligent. Our personal injury lawyers offer a free consultation for Orlando car accident victims.
* Source: https://www.flhsmv.gov/traffic-crash-reports/crash-dashboard/
About the Author
Michael Feiner
Michael A. Feiner is a partner in the Fort Lauderdale office of Steinger, Greene & Feiner. Since being admitted to the Florida Bar in 2001, Michael has devoted his practice to representing plaintiffs throughout Florida in various tort and strict liability cases and has successfully litigated cases against national insurance companies, large public companies, and governmental agencies, resulting in tens of millions of dollars for his clients.
He has handled all types of personal injury and wrongful death cases on behalf of plaintiffs, including automobile negligence, premises liability, medical malpractice, product liability, dog bites, and sexual harassment. Michael’s product liability case against Microsoft, as well as his representation of victims of sexual harassment and abuse by physicians, has garnered him important media attention at both the local and national levels.
Michael is an experienced trial lawyer and successfully argued an appeal to the Fourth District Court of Appeal. In the reported decision Ortlieb v. Butts, 849 So.2d 1165 (Fla. 4th DCA 2003), Michael persuaded the Fourth District Court of Appeal that a directed verdict on liability was appropriate where the defendant did not rebut the presumption of negligence of a rear driver in a rear-end collision.
Michael Feiner
Michael A. Feiner is a partner in the Fort Lauderdale office of Steinger, Greene & Feiner. Since being admitted to the Florida Bar in 2001, Michael has devoted his practice to representing plaintiffs throughout Florida in various tort and strict liability cases and has successfully litigated cases against national insurance companies, large public companies, and governmental agencies, resulting in tens of millions of dollars for his clients. He has handled all types of personal injury and wrongful death cases on behalf of plaintiffs, including automobile negligence, premises liability, medical malpractice, product liability, dog bites, and sexual harassment. Michael’s product liability case against Microsoft, as well as his representation of victims of sexual harassment and abuse by physicians, has garnered him important media attention at both the local and national levels. Michael is an experienced trial lawyer and successfully argued an appeal to the Fourth District Court of Appeal. In the reported decision Ortlieb v. Butts, 849 So.2d 1165 (Fla. 4th DCA 2003), Michael persuaded the Fourth District Court of Appeal that a directed verdict on liability was appropriate where the defendant did not rebut the presumption of negligence of a rear driver in a rear-end collision.