Orlando Turnpike Car Accident Lawyers

Expert turnpike accident lawyers will help you build your case and win damages for injuries in a car crash.

The Florida Turnpike is a large thoroughfare where cars drive at high speeds. In this country, we depend on large highways like the turnpike to get to work, move inventory, and take vacations. The wide lanes and the high speeds make getting someplace fast possible.

On the one hand, the Florida Turnpike offers drivers maximum convenience. On the other hand, it’s a dangerous driving environment where terrible accidents happen.

A car accident is never something we expect. You don’t plan to get into an accident. We take precautions, yes, but accidents happen quickly without warning.

At high speeds, a turnpike accident can be fatal. If the victims of a high-speed crash survive, they typically face days or weeks off from work, or they live with disabilities from the accident for the rest of their lives.

If you or someone you know was in a turnpike crash in the Orlando area, talk to a team of qualified turnpike car accident lawyers today.

The Dangers of Driving on the Turnpike

The Florida Turnpike is full of drivers who want to get somewhere fast. In addition to hasty passenger vehicles and people visiting from out of state, you see a lot of commercial trucks and other vehicles on the turnpike.

These trucks, while vital to the lifeblood of the U.S. economy, are a significant safety hazard. They weigh many times as much as a car, have large blind spots, and slow reaction times. Data indicates that semi-truck accidents cause around 100,000 injuries every year. Florida consistently ranks as a state with one of the highest traffic death rates in the country.

Driving conditions also contribute to accidents. Drivers must look for:

• Road Debris
• Construction Work
• Wet Conditions
• Potholes
• Confusing signs
• & More

Did any of these conditions, including aggressive driving from other drivers or carelessness on the part of a semi-truck driver contribute to your car crash? Was the person who hit you texting at the time?At Leighton Panoff Law, we have a team of expert turnpike car accident lawyers ready to help.

Turnpike Accidents Cause Serious Injuries

You’ve probably driven past plenty of accidents on the Florida Turnpike. Most of the time, traffic slows to a crawl and drivers are angry they’ll be late for dinner or some other obligation.

But what about the people involved? Their entire day is ruined, and maybe worse. If a car collides with a semi-truck or hits another car at high speeds, the impact can send them into a concrete barrier or wall.

Common highway car accident injuries include:

Traumatic Brain Injuries

Modern cars are designed to deploy airbags the moment unexpected impact occurs. They save thousands of lives every year, but sometimes people still get hurt. If a person isn’t wearing a seat belt, the airbag fails to deploy, or something else happens, it’s easy to smash someone’s into the steering wheel or a window.

Spinal Injuries

People involved in a rear-end accident often suffer spinal injuries. Especially when the impact is unexpected, your back is exposed and at risk. Spinal injuries are very serious and can affect our ability to move and work.

Lacerations

If the glass shatters in a turnpike accident, glass shards can cut the skin of anyone in the area.

Broken Bones

Wearing a seat belt is always the right idea. However, wearing a seat belt in a high-speed crash, though it will save your life, can break some of your ribs if you hit something hard.

Most of the injuries require medical attention and affect peoples’ ability to work. Victims often need weeks or months of physical rehabilitation to regain the range of motion and strength related to their injuries.

The Impact of Car Accidents on Your Livelihood

People are nice. In many accidents, there is a desire to make sure everyone is alright and tell everyone it’s OK.

When you’re driving 70 miles per hour and you get into an accident, your adrenaline shoots through the roof!

It’s typical for people to not experience the effects of their injuries until after they leave the scene. Sometimes, it takes days or weeks for symptoms of something like a head injury to surface.

The truth of the matter is, if you’re involved in a car accident, the extent of your injuries may not be immediately clear. That’s why you should wait and talk to an attorney.

Every year, many turnpike accident victims can’t lift an arm like they used to or can’t work the same job they did before the accident.

On top of the impact on your quality of life and job, car accident repairs and medical care costs are expensive.

Should you have to pay for everything if the accident was someone else’s fault? Of course not!

The Value of Turnpike Car Accident Lawyers

That’s why getting legal help quickly after an accident matters so much. There’s always time to be nice, but it’s not right now.

You need to take action to protect yourself and your family.

Hiring one of the best turnpike car accident lawyers in Orlando will help you build your case and hold the people who caused the accident accountable.

When a negligent semi-truck driver causes a crash or a drunk driver hits an innocent passenger vehicle, your lawyer helps you seek damages in a personal injury case.

Here’s what you can expect from an expert attorney:

A Thorough Inspection

They’ll cover all of the bases around what happened and determine what exactly led to the accident. Rebuilding a scene and telling an accurate story are critical in settlement negotiations and when arguing a case in court. Preservation of critical evidence is key to establishing liability and making y our case, especially if the case goes to court.

Establish Liability

Not every turnpike accident is clear-cut. Sometimes more than one party contributed to the crash. Your turnpike car accident lawyers will establish liability and start dealing with them directly or with their legal counsel. Skilled trial lawyers will retain top crash reconstruction experts and, if necessary, biomechanical engineers.  This can be essential to proving what happened and the causative factors for the crash.

Obtain Reports

When accidents occur, police write reports and insurance companies generate reports. Your lawyer will obtain those reports and use them in your case.

Assign an Appropriate Damages Value to Your Case

How much do you deserve for your pain and suffering, trauma, medical costs, and other expenses tied to the accident? One thing your lawyer helps with is assigning a value to your case based on present AND future expenses. You will probably deal with the effects of your accident for years.

Record Witness Statements

A good legal team will track down witnesses and record statements from them. Witness statements play a big part in most turnpike accident cases.  It is important to obtain statements quickly before the witnesses memories fade or they are lost.

Negotiating a Settlement After a Turnpike Accident

It’s true. Your case could take years. Opposing insurance companies and lawyers for a commercial trucking company may try to slow things to a crawl.

This happens, but settlements resolve car accidents more often than you’d think. Most insurance companies and at-fault drivers don’t want to go to court. The repercussions are larger there.

Most of the time, delays are a negotiating tactic. These companies know accidents victims are often under financial strain. They need to pay medical bills and repair their car. Maybe holding out will make you take less money.

One of the biggest values of Orlando Turnpike car accident lawyers is they know the game. They understand what’s at stake and what a fair settlement is. They’ll tell you when you should wait and when you should accept a certain dollar figure.

Having expert legal advice here makes a massive impact on the outcome of your case or financial settlement after an accident. It’s impossible to overstate the importance of legal experience when negotiating settlements.

How You Can Help Your Turnpike Car Accident Lawyers

It’s not your job to help your lawyer, but the actions you take after an accident will make your case move faster. Here’s what you should do after an accident:

Call 9-1-1 – Whether it’s for you or someone else at the scene, get first responders on the scene and report the accident.

Seek Medical Attention – Do this even if you feel like you are fine. If you develop symptoms, later on, opposing parties will try to say they aren’t related to the accident.

Take Pictures and video – Snap photos and video of any cars involved, the general scene, injuries, other drivers, and anything else you can think of. They serve as evidence in car accident cases.

Ask for Contact Details – If anyone stops to help or is there at the scene, ask for their contact information. It is important to identify witnesses who might otherwise disappear.

Ask for a Copy of the Police Report – Police on the scene will write and file a report. You can ask for a copy.

Call Your Attorney – Talk to your lawyer while details are still fresh in your head.

The team at Leighton Panoff Law is a leader in representing turnpike car accident victims. We have won many cases involving turnpike crashes, including one where we won an $8 million award for the family of a young lady killed, $6 million for the wife of an elderly man whose life was taken, and $5 million for a woman who suffered fractures in a turnpike crash.  Call us today for a free, no-obligation consultation to discuss the details of your case. We can help you win you the compensation you deserve after a turnpike accident!