Proving Fault After a Left-Turn Collision in Florida

Attorney Answer

Being struck in the back right while turning left is a fact that helps you, but it does not decide the case. What decides it is the right-of-way picture at the moment of impact — signal, position, speed — plus medical proof connecting your injuries to the crash.

Left-turn crashes get argued because a turning driver generally has to yield to oncoming traffic close enough to be a hazard. That is why the other driver's insurer will start from the assumption that you were at fault.

Your impact point cuts the other way. Contact at the rear right of your car suggests you were well into the turn — that you had committed and largely cleared the path before the other vehicle arrived. A driver who strikes the back of a turning car often had time and distance to see it and react. Damage severe enough to separate a wheel also says something about closing speed. None of it is conclusive, and fault can still be shared: excessive speed, running a signal, an obscured or unlit vehicle, or a turn started against a solid arrow all move the percentages.

Sharing fault is not the same as losing. For accidents before March 24, 2023, Fla. Stat. § 768.81(2) provided: "In a negligence action, contributory fault chargeable to the claimant diminishes proportionately the amount awarded as economic and noneconomic damages for an injury attributable to the claimant's contributory fault, but does not bar recovery." That was pure comparative fault, and no percentage cut recovery off. The Legislature changed the rule in 2023 for later accidents; which version governs an older crash is a lawyer's question, not a page's.

Money moves on two tracks. Your own personal injury protection pays first regardless of fault. Under Fla. Stat. § 627.736(1), PIP provides up to $10,000 in combined medical and disability benefits, with medical benefits under § 627.736(1)(a) being "Eighty percent of all reasonable expenses for medically necessary medical, surgical, X-ray, dental, and rehabilitative services, including prosthetic devices and medically necessary ambulance, hospital, and nursing services if the individual receives initial services and care pursuant to subparagraph 1. within 14 days after the motor vehicle accident." Miss the 14 days and the benefit is gone; the disability side pays 60 percent of lost income.

The second track is the claim against the other driver, and it has a gate. Fla. Stat. § 627.737(2) allows pain-and-suffering damages, where PIP applies, only where the injury consists in whole or in part of significant and permanent loss of an important bodily function; permanent injury within a reasonable degree of medical probability, other than scarring or disfigurement; significant and permanent scarring or disfigurement; or death. Your economic losses beyond PIP are not gated by that threshold. Coverage may also be thin: Fla. Stat. § 324.022(1) provides that "Every owner or operator of a motor vehicle required to be registered in this state shall establish and maintain the ability to respond in damages for liability on account of accidents arising out of the use of the motor vehicle in the amount of $10,000 because of damage to, or destruction of, property of others in any one crash." Florida requires no bodily injury liability coverage from most private drivers, so uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage on your own policy, which § 627.727(1) includes unless a named insured rejected it in writing, may be what actually pays.

What you can do

1. Get evaluated within the 14 days § 627.736(1)(a) allows, if you have not, and tell the provider it was a motor vehicle crash.

2. Open your PIP claim and confirm the claim number in writing.

3. Get a copy of the crash report, and photograph both vehicles before any repair. The impact point is your best evidence.

4. Ask your insurer in writing whether you have uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage and at what limits.

5. Ask a Florida attorney about preserving signal timing data or nearby camera footage — that usually needs a lawyer's letter.

6. Do not give the other driver's insurer a recorded statement or sign its medical authorization before a lawyer reviews the case.

7. Most lawyers offer a brief initial call at no cost, and a few minutes on your specific facts with someone who practices in Florida is worth more than any general guidance, including this page.

⏱ Time limits apply. Fla. Stat. § 95.11 sets the deadline, keyed to the accident date: for an accident before March 24, 2023 the former four-year period applied to a negligence claim, and the Legislature shortened it to two years in 2023 for later accidents. Which version reaches an older crash is a lawyer's question. PIP and evidence preservation run on much shorter clocks. Do not calculate a date yourself — have a Florida attorney check it now.