What to Do After a Truck Accident in Florida

At the Scene: The First Hour

Almost nothing you do in the first hour is about building a legal case. It is about safety, medical care, and creating a record that will still exist tomorrow. Do these in order.

1. Get to safety. If the vehicles are in a travel lane and you can move, move. Secondary collisions at truck crash scenes are common, particularly on interstates and in rain.
2. Call 911. Report injuries and that a commercial vehicle is involved, which affects who responds. Florida Highway Patrol investigates most highway truck crashes.
3. Accept medical evaluation. Declining transport because you feel functional is the most common early mistake. Adrenaline masks pain, and several serious truck crash injuries present hours later.
4. Photograph before anything moves, if you safely can — see the list below.
5. Get the crash report number from the responding officer.
6. Collect witness contact details. Highway witnesses leave within minutes and are rarely traceable afterward.

What to Photograph

Truck crash scenes are cleared quickly — debris is a hazard and the road has to reopen. What you capture in the first twenty minutes is frequently the only record of how things actually sat:

• The tractor and the trailer separately, including the DOT number on the cab door. Tractor and trailer often belong to different companies, and the DOT number is how each is identified.
• Final resting positions of every vehicle, from several angles and far enough back to show lane markings.
• Damage on both vehicles, especially the height at which contact occurred — that single detail tells an engineer a great deal about the impact.
• Skid, yaw, and scrub marks, and any gouges in the pavement or shoulder.
• Spilled cargo and debris before it is swept away.
• Road and weather conditions, including standing water, and any signage or advisory speed limits.
• Trailer safety equipment — the rear guard, conspicuity tape, and lights, which matter enormously in underride cases.
• Your own visible injuries, and again over the following days as bruising develops.

The Florida 14-Day Rule

Florida’s no-fault system provides $10,000 in personal injury protection benefits under Fla. Stat. § 627.736, regardless of who caused the crash. There is a condition attached that catches people out constantly: initial treatment must begin within 14 days.

Miss that window and the benefit is generally lost, whatever the injury turns out to be. That matters most for the injuries that do not announce themselves — concussion, disc herniation, internal bleeding, and soft-tissue damage all commonly present days after the crash rather than at the scene.

Two further points. Describe every symptom at every visit, including headaches, memory trouble, sleep disruption, and mood changes, because an injury absent from the record is one an insurer will attribute to something else. And keep appointments — gaps in treatment are read as evidence of recovery, not as evidence of a busy life.

Published By

Shiner Law Group, P.A.

Founded by David I. Shiner, Esq. · AV Preeminent® rated · Florida Bar member since 2002

Shiner Law Group was founded by David I. Shiner, Esq., a Nova Southeastern University law graduate, a member of The Florida Bar since 2002, and AV Preeminent® rated by Martindale-Hubbell. The firm represents injured people across Florida from offices in Boca Raton, West Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale, Fort Pierce, Orlando, Wellington, and Belle Glade, and handles truck accident cases on contingency: free consultations, and no fee unless there is a recovery.

The firm works to keep this information current and consistent. Spotted something wrong? Email joseph@shinerlawgroup.com and we will fix it. About this site →

What Not to Do

The carrier’s insurer may contact you within a day or two, often before you have seen a doctor twice. Several ordinary, reasonable-seeming responses cause lasting damage:

• Do not give a recorded statement to the trucking company’s insurer. You are generally not required to, and a statement given before the medical picture is clear is used later to argue your injuries are unrelated or overstated.
• Do not accept an early settlement. Early offers arrive before anyone knows what the injuries will require. Accepting means signing a release, and a claim cannot be reopened because an injury turned out to be permanent.
• Do not sign a blanket medical authorization. A broad release lets an insurer search your entire medical history for something to blame.
• Do not post about the crash or about your activities. Social media is reviewed routinely, and a photograph taken on a good day is used to characterize every day.
• Do not guess or minimize. “I’m fine” at the scene becomes evidence. So does speculating about speed or distance you did not actually measure.
• Do not assume the police report settles fault. It is evidence, sometimes amended, and it does not bind an insurer or a court.

Preserving the Evidence Only the Carrier Has

This is the step with no equivalent in a car accident, and it is the most time-sensitive thing that happens in a truck claim.

Commercial vehicles record a great deal — engine control module data, electronic logging device records, telematics, and camera footage. Nearly all of it sits on systems the motor carrier controls, and much of it is lawfully overwritten on cycles measured in weeks. Maintenance files, driver qualification records, and dispatch logs are retained longer but are not volunteered.

A spoliation letter is a formal written demand that the carrier preserve this material. Sent early, it converts routine deletion into destruction of evidence, which carries consequences. Sent late, it arrives after the data is gone. This is the single strongest practical argument for getting legal advice quickly, even if you are undecided about bringing a claim.

Getting Your Florida Crash Report

Florida crash reports are held by the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles. Reports are confidential for 60 days, available in that window only to those involved, their attorneys and insurers, and certain other authorized parties. That restriction protects you from solicitation, but it also means you have to request the report rather than wait for it.

Request it through the FLHSMV crash portal or from the investigating agency — usually Florida Highway Patrol for highway crashes, or the local police or sheriff’s office otherwise. A commercial vehicle crash generates additional records beyond the narrative report, including post-crash inspection findings on brakes, tires, cargo securement, and driver hours. Those often matter more than the officer’s summary.

What to Do in the First Month

1. Within 24 hours: get medical care, obtain the crash report number, photograph your injuries again as bruising develops, and write down everything you remember while it is fresh.
2. Within 3 days: notify your own insurer, begin the PIP claim, and decline any recorded statement request from the carrier’s insurer.
3. Within 7 days: get legal advice so a preservation letter can reach the carrier before electronic data cycles out. This is the hard deadline that is not written in any statute.
4. Within 14 days: ensure initial medical treatment has begun, or PIP benefits are generally forfeited.
5. Within 30 days: obtain the crash report, follow the full treatment plan, keep a symptom and activity journal, and gather pre-crash medical records establishing your baseline.
6. Ongoing: attend every appointment, keep every receipt, and avoid discussing the crash publicly.

Next, identify what actually happened using the accident type guides, and read Who Is Liable to understand who may be responsible beyond the driver.

After a Truck Accident: FAQ