Many people come to Florida to retire, and as a result the state has a sizeable elderly population. Continuing to drive as they did before retirement often allows senior citizens to feel some sense of control over their everyday lives. However, as people age, many of them become impaired. They lose their ability to see or hear, and their reaction times are substantially slowed. These age-related issues make it more likely that an elderly person will be involved in a car accident. Florida is the state with the highest number of drivers who are 65 or older who are involved in fatal car accidents. If you have been hurt or lost a loved one in a crash near Ocala, the dedicated car accident attorneys at the Dean Law Firm can help you seek compensation.
In many cases, an elderly driver’s impaired faculties cause a car accident through his or her negligence. To prove a defendant’s negligence, a crash victim will need to show the defendant’s duty of care, a breach of that duty, actual and proximate causation, and actual damages. An elderly person owes the same duty to other drivers and pedestrians to use reasonable care and refrain from posing foreseeable risks of harm as a non-elderly person does. The duty to use reasonable care includes following traffic laws, submitting to the mandated vision test for those 80 and older, and wearing corrective lenses as required. An elderly driver who fails to do any these things—thereby breaching his or her duty, and causing an accident—often may be held responsible for an accident victim’s injuries.
In some cases, there is more than one person at fault for a crash. If you are partly to blame for the collision that caused your injuries, the damages that you may recover in Florida will be reduced by your proportion of responsibility under the doctrine of comparative negligence. This means, for example, if you are in a two-car accident and are 25% responsible for an accident and the total damages award was $100,000, you are responsible for $25,000 of the damages, while the defendant owes you $75,000.
Like anyone else who is injured in a car accident, a victim can potentially recover the full spectrum of his or her economic and non-economic costs and losses, including medical bills, lost wages, repairs to a vehicle, and pain and suffering. There is a limited time period within which an injured individual can file a claim after a crash, however. This rule, known as the statute of limitations, generally will bar the right to recovery for an accident victim who waits too long to sue a defendant.
Elderly drivers can cause serious harm through negligence caused by advancing age. They should not be excused for careless actions behind the wheel that cause devastating, often permanent injuries to others. These types of accidents are especially common in Florida communities such as Ocala, and the motor vehicle collision lawyers at the Dean Law Firm are ready to help you protect your rights if you have been hurt as a result. Call us at 352-387-8700 or contact us via our online form. We represent accident victims throughout the state, including in Crystal River and the Villages as well as Marion, Sumter, Levy, Citrus, and Lake Counties.
