Duty of Care in Car Accidents

Every car accident case in Florida comes down to the same four questions: Did the other driver owe you a duty of care? Did they breach it? Did that breach cause your injuries? What are your damages? The first question is almost always answered yes, because Florida law imposes a duty of reasonable care on every person who gets behind the wheel. The fight is usually over the other three. This article explains what the duty of care actually requires of Florida drivers, where it comes from, and how it is used to prove a negligence claim after a crash.

What “duty of care” means in Florida

The duty of care is the legal obligation to act as a reasonably careful person would under the same circumstances. For drivers, that means operating the vehicle the way a reasonably prudent driver would in the same traffic, weather and road conditions. The standard is objective. It does not matter that a driver was doing their personal best, was new to the area or was having a bad day. If a reasonable driver would have slowed down, looked twice or put the phone away, the duty required it.

The Florida Supreme Court has described the test as the “foreseeable zone of risk”: when a person’s conduct creates a foreseeable risk of harm to others, the law imposes a duty to lessen that risk or to take reasonable precautions against it. Driving a two-ton vehicle at speed creates a foreseeable zone of risk that covers every other driver, passenger, pedestrian and cyclist nearby. That is why the existence of a duty is rarely disputed in a car accident case.

The specific duties Florida drivers owe

Chapter 316 of the Florida Statutes, the Uniform Traffic Control law, spells out many of the duties in detail. The ones that come up most often after a crash include:

• Careless driving (s. 316.1925): drive in a careful and prudent manner, having regard for the width, grade, curves, corners, traffic and all other conditions, so as not to endanger life, limb or property. This is the catch-all citation on most Broward crash reports.
• Speed (s. 316.183): never drive faster than is reasonable and prudent for the conditions, regardless of the posted limit.
• Following too closely (s. 316.0895): leave enough room to stop if the car ahead stops.
• Lane changes and signals (ss. 316.085 and 316.155): change lanes only when it is safe and signal before turning or changing lanes.
• Traffic signals and right of way (ss. 316.075, 316.121 through 316.123): obey lights and signs and yield to traffic that has the right of way.
• Pedestrians (s. 316.130): yield to pedestrians in crosswalks and exercise due care to avoid hitting any pedestrian.
• Wireless devices (s. 316.305): no texting while driving, and no handheld phone use in school and work zones.
• Impairment (s. 316.193): never drive with normal faculties impaired by alcohol or drugs.
• Vehicle condition: keep brakes, tires, lights and wipers in safe working order.

The four elements of a negligence claim

Duty. The other driver owed you a duty of reasonable care. As explained above, this element is usually established simply by showing they were driving on a public road.

Breach. The driver failed to meet that standard. Breach is proven with facts: the driver was texting, ran the light, was traveling 60 in a 40, followed too closely on I-595, or failed to yield turning left across University Drive. Witnesses, dashcam and surveillance video, event data recorder downloads, phone records and the physical evidence at the scene all go to breach.

Causation. The breach caused your injuries. Florida requires proof that the negligence more likely than not caused the harm, and for medical questions, that your injuries are related to the crash within a reasonable degree of medical probability. This is where insurers fight hardest, arguing that a herniated disc was pre-existing or that a low-speed impact could not have caused the injury claimed. Prompt medical care and consistent treatment are the best answer to those arguments.

Damages. You suffered actual harm: medical bills, lost wages, reduced earning capacity, pain and suffering, and loss of enjoyment of life. Under Florida’s no-fault system, your own PIP coverage pays the first $10,000 of medical bills and lost wages regardless of fault. To recover pain and suffering from the at-fault driver, you generally must show a permanent injury, significant and permanent scarring, or the loss of an important bodily function.

How a traffic citation affects your case

A violation of a Florida traffic statute is evidence of negligence, but it is not automatic liability. The jury may consider the violation along with all the other evidence. Two practical points follow from that. First, a citation issued to the other driver helps but does not win the case on its own, and the absence of a citation does not mean you have no claim. Second, Florida’s crash report privilege, section 316.066, makes statements a driver made to the officer for purposes of completing the report inadmissible in a civil trial, so the investigation cannot stop with the report. Independent evidence has to be gathered.

When more than one person owes you a duty

The driver is not always the only responsible party. Under Florida’s dangerous instrumentality doctrine, the owner of a vehicle who lends it to someone is vicariously liable for that driver’s negligence, subject to statutory limits. An employer is liable for an employee driving in the course of their job. A bar or restaurant that served alcohol to a minor or to someone known to be habitually addicted can be liable under Florida’s dram shop statute. A government agency may be responsible for a defective road or malfunctioning signal, although sovereign immunity caps those claims and requires written notice before suit. Identifying every party who owed you a duty is often the difference between a policy-limits settlement and full compensation.

Comparative fault and the two-year deadline

You also owed a duty of care, and the other driver’s insurer will argue you breached it. Florida uses modified comparative negligence: if you are found more than 50 percent at fault, you recover nothing, and at 50 percent or less your recovery is reduced by your percentage. Since 2023, the deadline to file a negligence lawsuit in Florida is two years from the date of the crash, down from four. Evidence disappears far sooner than that.

The Injury Advocates is a Plantation-based personal injury firm serving Fort Lauderdale, Broward County and South Florida. If another driver’s carelessness injured you, call (754) 812-8444 or 833-DARFOOR, or send us a message. The consultation is free and you owe no fees or costs unless we recover for you. Learn more about our car accident practice, or read about Florida’s comparative negligence law.