Car Accidents in Orlando: 2023 Fatal Crash Data and Claims

NHTSA's Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) is the federal dataset of crashes on public roads in which at least one person died within 30 days. Its 2023 data for Orlando shows 38 fatal crashes and 38 deaths, all coded to Orange County, which means each crash took exactly one life. FARS classes the roads in 35 of the crashes as urban and in 3 as rural. Because FARS tracks only deadly crashes, people hurt in crashes that caused no death are not reflected here.

Most of the crashes involved someone outside a vehicle in traffic. In 22 of the 38, or 58 percent, a pedestrian, cyclist or other non-motorist was involved, with 22 non-motorists involved overall. The first harmful event, which FARS uses to record what was struck first, was a pedestrian in 15 crashes, a cyclist in 4 and, in 3, a person using a wheelchair, skateboard or similar device, which FARS groups as personal conveyances. Another vehicle in traffic was struck first in 12 crashes, and the remaining 4 began with a parked vehicle, a vehicle going into water, a rollover and a non-fixed object, 1 each.

Most crashes came outside the late-night hours. By the clock, 24 crashes fell in the 16 hours from 5 a.m. to 9 p.m., and 14 in the late-night hours from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. Darkness still covered 22 crashes, 19 on lighted roads and 3 on unlit ones, while 13 happened in daylight, 2 at dusk and 1 at dawn. Subtracting the 14 late-night crashes from the 22 dark ones leaves at least 8 that happened in darkness during the evening or early morning. The weather was clear in 36 crashes and rainy in 2.

The end of the week was the busiest stretch. Saturday had 8 crashes and Friday and Sunday 7 each, 22 of the 38 together, while Wednesday had 2 and Monday 3. July, October and November had 5 each, and February and June 1 each. By location, 22 crashes were coded non-junction and 12 happened at or near an intersection, 6 in one and 6 intersection-related. One was at a shared-use path crossing, where a trail crosses the road, and the last 3 were coded as an entrance or exit ramp, through roadway, and elsewhere within an interchange area, 1 each.

Florida reports a trafficway name for every crash in FARS, sometimes a route number, sometimes a street name, sometimes both. Orlando's summary is limited to its 12 most common names, which cover only 15 of the 38 crashes, so the list is partial and the remaining 23 crashes have no road shown. The striking feature is how thinly the crashes are spread: no name appears more than twice, and most listed names appear once.

Road class shows the same spread. Principal arterials other than freeways carried 16 crashes, major collectors 8, minor arterials 6, local streets 4, and interstates and other freeways or expressways 2 each. That leaves 34 of the 38 away from interstates and freeways, on roads that people on foot and on bicycles also use. When crashes are this dispersed, a list of single roads says little about risk, and the pattern may point instead to conditions found across many streets.

• I-4: 2 fatal crashes.
• South Kirkman Road: 2 fatal crashes.
• SR-50 West Colonial Drive: 2 fatal crashes.
• US-17, SR-91, Clay Street and South Ivey Lane: 1 each.
• Destination Parkway, Parramore Avenue, Metrowest Boulevard, Jeff Fuqua Boulevard and Mercy Drive: 1 each.

The records describe conditions, not causes, and this summary contains no impairment data, so any explanation is a hypothesis. With 22 crashes away from junctions and 22 involving non-motorists, one possibility is that some pedestrian crashes happened as people crossed between intersections, but the summary does not cross-tabulate the two figures, so that remains unconfirmed. The concentration from Friday to Sunday may reflect more evening travel and recreation, though nothing in the data confirms a reason.

For anyone hurt while walking, cycling or using a personal conveyance, two Florida rules shape the claim. First, PIP, the $10,000 of personal injury protection Florida drivers must carry, pays covered medical costs and lost income regardless of fault, but which policy provides it for a non-motorist depends on the household's coverage and the facts. Second, pain and suffering can generally be claimed from the driver only for an injury above the threshold in Florida's no-fault statute, so the medical records carry as much weight as the crash evidence.

The fault rule is the third piece, and it can decide whether anything is recoverable. Florida's 51 percent bar means that once a person's share of fault tops 50 percent, a negligence claim yields nothing, so arguments that a pedestrian crossed outside a crosswalk, wore dark clothing or stepped out suddenly carry high stakes. Evidence gathered early, such as video, lighting conditions, the driver's speed and witness accounts, is often what keeps a fault percentage below that line.

Picture a Friday at dusk in 2025: you are walking across a busy arterial road between two intersections when a driver going over the speed limit strikes you. You fracture your leg and shoulder, need two surgeries and miss three months of work, and your medical bills reach $65,000. With the crash falling after March 24, 2023, Florida's current two-year deadline and 51 percent bar govern it. The facts and numbers in this example are hypothetical.

If you owned a car insured in Florida, your own PIP would generally pay first, up to $10,000, for covered medical costs and lost income, whoever was at fault. Suppose your doctors documented an injury serious enough to clear Florida's no-fault threshold, and your damages, counting pain and suffering, were valued at $200,000. The driver's insurer then argues that you were largely to blame for crossing between intersections in fading light.

Here the 51 percent bar does its work. If you were found 45 percent at fault, your $200,000 would be reduced to $110,000, subject to the driver's bodily injury coverage and any uninsured motorist coverage you carry. If you were found 55 percent at fault, the negligence claim would fail entirely, and only PIP would remain. A 10-point difference in the fault finding moves the result from $110,000 to nothing, which is why the evidence about speed, lighting and the crossing point matters so much.

Because so many of Orlando's 2023 crashes involved people on foot or on wheels outside a car, the evidence that matters most often concerns visibility and position: where the person was, how much light there was and how fast the vehicle was moving. That evidence changes or disappears within days. The steps below apply to drivers and passengers as well, and someone close to you can take on several of them during a hospital stay.

Keep a running file from day one: the agency name and report number, every insurer's claim number, medical records and bills, proof of missed work, and photographs. Note symptoms and limits on daily life each week. In Florida, the medical record does double duty, supporting both the PIP claim and any argument that the injury meets the threshold for pain and suffering.

• Call 911 and note which agency responded; Orlando police generally take crashes on city streets, while the Florida Highway Patrol often takes those on interstates such as I-4.
• If you were walking, cycling or using a wheelchair or skateboard, photograph where you were, the nearest crosswalk, the signals and the street lighting.
• Return at the same time of day, if it is safe, to record the light conditions, or ask someone to do it.
• Notify your own auto insurer, or a household member's, and start a PIP claim even though you were not in a car.
• Ask the driver's insurer to confirm in writing whether any bodily injury liability coverage applies and its limit.
• Check your declarations page for uninsured motorist coverage and its limit.
• If a city bus, another government vehicle or a public road condition played a part, a written claim to the agency must be made within three years, or within two years for a death, under Fla. Stat. § 768.28(6)(a).

Florida's HB 837 changed two rules in 2023. Negligence claims that accrued, meaning arose, after March 24, 2023 generally have two years under Fla. Stat. § 95.11(5)(a) instead of four, and the fault rule shifted to modified comparative negligence, with recovery barred above 50 percent fault. At least 4 of Orlando's 2023 fatal crashes, 3 in January and 1 in February, came before that date, and some of March's 3 may have too. For those crashes, the date of the crash determines which deadline governs, and an attorney should confirm how the fault rule applies.

Florida's no-fault system sets it apart from fault-based states. Drivers must carry PIP and property damage coverage of $10,000 each, with no bodily injury liability requirement, and PIP pays first. In California and Washington, by contrast, an injured person claims against the at-fault driver's liability coverage from the start, without a threshold. Kentucky and Kansas also use no-fault insurance, each with its own threshold for suing, which shows how much the answer to a simple question, who pays, depends on the state.

Wrongful death has its own timetable. Florida generally allows two years after a death to bring a wrongful death claim (Fla. Stat. § 95.11(5)(e)), but sets no deadline at all for a wrongful death claim against a person whose intentional act, of the kind described in Fla. Stat. §§ 782.04 or 782.07, caused the death. A claim against the City of Orlando, Orange County or a state agency has a three-year window for written presentation, shortened to two years for a death, under Fla. Stat. § 768.28(6)(a). Injury lawsuits go to Circuit Court.

Many of Orlando's 2023 fatal crashes involved people who were not in a car, and claims like that bring PIP coverage questions, the no-fault threshold and the 51 percent bar to the front at once. For the family of someone killed, the wrongful death deadline and any claim against a public agency add their own dates. Most personal injury attorneys work on contingency, with the fee drawn from any recovery, and fees in such arrangements commonly range from 25 to 40 percent.

Ask Legal Matters, a lead-generation service rather than a law firm, runs a free claim-review request service. Any request may be shared with independent attorneys and legal services partners who handle inquiries in Florida. The question of whether there is a claim at all, or what one might be worth, is for an attorney to answer after evaluating the facts. If you were hurt in an Orlando crash, or lost someone in one, you can request a free claim review.

• Orlando, Florida: local injury guide, court and deadlines
• Car Accident Claims in the United States: The Complete Guide
• Pedestrian Accident Claims: Rights, Fault and Compensation
• Wrongful Death Claims: Who Can File, Deadlines and Damages
• Car Accidents in Miami: 2023 Crash Data and How a Claim Works
• Car Accidents in Jacksonville: 2023 Data and How a Claim Works
• Car Accidents in Tallahassee: 2023 Data and Florida Claim Rules
• Car Accidents in Lakewood, CO: 2023 Crash Data and Colorado Law
• US Cities With the Most Fatal Car Accidents in 2023 (NHTSA Data)
• Hit by a Drunk Driver: Why the Claim Is Different, and Who Pays

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