Miami & South Florida Truck Accident Lawyer

You were hauling a box out of PortMiami, or you were just trying to get home on the Palmetto, and a truck changed lanes into you. South Florida traffic doesn't stop for anyone, so the scene gets cleared fast. What you do in the next few days matters more than you'd think.

Driving Miami & South Florida: what the roads are really like

Rush hour here isn't an hour. I-95 and the Palmetto stay jammed most of the day, and drayage drivers working on per-load pay are pushing to make another turn before the terminal gate closes. That mix of tired truckers, impatient commuters and short, tight ramps is where a lot of sideswipes and rear-end hits happen.

Then there's the weather. Summer afternoons bring storms that dump rain in minutes, and the first rain after a dry spell turns the oil on the pavement into a slick film. Hurricane season adds evacuation traffic and debris. On Alligator Alley, one bad squall can leave you driving blind with nowhere to pull off.

Where big rig wrecks cluster in Miami & South Florida

• Golden Glades Interchange (I-95 / Turnpike / SR 826 / US-441). Five roads braid together in a short space, so trucks and cars cut across several lanes at once to reach their exit.
• SR 826 Palmetto Expressway at SR 836. Container chassis heading to Doral and Medley warehouses mix with airport and commuter traffic in heavy stop-and-go.
• I-95 through downtown Miami (I-395 / I-195 area). Short merges, constant lane changes and port-bound drayage trucks squeezed into tight ramps.
• I-75 Alligator Alley across the Everglades. Long, flat and monotonous, with few exits and sudden summer downpours that drop visibility to almost nothing.

The freight behind Miami & South Florida truck traffic

South Florida is a port and air-cargo town. PortMiami handles container ships and cruise traffic right off downtown, and Port Everglades in Broward County moves containers and fuel. Miami International Airport is one of the country's busiest cargo airports, and the warehouse districts in Doral and Medley fill the gap between the docks, the airport and the Palmetto. Much of what runs these roads is short-haul drayage: a chassis and a box going a few miles, many times a day.

Main truck routes: I-95 · Florida's Turnpike · I-75 (Alligator Alley) · SR 826 (Palmetto Expressway) · SR 836 (Dolphin Expressway).

If you were driving the truck

If you run drayage out of PortMiami or Port Everglades, the question of who you work for gets murky fast. You might be leased on to a motor carrier, hauling for a broker, and pulling a chassis from a pool you don't own. Keep copies of your lease agreement, the interchange paperwork for the chassis and container, and your ELD data from the day of the wreck. If a defective chassis played a part, like bad brakes or worn tires, those records point to who was responsible for maintaining it. Photograph the equipment before it gets swapped back into the pool.

If a big rig hit your car

If a truck hit your car on I-95 or the Turnpike, get the name of the trucking company off the cab door and the USDOT number printed near it. Many trucks here are local drayage rigs, and the company name on the door may not be the one that owns the trailer or container. Photograph all of it. If you went to the hospital by ambulance, you may never have talked to the trooper, so request the crash report as soon as it's available and check that it tells your side accurately.

Florida rules still decide the case

Florida changed in 2023. A claimant found more than 50% at fault is now barred from recovering, where previously Florida was a pure comparative state with no bar at all.

Read the full Florida truck accident guide and the Florida filing deadlines, or start a free case review.

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