Florida’s 100 Deadliest Days Put Palm Beach County Families At Greater Risk
Families traveling through Palm Beach County this summer face serious risks every time they get on the road. Last year, Palm Beach County recorded 156 traffic deaths, which works out to roughly one life lost every two to three days. Many of these deaths occurred during the 100 Deadliest Days, the period between Memorial Day and Labor Day, when car accident risks historically rise for teen drivers in Florida and across the country.
Florida officials are responding. U.S. Sen. Ashley Moody cited data showing Florida recorded more than 650 fatal crashes during the 2025 summer driving period alone, according to Florida Voice. Nationally, eight people per day die in teen-involved crashes during the summer, compared with seven per day during the rest of the year. That’s why Moody urged Floridians to buckle up, avoid distractions, and never drive impaired as summer travel peaks.
At The Law Offices of Casey D. Shomo, P.A., Mr. Shomo is an experienced Palm Beach Gardens car accident lawyer who knows the risks drivers face every summer. That’s because he has helped car accident injury victims throughout Palm Beach County for over 30 years. If a crash during this season has injured you or someone in your family, here’s what you need to know to protect your health and your rights.
Why Do Crash Rates Spike In Palm Beach County During The Summer Months?
Palm Beach County is not an average county. It sits in the heart of one of the most heavily traveled corridors in the state, with I-95, the Florida Turnpike, and U.S. 1 all running through or alongside it. During the summer months, that traffic intensifies. Tourism surges. Teens are out of school and on the road. More families travel for holidays, vacations, beach trips, and weekend events. Together, those conditions claim lives every year during this period.
Florida’s summer crash pattern is well-documented. The Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles tracks teen driving safety through its Arrive Alive campaign, and FLHSMV’s 100 Deadly Days of Summer page identifies the period between Memorial Day and Labor Day as a high-risk time for teen drivers. In Palm Beach County’s case, the county logged 25,349 total crashes in 2025 based on preliminary FLHSMV data. Even with fatalities down from the prior year, that still works out to roughly 70 crashes per day.
The risk is not evenly distributed. Intersections remain some of the most dangerous locations in the county, year after year. Military Trail and PGA Boulevard in Palm Beach Gardens have consistently ranked among the county’s most crash-prone intersections. During the summer, volume at these locations rises, and so does the severity of the consequences when drivers make mistakes.
Why Are Teen Drivers More Dangerous On The Road During This Period?
Teen drivers carry a higher crash risk than more experienced drivers, and summer can amplify that risk significantly. When school ends, teens drive more, often in conditions they are not fully prepared for, including late-night trips, unfamiliar routes, crowded highways, and cars filled with friends. Each of those factors can increase the probability of a crash. Together, they compound it.
FLHSMV notes that more than 205,000 Florida teens between the ages of 15 and 19 were driving with learner’s licenses as of May 2024. Many of those drivers have limited experience, and even licensed teens are still learning how to manage traffic pressure, sudden hazards, highway speeds, and peer distraction.
When that inexperience collides with summer traffic volume on Palm Beach County roads, serious crashes can result. A teen driver who speeds through an intersection, looks down at a phone, drives impaired, or violates nighttime driving restrictions can cause life-changing harm in seconds.
What Does Florida Law Say About Teen Drivers During The Summer?
Florida’s Graduated Driver Licensing system imposes specific restrictions on teen drivers that become especially relevant during the summer months. Under Florida Statute § 322.16, 16-year-old licensed drivers generally may not drive between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. unless driving to or from work or accompanied by a licensed driver who is at least 21 years old. Seventeen-year-old drivers generally may not drive between 1 a.m. and 5 a.m. under the same conditions.
The state’s zero-tolerance policy adds another layer. Under Florida Statute § 322.2616, any driver under 21 with a blood alcohol level of .02 percent or more faces an immediate license suspension. FLHSMV’s teen driver safety guidance also emphasizes speeding, impaired driving, and distracted driving as major dangers during the summer travel period.
Violations of these rules can become important evidence in a personal injury claim. If a teen driver was on the road during restricted hours, drove impaired, sped, or acted carelessly before the crash, that conduct may help establish negligence.
What Are The Leading Causes Of Serious Crashes During The 100 Deadliest Days?
Florida officials and traffic safety researchers point to the same cluster of behaviors in crash reports year after year during the summer period. None of them is an accident in the true sense. They are choices, and the crashes that follow are often preventable.
The most frequently cited causes include:
- Speeding: Excessive speed reduces a driver's reaction time and increases the force of impact. Teen drivers and other motorists who speed on I-95, the Florida Turnpike, U.S. 1, or local Palm Beach County roads can turn an avoidable mistake into a catastrophic crash. Victims hurt by speeding-related accidents often suffer serious injuries because higher speeds make collisions more violent.
- Distracted Driving: Smartphones, passengers, GPS screens, and other distractions take a driver’s eyes, hands, or attention away from the road. Florida officials warn that texting is especially dangerous because it involves all three types of distraction. A person hit by a distracted driver may need phone records, witness statements, crash reports, and other evidence to prove what happened.
- Impaired Driving: Alcohol and drug use remain significant factors in summer crash fatalities. Florida’s zero-tolerance law applies a lower blood alcohol threshold to drivers under 21, but enforcement often comes after someone has already been hurt.
- Nighttime Driving: Crash risk rises sharply after dark, especially for inexperienced drivers. Florida’s nighttime restrictions exist because younger drivers face greater danger when visibility drops, fatigue increases, and social driving becomes more common.
- Passenger Distraction: Teen passengers can distract a teen driver, encourage risk-taking, or make it harder for a new driver to stay focused. Even when passenger limits do not apply, the presence of friends in the vehicle can be relevant when investigators examine how and why a crash occurred.
Add up all these factors: a teenager driving late, friends in the car, a phone nearby, traffic moving fast, and the conditions for a catastrophic crash multiply. Families on Palm Beach County roads cannot control another driver’s choices. They can only understand the legal options available when those choices cause harm.
How Does Florida’s No-Fault Law Affect A Summer Crash Claim?
Florida is a no-fault insurance state. Florida’s Personal Injury Protection law requires a driver’s own insurer to cover certain medical expenses and lost wages after a crash, regardless of fault. PIP can pay quickly and does not require a final determination of fault. For minor injuries, many people rely on PIP alone.
The no-fault system does not always prevent an injured person from suing the at-fault driver. It sets limits. To bring a claim directly against the person who caused the crash, the injury generally must meet Florida’s serious injury standard. That standard can include significant and permanent loss of an important body function, permanent injury, significant scarring or disfigurement, or death.
Summer crashes involving teen drivers may produce injuries that meet this threshold. High-speed collisions, distracted driving crashes, intersection accidents, and late-night wrecks can cause brain injuries, spinal cord injuries, fractures, surgical injuries, and fatal trauma. When injuries are serious, stepping outside the no-fault system and pursuing the at-fault driver directly often produces significantly more compensation than PIP alone provides.
Understanding how Florida’s no-fault insurance system works after a car accident can help injured people avoid assuming that PIP is the only source of recovery.
Who Is Legally Responsible When A Teen Driver Causes A Crash In Florida?
People injured in crashes caused by teen drivers sometimes assume their only option is to pursue the teenager’s own insurance policy. In Florida, the range of responsible parties may be broader. Identifying every liable party early can directly affect how much compensation the victim can recover.
Depending on the facts, legally responsible parties may include:
- The Teen Driver: A driver who was speeding, distracted, impaired, or in violation of Florida’s teen driving restrictions may bear direct liability for the crash.
- The Teen’s Parents or Guardians: Under Florida’s dangerous instrumentality doctrine, vehicle owners can be held responsible for a permissive driver's negligent operation of their vehicle. Parents who gave a teen permission to use the family car may share liability for any resulting crashes.
- Vehicle Owners: If a teen was driving someone else’s car, the owner may be held liable for allowing an inexperienced or risky driver to use it. This can apply even when the owner is not related to the teen.
- Other Negligent Parties: A road defect, a traffic signal malfunction, a vehicle defect, a drunk driver, a distracted driver, or another negligent motorist can all contribute to a crash. A thorough investigation looks beyond the teen driver to identify every party whose conduct contributed.
Liability can be especially contested in intersection crashes, where drivers may dispute speed, right-of-way, traffic signals, and whether one vehicle entered the intersection unlawfully. Knowing how liability is determined in an intersection accident can help families understand why early evidence matters.
What Evidence Helps Prove A Summer Car Accident Claim?
Evidence can disappear quickly after a serious crash. Skid marks fade. Vehicles are repaired or destroyed. Witnesses become harder to locate. Surveillance footage can be overwritten. Insurance companies may start building their defense before the injured person has even left the hospital.
Important evidence may include the police report, crash scene photographs, vehicle damage, witness statements, video footage, cell phone records, black box data, medical records, and proof of lost income. In teen driver cases, the investigation may also examine passenger statements, time of day, license restrictions, phone use, alcohol or drug involvement, and vehicle ownership.
Medical documentation is just as important as crash evidence. Serious injuries are not always obvious at the scene, and symptoms can worsen over time. Documenting injuries after a car accident can make it harder for an insurance company to argue that the crash did not cause the injury or that the injury is not as serious as the victim says.
What If A Summer Crash Causes A Fatal Injury?
Some Palm Beach County families never get the chance to help a loved one recover. When a summer crash causes a fatal injury, the legal claim becomes about accountability for a life that was taken and the losses the family now faces.
A fatal crash may give surviving family members the right to pursue compensation for funeral expenses, medical expenses tied to the final injury, lost support, lost companionship, and other damages allowed under Florida law. These cases often require a detailed investigation into fault, insurance coverage, vehicle ownership, toxicology results, phone use, crash reconstruction, and every decision that led to the collision.
Families who have lost a loved one in a Florida car accident should not rely on the insurance company to explain every available legal option. The insurer’s goal is to limit its exposure, not to protect the family’s future.
Why Should Crash Victims Be Careful With Insurance Companies?
Insurance companies often move quickly after a serious summer crash. Adjusters may ask for recorded statements, request broad medical authorizations, suggest that injuries are minor, blame the injured person, or offer a settlement before the full extent of the damages is known.
That early offer may seem helpful when bills are piling up, but accepting it too soon can be costly. Once a settlement is signed, the claim usually closes permanently, even if the injuries worsen or future medical care becomes necessary. Injured people should understand the risks before they accept the first settlement offer after a Florida car accident.
Insurance adjusters know how to minimize injury claims, especially when serious injuries, teen drivers, or disputed liability are involved. A lawyer can protect the injured person from statements, forms, and settlement pressure that could reduce the value of the claim.
How Can A Palm Beach County Car Accident Lawyer Help Me?
A crash during the 100 Deadliest Days can leave Palm Beach County families facing injuries, medical bills, lost income, and an unfamiliar legal process. Early decisions matter. Whether to give a recorded statement, whether to accept a quick settlement, and whether to identify all liable parties; each choice directly affects the compensation available.
Palm Beach County car accident attorney Casey D. Shomo has spent more than 30 years representing car accident injury victims throughout the area. He personally oversees every case at his firm, supported by a team that includes experienced litigation paralegals and medical professionals. Cases are handled on a contingency fee basis, meaning clients pay nothing unless compensation is recovered.
Among his notable case results, Mr. Shomo obtained a $1,450,000 settlement in an intersection crash involving disputed liability and spinal injuries. That result reflects the kind of focused, thorough representation that summer crash victims deserve.
Protect your rights in Palm Beach County. Contact us and schedule your free case review with a Palm Beach County car accident lawyer you can trust. We know how Florida’s no-fault system, teen driver restrictions, and crash liability rules work, and we’re here to put that knowledge to work for your family.
“I was involved in a car accident in 2019. I reached out to Casey Shomo regarding the accident. Joanne was instantly on it. Throughout the two-year process, Casey Shomo and his excellent team were on top of it from start to finish. They gave me updates and what needed to be done the second they knew. It was a long-fought battle but in the end, it was well worth it. I would recommend Casey Shomo and his team to anyone. You’ll be thanking me later! I cannot say enough to thank you all for all your hard work!” - Brett B., ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐