Fort Myers truck accident claims

I-75 is the interstate through the county. The transportation department is studying an expansion of the I-75 rest area at Daniels Parkway because, in its words, a statewide study identified Lee County as an area of concern for unauthorized and over-used truck parking (opens in a new tab). That study dates from 2020.

The interstate is also being rebuilt. The department’s page for the I-75 interchange at Daniels Parkway (opens in a new tab) shows construction estimated to run from early 2026 to summer 2028.

South of the city, the department is adding express lanes and auxiliary lanes to 21 miles of I-75 (opens in a new tab) between Golden Gate Parkway and Alico Road, in Collier and Lee counties.

Florida’s highway safety department counted 1,815 crashes involving commercial motor vehicles in Lee County in 2024, with 11 deaths (opens in a new tab). That count includes buses and smaller commercial vehicles as well as tractor-trailers.

There are two sets, and which one applies depends on whether the haul is interstate or in-state commerce. A load that began or will end outside Florida is interstate commerce even on a truck that never leaves the state (opens in a new tab). Under the federal rules a freight driver may drive a total of 11 hours (opens in a new tab) inside a 14-hour window that opens after 10 consecutive hours off duty.

Florida allows more in commerce that begins and ends inside the state. A driver in that commerce may drive 12 hours after 10 consecutive hours off duty, and may not drive after the end of the 16th hour (opens in a new tab).

The weekly limits differ as well. Florida’s is 70 hours on duty in 7 consecutive days, or 80 hours in 8 if the carrier operates every day of the week (opens in a new tab).

None of the in-state allowances applies to a driver hauling hazardous materials in amounts that require placards.

Not always. In in-state commerce, a driver does not have to keep the federal record of duty status (opens in a new tab) when three things are true: the driver stays within 150 air miles of the truck’s base, the truck is not hauling hazardous materials in amounts that require placards, and the carrier keeps time records instead.

A commercial vehicle under 26,001 pounds in in-state commerce, carrying no placarded hazardous materials, is exempt from most of the federal rules Florida adopts (opens in a new tab), the federal logbook rules among them. Florida’s own daily and weekly limits still apply to its driver, and the truck must still be kept in safe operating condition.

Where logs are required, the carrier must keep them for not less than 6 months (opens in a new tab). So the first questions in a case are what kind of truck it was, where it was going, and what records its company was required to keep.

Lee County is one of five counties in Florida’s Twentieth Judicial Circuit (opens in a new tab). The circuit’s Lee County courthouse is the Lee County Justice Center, 1700 Monroe Street, Fort Myers (opens in a new tab).

The county line matters on I-75. A case is generally brought in the county where the defendant resides or where the claim arose (opens in a new tab), so a crash in Collier County or Charlotte County may be filed there.

A carrier from another state may be able to move a case to federal court. Lee County is in the Middle District of Florida, and federal law lists Fort Myers among the places where that court is held (opens in a new tab).