Florida · Injured in a crash

Injured in a Car Accident in Brandon?

A rear-end on Brandon Boulevard at Kings Avenue in the evening rush, a T-bone on Bloomingdale Avenue at Bell Shoals, a chain reaction on I-75 at the State Road 60 ramps. If you were just in a crash in Brandon, Riverview or Valrico and you are trying to figure out what to do next, this page is the short version, with the Brandon-specific details, and links to the full guides.

It costs nothing to find out

If you are reading this and thinking you cannot afford a lawyer, read this part first. Personal injury lawyers do not charge you to talk, do not charge by the hour, and do not charge anything unless they recover money for you. The fee comes out of the recovery at the end, never out of your pocket. The first conversation is free. Call Clyne is free too: we ask you a few questions and connect you with a licensed Florida attorney who looks at your case at no cost. Nobody will ask you for money. Read How Much Does a Car Accident Lawyer Cost.

First, the two things that matter most in Florida

See a doctor within 14 days. Florida is a no-fault state, and your own policy's Personal Injury Protection pays your first medical bills no matter who caused the crash, but only if you get treatment within 14 days. In Brandon the closest full hospital is HCA Florida Brandon Hospital, which most people still call Brandon Regional, at 119 Oakfield Drive just south of Brandon Boulevard, with a 24-hour emergency room. It is not a designated trauma center, so the most serious crashes in eastern Hillsborough County are taken across the Selmon Expressway or I-4 to Tampa General Hospital on Davis Islands, the region's Level I trauma center. Urgent care or your own doctor counts too. Read the 14-day rule guide.

Do not give the other driver's insurer a recorded statement. They will call fast and sound friendly. You are not required to talk to them. Read what to say when they call.

Getting your crash report in Brandon

Brandon is not a city. It is unincorporated Hillsborough County, and so are Riverview and Valrico, so there is no Brandon police department. Crashes on local roads are handled by the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office, whose District II office covering the Brandon area is at 2310 North Falkenburg Road. Crash reports are not picked up at the district office, though. The Sheriff's Office handles them through its online Records Request Center, and its Records Section is at the Freddie Solomon Annex, 1900 East 9th Avenue in Tampa. On I-75, I-4 and the Selmon Expressway it is the Florida Highway Patrol. Ask the deputy or trooper at the scene which agency wrote the report and get the report number.

Florida crash reports are available online through the state's Florida Crash Portal, usually within about ten days, and from the responding agency's records unit. For the first 60 days the report is only available to the people involved, their insurers and their lawyers, so have your license and the report number ready.

Roads where Brandon crashes happen

The stretches that come up most: Brandon Boulevard, which is State Road 60, from I-75 east through the mall district to Valrico, a corridor the county's own Vision Zero study ranked the most dangerous in Hillsborough County for severe crashes, Bloomingdale Avenue between US 301 and Lithia Pinecrest Road, where the intersections at Bell Shoals, Providence, Kings Avenue and US 301 show up on crash lists year after year, US 301 itself from Brandon south through Riverview, Big Bend Road and Gibsonton Drive in Riverview, where new subdivisions have filled the roads faster than they have been widened, Causeway Boulevard and Lumsden Road, and the I-75 interchanges at State Road 60, Gibsonton Drive and Big Bend Road, where the backup spills onto the surface streets every afternoon. These are wide, fast suburban roads with a plaza driveway every few hundred feet, and the crashes are rear-ends at the lights, left turns across three lanes of traffic, and drivers changing lanes to get around a turning car. Photos of the intersection, the signals and the lane markings matter, because these crashes often turn into arguments about who had the light or who changed lanes.

What to do in the first 48 hours

• Call 911 and get a report, even for a "small" crash.
• Photograph both cars, both licenses, both insurance cards, and the scene.
• See a doctor within 14 days. Sooner is better.
• Report the crash to your own insurer. Facts only.
• Do not accept a quick check or sign anything from the other driver's insurer.
• Keep every bill, receipt and visit summary.

The full step-by-step list is in What to Do After a Car Accident in Florida.

Know the Florida clock

For most car accident injury claims in Florida you have two years from the date of the crash to file a lawsuit, and if you are found more than half at fault you recover nothing. Both changed in 2023. Details in How Long Do You Have to File in Florida.

When to talk to a lawyer

Not every fender bender needs one. Talk to a lawyer when you were injured and are still treating after a week or two, when the other driver was uninsured or fled, when fault is being disputed, or when you missed work. Florida personal injury lawyers work on contingency, which means no fee unless they recover money for you, and the first conversation is free. More in Do I Need a Lawyer If It Wasn't My Fault and How Much Does a Car Accident Lawyer Cost.

More Florida towns and the full set of guides: Car accidents in Florida.

Call Clyne is a lawyer referral service, not a law firm. Stephen Clyne is not an attorney. This article is general information, not legal advice, and laws change. Talk to a licensed Florida attorney about your situation.