A crash on US-19, SR-54 or Little Road is over in seconds. What you do in the next few hours, and the next 14 days, shapes whether your bills get paid and whether you can recover anything for your injuries. This is the order we tell our own family to follow.
Step 1: Get safe and call 911
If you can, move out of the travel lanes. US-19 through Port Richey and Hudson has no shoulder in many stretches, and secondary crashes happen. Turn on your hazards and get yourself and your passengers behind a barrier or onto the sidewalk if possible.
Call 911 even if the crash looks minor. Florida law (Fla. Stat. § 316.065) requires you to report a crash immediately if anyone is hurt or there is apparent damage of at least $500. Almost any crash that bends metal meets that number.
Who shows up depends on where you are:
- Inside city limits (Port Richey, New Port Richey, Zephyrhills, Dade City): that city's police department.
- Unincorporated Pasco (Hudson, Holiday, Bayonet Point, Trinity, Land O' Lakes, Wesley Chapel, most of Pasco): the Pasco Sheriff's Office or the Florida Highway Patrol. The Sheriff's Office states on its public records page that FHP handles most Pasco County crash investigations, so expect FHP Troop C on US-19, SR-52, SR-54, I-75 and the Suncoast Parkway.
Tell the dispatcher if anyone is in pain. That gets EMS rolling and puts a note of injury in the record from the first minute.
Step 2: Say less than you think you should
At the scene, exchange names, addresses, phone numbers, license numbers, tag numbers and insurance information. Florida requires it. What you do not have to do is explain what happened to the other driver, apologize, or guess at speeds.
"I'm sorry" feels polite. An adjuster will later read it as an admission. Florida's modified comparative-negligence rule under Fla. Stat. § 768.81(6) bars you from recovering anything if you are found more than 50 percent at fault, so a careless word at the scene can cost you the whole claim. Stick to facts, and give your account to the officer, not the other driver.
Step 3: Document everything before the scene is cleared
Your phone is the most useful tool you have in the first ten minutes. Before vehicles are moved:
- Photograph every vehicle from all four corners, then close-ups of damage.
- Photograph the road: skid marks, debris, the traffic signal, the stop sign, lane markings, any sun glare or blocked sightline.
- Photograph the other driver's license, tag and insurance card.
- Get names and numbers for every witness. On a busy corridor like US-19 at Ridge Road, witnesses leave fast.
- Note nearby businesses. Gas stations, pharmacies and restaurants along US-19 and SR-54 often have cameras that overwrite footage within days.
If you are too hurt to do this, ask a passenger or a bystander. If no one can, we send an investigator as soon as you call (240) 421-5511.
Step 4: Get medical care within 14 days, ideally today
This is the step people get wrong most often. Adrenaline hides pain. Neck and back injuries, concussions and internal injuries often show up a day or two later.
Florida's no-fault law has a hard deadline. Under Fla. Stat. § 627.736, your Personal Injury Protection (PIP) coverage pays medical benefits only if you receive initial services and care within 14 days after the crash. Miss the window and the insurer can deny PIP entirely.
What counts as initial care: an emergency room visit, an urgent care visit, a visit to your own physician, a hospital transport. In west Pasco that means HCA Florida Bayonet Point Hospital in Hudson (Pasco's trauma center), Morton Plant North Bay in New Port Richey, or HCA Florida Trinity. In east Pasco, AdventHealth Wesley Chapel, Zephyrhills or Dade City.
Two more PIP rules matter. PIP pays 80 percent of reasonable medical expenses up to $10,000, but only if a physician, dentist, physician assistant or advanced practice registered nurse determines you had an emergency medical condition. If a provider decides there was no emergency medical condition, medical benefits are capped at $2,500. A chiropractor cannot make that determination. We explain all of this in our PIP 14-day rule guide.
Follow the discharge instructions. Go to the follow-up. Gaps in treatment are the first thing an adjuster points to.
Step 5: Report the crash to your own insurer, briefly
Your policy requires you to notify your own company promptly. Do it. Give the date, location, vehicles involved and the fact that you were injured. You do not need to give a narrative, and you should decline a recorded statement until you have talked to a lawyer.
Then stop. Do not call the other driver's insurer. They will call you, usually within a day or two, often with a friendly tone and a quick offer. Here is why that call is a trap.
Step 6: Get your crash report
The officer's report is the backbone of your claim. It records the agency's view of who did what, cites any traffic violations, and lists insurance for every driver.
- FHP crashes: the Florida Crash Portal at services.flhsmv.gov, $10 per report plus a $2 convenience fee per transaction, per FLHSMV. Reports can take up to 10 days to appear.
- Pasco Sheriff's Office crashes: also through the Florida Crash Portal, or through the PSO Public Records Unit in Land O' Lakes.
- City police crashes: Port Richey PD, New Port Richey PD, Zephyrhills PD and Dade City PD each have a records section, and their reports also flow to the state portal.
For the first 60 days after filing, Fla. Stat. § 316.066(2) keeps crash reports confidential except to the parties, their attorneys and insurers. You will need to sign a sworn statement to get it early. We walk through every agency in How to get a crash report in Pasco County. If you hire us, we pull it for you.
If you are at step 6 and stuck, call (240) 421-5511. Getting the report, opening the PIP claim and finding the other driver's insurer are things we do the same day you call.
Step 7: Check your own coverage, especially UM
Florida only requires drivers to carry $10,000 in PIP and $10,000 in property damage liability, according to the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles. Bodily injury liability, the coverage that pays for the people a driver hurts, is not required. Many of the drivers on US-19 have none.
That is why your own uninsured/underinsured motorist (UM/UIM) coverage under Fla. Stat. § 627.727 is often the most important line on your declarations page. If the at-fault driver has no bodily injury coverage, or too little, UM steps in. Pull your policy and look for it. If you are not sure what you have, send us the declarations page and we will read it with you. More on why UM matters here.
Step 8: Know your deadlines
Since HB 837 took effect on March 24, 2023, most Florida negligence claims must be filed within two years of the crash under Fla. Stat. § 95.11(5)(a). Crashes before that date keep the old four-year period. If a government vehicle was involved, such as a GOPasco bus, a county truck or a school bus, Fla. Stat. § 768.28(6) adds a written notice requirement and a waiting period before suit.
Two years sounds like a long time. It is not. Evidence disappears, witnesses move, and treatment has to run its course before anyone can value the claim. Read why waiting hurts your case.
Step 9: Talk to a lawyer before you sign anything
The other driver's insurer may offer a check within days. Cashing it usually means signing a release that ends your claim forever, before you know whether that neck pain is a strain or a herniated disc.
A free consultation costs you nothing. Conde-Huggins Accident Injury Lawyers is on Ridge Road in Port Richey, between US-19 and Little Road, minutes from Bayonet Point Hospital. We meet clients at home or in the hospital anywhere in Pasco County, and there is no attorney's fee unless we win. Our attorney, Clementine Conde, has practiced in Florida courts since 1992.
Talk to a Port Richey car accident lawyer today
If you were hurt in a crash anywhere in Pasco County, call (240) 421-5511 now. We answer 24 hours a day, se habla español, and the consultation is free. Learn more about how we handle car accident claims or contact us online.
Questions people ask us about what to do after a car accident in pasco county cases
Do I have to call the police after a minor crash in Pasco County?
If anyone is hurt, or there is apparent vehicle or property damage of at least $500, Florida law (Fla. Stat. § 316.065) requires you to report the crash right away by the quickest means available. Inside a city such as Port Richey or New Port Richey, that is the city police. Outside city limits, it is the Pasco Sheriff's Office or the nearest Florida Highway Patrol station. In practice, call 911 and let dispatch send the right agency.
How long do I have to see a doctor after a Florida car accident?
Fourteen days. Under Fla. Stat. § 627.736, your own PIP coverage pays medical benefits only if you receive initial treatment within 14 days of the crash. Miss that window and PIP can refuse to pay anything, even if you were clearly hurt. The ER at HCA Florida Bayonet Point, Morton Plant North Bay or HCA Florida Trinity, an urgent care visit, or your own doctor all count.
How long do I have to file a car accident lawsuit in Florida?
Two years from the date of the crash for most negligence claims, under Fla. Stat. § 95.11(5)(a). That deadline was cut from four years by HB 837 in March 2023. Claims against a government agency, such as Pasco County or a GOPasco bus, have separate notice requirements under Fla. Stat. § 768.28. Talk to a lawyer well before the deadline.
Should I give the other driver's insurance company a recorded statement?
You are not required to, and we recommend you do not do it without a lawyer. Adjusters are trained to ask questions that minimize your injuries or shift fault to you. Under Florida's 51% comparative-negligence rule (Fla. Stat. § 768.81(6)), being found more than 50 percent at fault means you recover nothing, so what you say matters.
What if the driver who hit me has no insurance?
Florida does not require drivers to carry bodily injury liability coverage, so this happens often. Your own PIP pays first, up to $10,000. After that, your uninsured/underinsured motorist (UM/UIM) coverage, if you bought it, is usually the main source of compensation. We review your policy for free to find every available coverage.