Fort Myers Police Target Traffic Violations on Colonial Boulevard
More tickets and more cameras on Colonial Boulevard do not, by themselves, make the road safer — but they do change the proof picture for an injured driver in ways most people never think about until they need to. Clients call, friends ask me at church, and even the carriers bring it up: what does the Fort Myers Police Department’s enforcement push on Colonial actually change for someone who gets hit out there?
If you have driven Colonial between Fowler Street and McGregor Boulevard during the lunch hour, you already know the problem. Fifty to sixty thousand vehicles a day. A long string of strip-center driveways. Turning movements stacked on top of through traffic. The crash totals over the last two years are not a surprise to anyone who lives here. The enforcement crackdown is real, and it is overdue. But for the person sitting in an ER bay at Lee Memorial wondering what comes next, the citation written to the other driver is the start of the case, not the end of it.
What Florida law actually says about traffic-citation crashes
Here is the legal frame I walk every new client through. A traffic citation is evidence. It is not, by itself, a finding of civil negligence, and it is not the thing that pays your medical bills. Four statutes do most of the work after a Colonial Boulevard crash, and each one has a plain-English version worth knowing.
Section 768.81, Florida Statutes — modified comparative negligence. Since the 2023 tort reform, if a jury finds you fifty percent or more at fault for your own crash, you recover nothing. Forty-nine percent at fault and you still recover, but reduced by your share. That single change made the fault-allocation fight far more aggressive on the defense side. On a road like Colonial, where the carrier loves to argue the injured driver was speeding or distracted, that line at fifty percent is the whole ballgame.
Section 95.11(4)(a) — statute of limitations. Two years from the date of the crash for most negligence-based personal injury claims that arose after March 24, 2023. Before the reform it was four. The shorter clock catches people. I have had calls from families who waited two and a half years thinking they had time. They did not.
Section 627.736 — PIP, the no-fault statute. Your own auto policy pays up to $10,000 in Personal Injury Protection medical and wage benefits regardless of fault. Eighty percent of reasonable medical costs, sixty percent of lost wages. The $10,000 sounds like a lot until you see what one ambulance ride, one CT, and one overnight observation costs. Real recovery for a serious injury comes from the at-fault driver’s bodily injury policy.
Section 627.727 — uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage. Florida does not require bodily injury liability coverage in most circumstances. Plenty of drivers on Colonial Boulevard carry the legal minimum, which is no BI at all. UM coverage on your own policy is the backstop. I tell every client and every friend who will listen: stack your UM, and buy more of it than you think you need. It is the cheapest line on the policy and the one that has saved more of our clients than any other.
Section 316.066 — the crash report requirement. If anyone is hurt, if a vehicle is towed, or if there is more than minor damage, Florida law requires a written crash report. The officer’s report is usually the first document our office reviews when we open a file. Skip the police call to save time and you have skipped one of the strongest pieces of evidence in your own case.
Five crash fact-patterns that repeat on Colonial Boulevard
The patterns repeat after enough years working crashes between Cleveland Avenue and Summerlin Road. Five fact patterns make up almost everything we see on this corridor:
- Rear-end at the signal. The classic Colonial crash. Traffic stacks at a light, somebody is looking at a phone or coasting in too hot, and the car in front pays for it. Usually clear liability. The fight is over the injury, not the fault.
- Left-turn-across-traffic at a driveway cut. Colonial is lined with strip centers, and many of those exits have no protected turn lane. A driver pulls out of a parking lot trying to cross three lanes of through traffic, misjudges a gap, and clips an oncoming vehicle. The defense almost always tries to argue the through driver was speeding.
- Sideswipe lane change. Lane discipline on Colonial is poor during the lunch and evening rush. We see a lot of vehicles changing lanes without a signal and clipping a car already in the lane. Camera footage from nearby businesses often saves these cases.
- Red-light runner at a major intersection. The intersections with Fowler, Cleveland, and Summerlin produce a steady stream of T-bones. With the new enforcement cameras, more of these are being captured on tape than ever before.
- DUI late-night and tourist-season impact. Friday and Saturday after eleven o’clock, especially during season, the road takes on a different character. The Fort Myers Police DUI checkpoints are pulling drivers off Colonial that we used to see only after they had already hit someone.
What the enforcement cameras change — and what they do not
From the outside, a Colonial Boulevard crash with a citation against the other driver looks like a slam dunk. From the inside, three things make it harder than clients expect.
First, the comparative-negligence fight. Under the 2023 statute, the defense carrier has every reason to pin some percentage of fault on the injured driver. Were you over the limit? Were you looking at the GPS? Did you have a chance to brake sooner? These are not idle questions, and our office prepares for them on every case. We pull traffic-signal phase data when we can. We obtain the 911 audio. We canvass nearby businesses for camera footage within the first week, before footage cycles off the loop.
Second, the PIP wall. Ten thousand dollars in no-fault medical coverage disappears fast in a serious crash. Once it is gone, the medical providers want to bill the at-fault driver’s policy, but that requires a settlement or a verdict. Cash flow becomes the medical reality. Our firm coordinates with treating physicians on lien arrangements so injured clients can keep seeing the doctors they need to see while the case develops.
Third, the low-policy-limit problem. A meaningful slice of drivers on Colonial Boulevard carry minimal liability coverage. When the at-fault driver has $10,000 in bodily injury liability and your medical bills are already $80,000, the case stops being about the other driver’s policy and becomes about your own uninsured-motorist coverage. This is where I push every client to dig out the declaration page from their auto policy on day one. If you do not have UM stacked, the next conversation is harder than it should be.
A case from our Colonial Boulevard files
A Fort Myers client was involved in a rear-end collision with a neck injury. The carrier opened with a low number, arguing the impact was minor and the injury predated the crash. We pulled the event data recorder, documented the client’s treatment history, and put the carrier’s own adjuster notes in context. The case settled for $150,000.
What to do if you are hit on Colonial Boulevard
From thirty years of working these files, here is what I tell clients and friends to do, in order. Skip none of these steps if you can help it.
- Call 911 from the scene, not the next exit. Section 316.066 requires the report in most injury crashes, and the responding officer’s narrative is one of the first things our office reads. If you drive off and call later, the scene evidence is gone.
- Photograph everything before the cars move. Final rest position, debris field, skid marks, the other driver’s plate, the signal state if you can frame it in the shot. I have seen a single phone photo of debris position decide a contested liability case.
- Get the names and phone numbers of witnesses on your own. Officers do not always have time to canvass. A bystander whose number you have is worth more than one whose name is misspelled on a report.
- Go to the emergency department or an urgent care the same day. Adrenaline hides injury. The carrier reads a delay in treatment as proof you were not really hurt. I have used this rule with clients for years and have noticed that the ones who get checked out the day of the crash have far fewer arguments with the adjuster later.
- Do not give a recorded statement to the other driver’s carrier. You have no obligation to. Anything you say will be used to pin a percentage of fault on you under §768.81. Call our office first, or call any attorney you trust. The free consultation is genuinely free.
- Pull your own declaration page. Find out what UM coverage you actually have. If the at-fault driver carries the legal minimum, your own policy is going to do the heavy lifting.
- Save the vehicle. Do not let the carrier total and dispose of it before an engineering witness has had a chance to look at it. Black box data and crush patterns matter on contested cases.
Key Takeaways
- A traffic citation against the other driver is strong evidence, not a guaranteed win — the civil case still has to be proved under §768.81.
- The Florida personal injury statute of limitations is two years from the crash date for most claims arising after March 24, 2023, under §95.11(4)(a).
- PIP under §627.736 gives you $10,000 in no-fault medical and wage benefits. In a serious crash that ceiling vanishes quickly.
- Uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage under §627.727 is the single most important line on your own auto policy, especially on a road like Colonial where minimum-coverage drivers are common.
- Document the scene, get medical care the same day, and do not give the other carrier a recorded statement before you have talked to a lawyer.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does the new Fort Myers enforcement push change my rights if I’m hit on Colonial Boulevard?
It changes the proof picture more than the rights. The traffic citation against the at-fault driver is not the same as a finding of civil negligence, but it is strong evidence and gives our office a clear starting point with the carrier. Your right to recover is governed by §768.81, Florida Statutes (modified comparative negligence) and the two-year statute of limitations under §95.11(4)(a).
If a red-light camera or speed-detection system caught the driver who hit me, can we use that in my injury case?
Often yes. Camera images, time-stamped logs, and signal-phase data can be subpoenaed and pulled into the civil file. We have used this material to fix the moment of impact, the entering speed, and the light state. It does not replace the police crash report under §316.066, but it strengthens it.
How long do I have to file a lawsuit after a Colonial Boulevard crash?
For most negligence-based personal injury claims arising after March 24, 2023, the deadline is two years from the date of the crash under §95.11(4)(a), Florida Statutes. That cut-down was part of the 2023 tort reform package. Wrongful death has its own two-year clock. Wait, and the claim dies on the calendar.
What does PIP cover after a Colonial Boulevard crash, and is it enough?
Florida’s no-fault statute, §627.736, gives you up to $10,000 in Personal Injury Protection medical and wage benefits, generally at 80 percent of reasonable medical costs and 60 percent of lost wages. In a serious crash, that limit gets eaten in the first emergency room visit. Real recovery for a serious injury comes from the at-fault driver’s bodily injury coverage and your own uninsured motorist policy under §627.727.
Do I have to call the police if I get hit on Colonial Boulevard?
If anyone is hurt, if a vehicle has to be towed, or if there is more than minor property damage, yes. Section 316.066, Florida Statutes, requires a written crash report in those situations, and the responding officer’s report is one of the first documents our office reviews. Even when the statute does not strictly require it, we tell clients to call 911 and wait for an officer. A self-reported exchange of information is almost always a fight later.
Talk to our office before you talk to the carrier
If you or somebody in your family has been hurt in a crash on Colonial Boulevard, Cleveland Avenue, Summerlin Road, Daniels Parkway, Six Mile Cypress, or anywhere along I-75 near Alico Road, our office wants to hear from you before the other driver’s carrier does. The consultation is free. There is no fee unless we recover for you. Call 239-992-8259 and ask for our office. I will be the one who picks up.
About the Author
David B. Pittman, Esq. has practiced personal injury law in Fort Myers and across Lee County for more than thirty years, founding Pittman Law Firm, P.L. along the way. The firm’s Fort Myers presence handles a steady stream of serious-injury work along the Daniels Parkway, Six Mile Cypress, McGregor Boulevard, Cleveland Avenue, and Summerlin Road corridors, and along I-75 between Estero and Bell Tower. His practice represents injured clients across Lee and Collier Counties, with a particular focus on commercial-vehicle, complex-liability, and serious-injury cases.
His undergraduate years were at The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina; his law degree is from the University of South Carolina School of Law. He carries an AV-Preeminent rating at Martindale-Hubbell and Multi-Million Dollar Advocates Forum membership.
David has held a Florida real estate broker license for twenty-five years, a credential that shapes how the firm reads the property side of premises cases. The firm handles personal injury cases across Lee and Collier Counties, serving Fort Myers, Bonita Springs, Naples, Cape Coral, Estero, and Lehigh Acres, with offices at Windsor Place in Bonita Springs (main) and Fort Myers (satellite). Call 239-992-8259 for a free consultation.
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