By Camerin J. Dixon
My education is rooted in North Florida. I earned my associate degree, magna cum laude, at Chipola State College, and then my bachelor’s, master’s and law degrees at Florida State University, finishing with a J.D., cum laude, from the FSU College of Law. At Florida State’s Panama City campus I served as Student Body President, and as a Student Body Senator in Tallahassee I sponsored a resolution that won support to hire a mental health counselor for the Panama City campus. Dean Randy Hanna honored me with the Dean’s Service Award, and my graduate professors gave me their Academic Leadership Award.
That experience in student leadership carried into law school and into my work today as a personal injury attorney in Walton County, where my practice focuses primarily on automobile accidents, wrongful death, motorcycle and boating accidents, commercial trucking accidents and premises liability.
Why Crashes Here Look Different
At Dixon Injury Law, our office sits on Grand Boulevard in Miramar Beach, and the traffic patterns around it shift sharply with the seasons. Visitors unfamiliar with the area, rental cars, golf carts, cyclists and pedestrians crossing to the beach all share roads such as U.S. 98 and County Road 30A. Many drivers are distracted by map apps or looking for an unfamiliar turn, and the mix of local and out-of-state insurance policies can complicate a claim before it begins.
Out-of-state drivers raise a practical issue. A visitor involved in a crash here may carry insurance written in a state with different coverage rules, and Florida’s own no-fault system still governs certain benefits for Florida residents. Sorting out which policies apply, and in what order, is often the first real task in a tourist-season case.
Florida’s No-Fault Rules
Florida requires drivers to carry $10,000 in personal injury protection coverage, which pays a portion of medical expenses and lost wages regardless of fault. To use those benefits, an injured person generally must receive initial medical care within 14 days of the crash. Florida does not require most drivers to carry bodily injury liability coverage in order to register a vehicle, so the at-fault driver may have little or no coverage. Uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage on the injured person’s own policy often becomes the key to a meaningful recovery.
Florida’s 2023 tort reform also changed the rules for these claims. Under House Bill 837, most negligence claims arising after March 24, 2023, must be filed within two years, and an injured person found more than 50 percent at fault recovers nothing. Anyone consulting a car accident attorney in Miramar Beach should expect those two rules, the shorter deadline and the fault threshold, to shape the strategy from the first conversation.
Pedestrians and Golf Carts
Pedestrians face some of the highest risks in a beach community. People walk between condos, restaurants and beach access points, often at dusk, and crosswalks along busy roads can be spaced far apart. Drivers making right turns, backing out of parking spaces or watching for traffic instead of people on foot cause many of these collisions.
Florida law gives pedestrians meaningful protection. Personal injury protection benefits can cover pedestrians and bicyclists struck by a motor vehicle, and a pedestrian who owns a car may look first to his or her own policy. The comparative fault rules still apply, however, and insurers often argue that a pedestrian crossed outside a crosswalk or was not visible. Photographs of the lighting, the crossing location and any nearby video cameras can make a real difference in those disputes.
Golf carts add another layer. Walton County’s resort communities and beach areas see heavy golf cart traffic, and Florida law restricts where carts can operate on public roads. Since 2023, state law has also required golf cart operators under 18 to hold at least a learner’s license or a driver’s license. Crashes involving golf carts can raise questions about who owned the cart, who was driving and whether a rental company or resort had any responsibility for safety. Golf carts also offer little protection in a collision with a car or truck, and passengers can be thrown from an open cart even in a low-speed impact, which is why injuries in these crashes are often more serious than the speeds involved would suggest.
Documenting a Pedestrian Case
Evidence in pedestrian cases disappears quickly. Surveillance footage from nearby businesses and condominium buildings is often overwritten within days, and tourists who witnessed a crash may leave the area within a week. Families of a person struck while walking should keep the names of anyone who stopped to help, photograph the scene if possible and save medical records from the first visit forward. A miramar beach pedestrian accident lawyer handling the claim will typically send preservation requests to nearby businesses right away, since that footage often shows exactly how the collision happened.
Commercial Trucks and Construction Zones
The growth of Walton County and the surrounding coast has brought steady construction and delivery traffic. Commercial trucks, construction zones and delivery vehicles create hazards that differ from ordinary passenger car crashes. Trucking companies must follow federal safety rules on driver hours, maintenance and inspections, and a violation of those rules can support a claim against the company as well as the driver. I am a member of the Academy of Truck Accident Attorneys, and these cases require early attention to logbooks, electronic logging device data and maintenance records.
Boating Accidents
The Emerald Coast’s bays and Gulf waters bring boating accidents along with road crashes. Florida requires anyone born on or after January 1, 1988, to complete an approved boating safety course before operating a vessel with 10 horsepower or more, and boating under the influence is a crime at a 0.08 blood alcohol level, the same threshold used for drivers. Boating claims can involve the operator, the owner of the vessel, a rental company or a charter business, and the insurance picture is often less clear than in a car crash, since boat owners are not required to carry liability coverage the way drivers are required to carry certain auto coverage.
When a crash on the road or the water is fatal, Florida’s Wrongful Death Act allows the personal representative of the estate to bring a claim for the benefit of the survivors, and most of those claims must be filed within two years of the death.
Serving the Community
I am admitted to The Florida Bar and the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida, and I am a member of the Walton County Bar Association, the Florida Justice Association and the American Justice Association. I was part of the Leadership Walton Class of 2024, and I serve on the Young Professionals of Walton County Leadership Council. I am also a member of the Walton County Chamber of Commerce, the Panama City Beach Chamber of Commerce and the Freeport Merchant’s Association.
A crash on a vacation weekend or a walk to the beach can change a person’s life in seconds. The people who live and visit here deserve to understand the rules that will decide their claim before an insurer decides it for them.
