Car Accident in Oakland

The Town of Oakland in Orange County, FL is one of the oldest municipalities in the state.

It was once a thriving center of commerce, with a downtown that featured an opera house and an array of other commercial establishments. It was also an easily accessible destination due to its position on the railroad line. However, a series of fires resulted in the decimation of the downtown area, which was never rebuilt.

Today, the region is small, but growing. Visitors to this town 19 miles west of Orlando remark on its plethora of large oak trees (hence, the town’s name), the picturesque 130-acre Oakland Nature Preserve and a lifestyle characterized as “laid back.”

Our Oakland car accident attorneys at Freeman Injury Law know that the explosive growth in recent years – nearly 200 percent just over the course of 15 years – has been taxing on our roads, traffic patterns and law enforcement. In 1955, the town was comprised of just a few hundred people. It grew only incrementally until about 2000, when the population was at 935. Fast-forward 10 years, and there were 2,540 residents.

Some of that may have to do with the fact the town launched its own elementary charter school, the Oakland Avenue Charter School, in 2003. The A-rated school, which is owned and operated by the town, now teaches over 500 students. This has proven a major draw for those in neighboring municipalities, and the median income for households and families has more than doubled in recent years. Of course, it’s also meant more traffic, including more school buses rumbling across its 2.10 square miles of land.

Real estate listings show numerous new housing developments that are under constructed or recently constructed - many of them family homes offering waterfront views of either Johns Lake or Lake Apopka. Of course, the proximity to Walt Disney World doesn’t hurt when families are considering where to move.

The Florida Turnpike that runs through the town makes for easy access to nearby larger municipalities.

The Oakland Police Department has reported an uptick in traffic accidents in recent years, as the population has risen.

For example, in 2012, the agency reported:

• Total crashes: 44
• Injury crashes: 25
• Total injuries: 40
• Crashes with fatalities: 0
• Commercial vehicle crashes: 8
• Property damage crashes: 19
• Pedestrian accidents: 0
• Bicycle crashes: 1

But then in 2015, most of those figures shot up:

• Total Crashes: 57
• Injury crashes: 34
• Total injuries: 43
• Fatal crashes: 0
• Commercial vehicle crashes: 3
• Property damage crashes: 23
• Pedestrian accidents: 1
• Bicycle crashes: 2

In the five years between 2011 and 2015, the average number of car accident injuries suffered annually in Oakland was 33.8. But in 2015, there were 43 injuries. That figure was surpassed in 2016 just in the first nine months of the year.

In 2016, the town had its first fatal crash in six years, when a 25-year-old man, a young father of two and fifth generation Oakland resident, was killed after running into the back of a tractor-trailer on State Road 50 around 1:40 a.m. as the trucker was slowing down for a stopped traffic light. The Orlando Sentinel reported the Oakland Police Department required assistance from Winter Garden to conduct a traffic homicide investigation.

Car accident injuries in Oakland can vary significantly depend on:

• The type of impact;
• The kind of vehicles involved;
• Whether occupants were wearing proper safety restraints;
• How fast the vehicles were traveling.

That said, some of the most common injuries suffered in Central Florida car accidents include:

• Scrapes and cuts. This often is the result of being struck by objects from inside the vehicle becoming airborne. This includes purses, cell phones, coffee mugs, eye glasses, etc. These can result in loss of blood and sometimes the need for stitches.

• Head Injuries. These can range from mild concussions to traumatic brain injuries that may have debilitating, lifelong consequences.

• Arm and leg injuries. Extremities may be thrown against doors and windows and sometimes snapped and crushed under the force of impact. Broken bones can leave you hospitalized and out of work for weeks or months.

• Chest injuries. These might include cracked ribs or internal bleeding. This is usually the result of slamming into the steering wheel or dashboard.

If you’ve been injured in an Oakland, Florida car accident, trust our experienced lawyers to help you fight for justice.