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Serious Crash with Injuries Closes Alden Road Near Sandalwood High School
By Kaiser Romanello, Florida Personal Injury Attorney | February 3, 2026
- What Happened on Alden Road Near Sandalwood High
- Why the Sandalwood Area Sees So Many Serious Accidents
- Florida's No-Fault Insurance Is Ending: The 14-Day Rule
- The 51% Rule: The Insurance Company's Secret Weapon
- When You Can Sue for Full Compensation
- Three Steps Every Victim Must Take Right Now
- Free Case Review with Kaiser Romanello
A devastating multi-vehicle crash shut down all lanes of Alden Road in Jacksonville’s Sandalwood neighborhood Monday afternoon, sending five people to the hospital—two with life-threatening injuries.
If you or someone you love was involved in this accident, I need you to understand something important: the decisions you make in the next 14 days will determine whether you can recover compensation for your injuries. Time is not on your side, and the insurance companies are already working against you.
What Happened on Alden Road Near Sandalwood High School
On the afternoon of February 2, 2026, Jacksonville Fire and Rescue (JFRD) responded to a serious collision on Alden Road between Alden Road and Whitehorse Road—just blocks from Sandalwood High School. The crash was severe enough to close all northbound and southbound lanes while JFRD crews worked to extract victims and clear the scene.
According to JFRD, five individuals were transported to area hospitals. Two of those victims remain in life-threatening condition.
Our thoughts are with everyone affected by this tragedy. For families now facing emergency rooms, difficult phone calls, and impossible decisions, I know how overwhelming this moment is.
Why Alden Road and the Sandalwood Area Are So Dangerous
This isn’t the first serious collision on Alden Road, and tragically, it won’t be the last. Residents near Sandalwood High School have raised alarms for years about the dangers of this corridor. As someone who handles serious injury cases across Florida, I’ve seen how predictable these “accidents” really are when infrastructure fails a community. The problems on Alden Road are well-documented:
- Speeding and reckless driving during morning drop-off and afternoon pickup at Sandalwood High School
- No traffic signals or protected crossings at key points where students and families cross daily
- Poor visibility and inadequate lighting during early morning and evening hours
- Cut-through traffic from drivers using Alden Road to access I-295, creating dangerous speed differentials
Jacksonville already has a crash rate nearly 40% higher than the Florida state average. When you add a roadway with known infrastructure failures running directly past Sandalwood High School—one of the largest high schools in the area—these collisions become inevitable.
For parents, students, and families in the Sandalwood community: your concerns about traffic safety on Alden Road are valid. I share them. And when those concerns become reality, you have legal rights that deserve protection.
Critical: Florida's No-Fault Insurance Is Ending—And You're Among the Last to Navigate It
Here’s something most accident victims don’t realize: Florida’s entire auto insurance system is about to change.
If you were injured in the Alden Road crash on February 2, 2026, you’re among the final wave of Florida accident victims who must navigate the state’s current No-Fault / Personal Injury Protection (PIP) system before it sunsets on July 1, 2026.
What This Means for Your Claim Right Now
Under the current system, you must first turn to your own insurance policy’s PIP coverage for immediate medical expenses and lost wages—regardless of who caused the accident.
PIP provides:
- Up to 80% of your medical expenses (capped at your policy limit, typically $10,000)
- Up to 60% of lost wages if injuries prevent you from working
- Coverage for you, passengers, and household members
But here’s the catch that trips up most people:
⚠️ The 14-Day PIP Rule: Miss This Deadline and Lose Everything
You must seek medical treatment within 14 days of the accident to qualify for ANY PIP benefits. Miss this deadline—even by one day—and your insurance company can legally deny your entire claim.
This isn’t a suggestion. It’s a hard statutory cutoff. And insurance adjusters know that confused, overwhelmed accident victims often miss it.
If you were in the Alden Road crash, your 14-day window closes on February 16, 2026.
Get to a doctor now, even if you think your injuries are minor. Adrenaline masks pain. Internal injuries hide. What feels like soreness today could be a herniated disc or traumatic brain injury that doesn’t fully present for days.
What Happens After July 2026
Starting July 1, 2026, Florida eliminates mandatory PIP coverage entirely and moves to a Bodily Injury (BI) liability system. Under the new framework:
- The at-fault driver’s insurance pays for your injuries (not your own policy)
- Minimum coverage requirements increase to $25,000 per person / $50,000 per accident
- The 14-day PIP deadline disappears—but so does guaranteed immediate coverage
For victims of the February 2nd crash, this transition doesn’t help you. Your claim is governed by the current rules, including that unforgiving February 16, 2026 deadline.
The 51% Rule: The Insurance Company's Secret Weapon
Let me be direct with you about something the insurance company will never explain: their primary goal right now is to find any reason to claim you were 51% at fault for this accident—so they can pay you $0.00.
Not reduced compensation. Not partial payment. Absolutely nothing.
How the 51% Bar Works
Under Florida’s Modified Comparative Negligence rule (enacted as part of recent tort reform), if you are found to be more than 50% at fault for an accident, you are legally barred from recovering any damages whatsoever.
This is the insurance industry’s most powerful weapon, and adjusters are trained to deploy it aggressively. Within days of your accident—sometimes within hours—investigators will be combing through every detail, looking for anything they can twist to shift blame onto you:
- Were you glancing at your phone?
- Did you brake “too late” or “too hard”?
- Were you “following too closely”?
- Did you “fail to maintain your lane”?
- Was your turn signal on for long enough?
It doesn’t matter that you know you did nothing wrong. The insurance company doesn’t need to prove you were at fault. They just need to create enough doubt—enough competing narratives—to push your fault percentage above that 50% line and walk away without paying a single dollar.
This is exactly why you should never give a recorded statement to any insurance company—including your own—without first speaking to an attorney.
Everything you say can and will be used against you. A simple answer like “I didn’t see them coming” becomes “victim admits failure to maintain proper lookout.” An honest statement like “it all happened so fast” becomes “victim admits inability to react appropriately.”
My job is to shut down these tactics before they destroy your claim. I investigate what actually happened, preserve critical evidence before it disappears, work with accident reconstruction experts when necessary, and build a case that puts fault where it belongs—on the driver who caused your injuries, not on you.
The 2-Year Statute of Limitations: The Clock Is Already Ticking
Here’s another change from Florida’s recent tort reform that catches victims off guard: you no longer have 4 years to file a lawsuit. You now have only 2 years.
For a crash that occurred on February 2, 2026, that means your deadline to file suit is February 2, 2028.
That may sound like plenty of time. It isn’t.
Building a strong personal injury case takes months of work: gathering police reports, obtaining medical records, documenting the full extent of injuries (which may take a year or more to fully understand), negotiating with insurance companies, and preparing for litigation if negotiations fail.
And here’s what most people don’t realize: evidence disappears quickly.
- Surveillance footage from nearby businesses? Often deleted within 30-60 days.
- Witness memories? They fade and change within weeks.
- Physical evidence at the scene? Gone the moment the road reopens.
- The at-fault driver’s cell phone records? Harder to subpoena the longer you wait.
The insurance company knows this. Delay benefits them, not you. Every month that passes without an attorney protecting your interests is a month of lost evidence and fading leverage.
Don’t wait until 2028 is approaching to realize you needed help in 2026.
When You Can Sue the At-Fault Driver for Full Compensation
Florida’s PIP system caps your immediate coverage at $10,000—a number that hasn’t increased since the 1970s. For serious injuries, that amount is exhausted before you leave the emergency room.
If your injuries meet Florida’s “serious injury threshold,” you have the right to step outside the no-fault system and pursue a claim directly against the at-fault driver for full compensation, including pain and suffering, emotional distress, and long-term disability.
You can sue the at-fault driver if your injuries include:
- Permanent loss of an important bodily function (vision, hearing, mobility, organ function)
- Permanent injury confirmed within a reasonable degree of medical probability
- Significant and permanent scarring or disfigurement
- Death (wrongful death claims for surviving family members)
With two victims from Monday’s crash in life-threatening condition according to JFRD, it’s likely several people involved will meet this threshold and have grounds for claims well beyond PIP limits.
Learn more about your rights after a Florida car accident →
Three Steps Every Victim Must Take Right Now
If you were injured in the Alden Road crash—or any serious car accident in Jacksonville—here’s what I tell every client on day one:
1. Get Medical Treatment Immediately
The 14-Day PIP Rule is non-negotiable. Your deadline is February 16, 2026.
See a doctor within 24-48 hours, even if you feel okay. Get a full evaluation. Document every symptom, every scan, every diagnosis. This medical record is the foundation of your entire claim—and it’s your only ticket to PIP benefits.
2. Obtain the Police Report
The 14-Day PIP Rule is non-negotiable. Your deadline is February 16, 2026.
See a doctor within 24-48 hours, even if you feel okay. Get a full evaluation. Document every symptom, every scan, every diagnosis. This medical record is the foundation of your entire claim—and it’s your only ticket to PIP benefits.
3. Talk to a Personal Injury Attorney Before You Talk to Insurance
This is the most important thing I can tell you: do not give a recorded statement to any insurance company—including your own—until you’ve spoken with an attorney.
Remember the 51% rule. The adjuster on the other end of that phone call has one job: find a way to deny or minimize your claim. Don’t hand them the ammunition to do it.
A Free Consultation with an experienced Florida car accident attorney costs you nothing and could save your entire claim.
Protecting Sandalwood Families After Serious Accidents
I’ve driven through the Sandalwood corridor. I’ve seen the speeding on Alden Road during school hours. I’ve heard from families who worry every morning when their kids walk to Sandalwood High School. These concerns are real, and Monday’s crash is a painful reminder of what happens when dangerous road conditions go unaddressed.
If you were injured in the Alden Road crash, I want to help you understand exactly where you stand:
- What does the evidence show about fault?
- How do we protect you from the 51% rule?
- Are your injuries serious enough to step outside PIP?
- What is your claim actually worth?
These are questions that deserve real answers from someone who’s on your side—not a runaround from an insurance adjuster whose bonus depends on denying your claim.
I offer a Free Consultation to every accident victim. I’ll review the facts of your case, explain your rights under current Florida law, and give you honest guidance on next steps. No pressure. No obligation. No cost.
And if I take your case, you pay nothing unless I win compensation for you. That’s my promise to you and your family.
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