The part of US-19 that runs through Hudson is the last stretch before the Hernando line, and it is where the corridor's pedestrian lighting project was planned to end. FDOT's $2.6 million LED retrofit, announced after national reporting on the corridor's pedestrian deaths, was designed to cover roughly 15 miles from the Pinellas line north to New York Avenue. Hudson Avenue, Clark Street, Denton Avenue and the Little Road junction are north of that line.
Conde-Huggins Accident Injury Lawyers represents pedestrians struck anywhere in Hudson, and the families of those who did not survive, from 6609 Ridge Road in Port Richey, a few miles south and a few minutes from HCA Florida Bayonet Point. The consultation is free, we meet you at the hospital or at home, and there is no attorney's fee unless we win. Call (240) 421-5511.
Walking along US-19 north of SR-52
Hudson is a community where many people walk because they have to. About seven percent of Hudson households have no vehicle, according to 2020 Census figures for the Hudson CDP, and the median age is 57. The mobile home communities, apartment complexes and senior housing along US-19 put thousands of people within a short walk of the highway and a long walk from the nearest signalized crossing.
The bus stops. GOPasco's Route 19 runs the length of US-19 and Route 21 serves Hudson, with a transfer point at Bayonet Point Plaza at US-19 and SR-52. A bus stop on one side of six lanes means riders crossing to and from the other side, often in the dark during the early and late runs.
The hospital campus. Fivay Road and the medical offices around HCA Florida Bayonet Point draw patients and visitors on foot between parking lots, clinics and the hospital, many of them elderly and many of them distracted.
Hudson Avenue and the plazas. The commercial frontage at US-19 and Hudson Avenue, and the plazas north toward Denton Avenue, generate the same mid-block crossings that happen everywhere on this road: a person on the east side needs the pharmacy on the west side, and the signal is a quarter mile away.
Hudson Beach and Clark Street. The streets around Robert J. Strickland Memorial Park and the waterfront restaurants are slow but crowded, with golf carts, cyclists, drivers backing out of parking and pedestrians who assume everyone can see them. Low-speed crashes still fracture hips.
The Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater metro, which includes Pasco, ranked eighth most dangerous in the country for pedestrians in Smart Growth America's 2026 Dangerous by Design report, and US-19 through Pasco and Pinellas was named the deadliest road segment in Florida in a 2024 ConsumerAffairs study. Hudson is the northern end of that segment.
Older pedestrians and the injuries we see
A pedestrian struck at highway speed suffers the full force of the impact. For the older adults who make up so much of Hudson, the injuries we see most are hip and pelvic fractures, fractures of the lower leg where the bumper struck, head injuries from the fall, and spinal fractures. Recovery often means surgery at Bayonet Point, weeks in rehabilitation, and in many cases a permanent loss of the ability to live alone.
The driver's insurer will respond to those injuries with your medical history: osteoporosis, a prior fall, a prior back problem. Florida law holds a negligent driver responsible for the harm the crash actually caused, including the aggravation of a condition that existed before. The records have to show the difference, and we make sure your surgeon and your primary physician address it in writing rather than leaving the question for the insurer's reviewer to answer.
Medicare, which pays for most of that treatment in Hudson, has a federal right to be repaid from the settlement. We handle that reimbursement as part of the case.
Whose PIP pays when you were on foot
A pedestrian has no vehicle, so Florida's no-fault statute assigns coverage in order. A policy in your household comes first: if you or a relative you live with owns an insured car, that PIP covers you. If there is no auto policy in your home, the PIP on the striking vehicle generally applies. PIP pays 80 percent of medical bills and 60 percent of lost income up to $10,000, and only if initial care came within 14 days under Fla. Stat. § 627.736. Without a physician's emergency medical condition finding, the medical benefit stops at $2,500.
PIP does not pay for pain and suffering and does not go far against a trauma bill. Everything beyond it comes from the driver's bodily injury coverage, which Florida does not require, or from uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage in your household under Fla. Stat. § 627.727. In a hit-and-run, which is common at night on US-19, UM coverage treats the unknown driver as uninsured. Report the crash to FHP the same day and call (240) 421-5511; UM policies require prompt notice.
Fault on a dark highway
Florida does not presume the driver was at fault when a pedestrian is struck, and under Fla. Stat. § 768.81(6) the insurer needs only to assign the pedestrian more than 50 percent of the blame to pay nothing. Dark clothing, a mid-block crossing, a beer at the beach bar: each one is an argument for a percentage.
Fla. Stat. § 316.130 answers with duties on the driver's side. Every driver must exercise due care to avoid colliding with a pedestrian and must sound a warning when necessary. A driver going 60 in a 55 with low beams on an unlit highway, or glancing at a phone, carries fault whether or not the pedestrian was in a crosswalk.
The evidence that proves it is perishable. The striking vehicle's event data recorder shows speed and braking in the seconds before impact. Phone records show whether a screen was lit. The handful of cameras along US-19 in Hudson, at gas stations and plazas, overwrite within days. In a fatal case, FHP's traffic homicide investigation preserves some of it; in a non-fatal case, nobody does unless a preservation letter goes out. We send them in the first week.
When the road is part of the problem
US-19 is a state road, and the absence of lighting, crosswalk spacing and signal timing north of New York Avenue are FDOT decisions. Where the facts support it, a claim against the state or Pasco County proceeds under Fla. Stat. § 768.28: written notice before suit, a waiting period, and a cap of $200,000 per person and $300,000 per incident unless the Legislature passes a claims bill. Such a claim adds to the claim against the driver; it does not replace it, and the notice has its own deadline.
Reaching us from Hudson
Our office is on Ridge Road between US-19 and Little Road in Port Richey, about ten to fifteen minutes from Hudson and a few minutes from Bayonet Point hospital. We meet clients in the hospital, at home or at the office. Clementine Conde has practiced in Pasco and Pinellas courts since 1992 and is responsible for every case.
Our countywide pedestrian accident page covers the law in more depth, our Hudson page covers every type of injury claim we handle in the community, our Port Richey pedestrian accident page addresses the lit stretch of US-19 to the south, and our Hudson wrongful death page explains the claim when a pedestrian does not survive.
Talk to a Port Richey pedestrian accident lawyer about your Hudson crash today
Fourteen days to protect PIP, two years to file, and days before the nearest camera overwrites. Call Conde-Huggins at (240) 421-5511, any hour, or contact us online. Free consultation, no attorney's fee unless we win, and staff members speak Spanish.
Free consultation, no attorney's fee unless we win. We meet Hudson clients at home, in the hospital, or at our office on Ridge Road. (240) 421-5511
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Questions people ask us about hudson pedestrian accident cases
My mother was hit crossing US-19 near her mobile home park in Hudson. She does not drive. Is there any PIP for her?
Possibly. If your mother lives with a relative who owns an insured car, that policy's PIP covers her as a pedestrian. If no one in her home has an auto policy, the PIP on the vehicle that struck her generally applies. Either way, the benefit is available only if she received initial care within 14 days of the crash under Fla. Stat. § 627.736, and the full $10,000 requires a physician to document an emergency medical condition. An ambulance trip to Bayonet Point satisfies both.
The driver says my father stepped out in front of him at night on US-19 north of Hudson Avenue. Does that end the case?
No. Fla. Stat. § 316.130 puts duties on both sides: a pedestrian outside a crosswalk must yield, and a driver must use due care to avoid striking anyone on the road. Fault is divided under Fla. Stat. § 768.81(6), and the claim survives as long as the pedestrian's share is 50 percent or less. On a stretch of highway with no lighting retrofit and crossings far apart, the driver's speed, attention and headlights matter as much as where the pedestrian crossed. The event data from the car and the driver's phone records usually say more than the driver does.
Who investigates a pedestrian crash in Hudson, and how do we get the report?
Hudson has no police department, so FHP Troop C handles most pedestrian crashes on US-19 and SR-52, and the Pasco Sheriff's Office responds on many neighborhood streets. In a fatal or critical-injury crash, FHP's traffic homicide unit opens a longer investigation. The standard report is sold through the Florida Crash Portal and restricted for 60 days to the parties, their attorneys and insurers under Fla. Stat. § 316.066(2). We request the report and the 911 audio for every client.
Can an older pedestrian with a hip fracture recover pain and suffering in Florida?
Yes, if the injury meets the threshold in Fla. Stat. § 627.737(2), which includes a permanent injury within a reasonable degree of medical probability or a significant permanent loss of an important bodily function. A hip fracture requiring surgery in an older adult very often does. The finding has to be written by a treating physician, and the insurer will argue the limitation was age-related. We obtain the prior records and ask the surgeon to address the difference directly.
How long do we have to file a pedestrian injury claim after a crash in Hudson?
Two years from the crash under Fla. Stat. § 95.11(5)(a), and two years from the death for a wrongful death claim under § 95.11(5)(e). A claim against FDOT, which owns US-19, or Pasco County for a lighting or crossing defect requires written notice under Fla. Stat. § 768.28 before suit, and recovery against a government body is capped at $200,000 per person. Those steps add months, so a case involving the road itself has to begin early.