Fatal Crash in Oakland Park: What “Fault Hasn’t Been Determined” Actually Means

Gregg Hollander | July 31, 2026 | Accident News

Two days after a crash at Northwest 44th Street and Northwest 31st Avenue in Oakland Park killed a woman and injured a man, investigators still haven’t said who they believe was at fault. That’s not unusual. However, if the people investigating a crash haven’t figured out who caused it yet, does that mean everything else is on hold too? In Florida, the honest answer is no. Here’s why.

The Claims Process Doesn’t Wait for the Police to Decide

A law enforcement fault determination, or the lack of one, isn’t what actually resolves a civil claim. Police investigate crashes for their own purposes, which sometimes include potential criminal charges. Additionally, their conclusions, if they ever publicly state one at all, are not binding on a civil case. A civil claim gets resolved under a completely different standard, a preponderance of the evidence, meaning what’s more likely than not true. 

It’s genuinely common for an investigation to stay open for weeks or months without any public fault determination ever being announced, while the civil side of the case is already well underway in the background. Waiting for law enforcement to say something official isn’t a requirement, and it isn’t usually even the most useful thing to wait for.

Immediate Medical Care Doesn’t Wait on Fault Either

This is one of the more practically important features of how Florida structured its insurance system, and it exists for exactly this kind of situation. Every driver’s own personal injury protection coverage pays out for their own medical treatment and lost wages up to the policy limit regardless of who caused the crash. Nobody has to wait for an investigation to conclude, or for a jury to eventually decide who was at fault, before getting the immediate treatment they need paid for. Fault still matters enormously for everything beyond that initial layer of coverage, but the system is deliberately built so that basic medical care isn’t held hostage to an answer that might not come for a long time.

The Clock Doesn’t Pause for an Ongoing Investigation

Here’s the part people misunderstand most often. Florida’s statute of limitations keeps running the entire time an investigation stays open. A wrongful death claim has to be filed within two years of the date of death, regardless of whether the case has been publicly resolved, whether anyone’s been charged with anything, or whether the investigating agency has ever said a word about fault. 

The same is true of the physical evidence that actually proves what happened. Vehicles get repaired or scrapped, skid marks fade, and the data inside a modern car’s own systems doesn’t sit there indefinitely waiting for someone to come collect it. An open, undetermined investigation is often exactly the moment when a family’s own independent efforts to preserve evidence matter most.