New Smyrna Beach · Volusia County · Fla. Stat. 627.736
Accident Chiropractor in New Smyrna Beach, FL
Daytona Accident Chiropractor is an independent information service, not a clinic, and it has no office in New Smyrna Beach or anywhere else. This page explains what Florida's 14-day PIP rule means after a crash on I-95, SR 44, US 1, the causeways or the beachside streets, which emergency departments serve the city, and how people who did nothing wrong still lose the benefit.
- 14 daysfrom the crash date to qualifying care, weekends included
- $2,500the PIP medical cap without an emergency medical condition finding
- Exit 249where I-95 meets SR 44 on the city's west side
- 30,142residents of New Smyrna Beach at the 2020 census
Not medical advice and cannot assess your symptoms. If this may be an emergency, call 911.
Have the free helpline call you
Tell us where to reach you and we will call you about your 14-day PIP deadline and where to start care. Free, no obligation, and we are not a clinic or a law firm.
- Free
- No obligation
- Not a clinic or law firm
Photo: The beach at New Smyrna Beach. Ajr24g, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Crash-injury topics
Crash injuries and PIP, for people hurt in New Smyrna Beach
Every topic page applies in New Smyrna Beach: Florida's PIP law is a state statute, so the rules do not change at the city line.
How the 14 days and PIP work after a New Smyrna Beach crash
Fla. Stat. 627.736 is a state statute, so nothing about it changes at the city limit. If you are hurt in a crash in New Smyrna Beach, you have 14 calendar days from the crash date to receive initial services and care from a qualifying provider. Weekends count. Public holidays count. The day your symptoms start does not reset the count, and an appointment booked inside the window for a date outside it satisfies nothing.
Your own PIP pays first, whoever caused the collision. It covers 80% of reasonable and necessary medical expenses and 60% of lost income, up to a combined $10,000. Reaching the full $10,000 depends on a second fact: a medical doctor, osteopathic physician, dentist, physician assistant or advanced practice registered nurse has to determine that you had an emergency medical condition. Without that determination the medical benefit is capped at $2,500. A licensed chiropractic physician can provide your initial care and meet the 14-day requirement, but cannot make the determination. The ER or chiropractor page sets out the order of visits that keeps both routes open.
Two parts of the statute come up more often in this city than the general rule suggests.
- Medicare does not go first. At the 2020 census the median age in New Smyrna Beach was 58.3, and 36.8% of residents were 65 or older. Fla. Stat. 627.736(4) makes PIP benefits primary, with a credit named only for workers' compensation. If you are on Medicare, your auto policy is still the first payer for the crash care it covers, and the 14-day rule applies to you in full. Ask your insurer how later bills will be coordinated.
- You do not have to be in a car. The statute extends PIP to people injured while not an occupant of a self-propelled vehicle, where the injury is caused by physical contact with a motor vehicle. Someone struck on foot while crossing Flagler Avenue or Canal Street can be covered by their own policy, or in some cases by the policy on the vehicle that hit them, and the same 14 days apply.
If you already know your crash date, the 14-day deadline page counts the days you have left. The PIP guide covers the deductible and what happens once the $10,000 is used up.
The roads that carry New Smyrna Beach traffic
Three routes carry most traffic into and through New Smyrna Beach: Interstate 95 on the west side, US 1 through the mainland, and SR 44, which links the interstate to the beach. This page gives no crash counts for the city, because none were verified from an official source. What follows is where the roads run and why that matters after a collision.
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I-95 at SR 44, exit 249
The interchange sits on the city's western edge. In September 2026 the City of New Smyrna Beach posted an advisory for overnight closures of I-95 in both directions between exits 249 and 256, starting September 23, so expect lane shifts and detours near the ramps while that work runs. A work-zone crash changes nothing about the order of payment: your own PIP still pays first.
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SR 44 into town
Nearer the river, SR 44 runs along Lytle Avenue and then crosses the North Causeway to Flagler Avenue, according to OpenStreetMap route data. Canal Street, through the downtown historic district on the mainland, carries the business route of SR 44. The city has published a list of planned FDOT projects on SR 44 running through 2030.
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US 1 north and south
US 1 runs through the mainland as Ridgewood Avenue and Dixie Freeway. It links New Smyrna Beach to Edgewater, Port Orange and Daytona Beach without touching the interstate, and it is the road used by every neighbouring-town route listed on this page.
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The two causeways
The Indian River divides the city. The North Causeway carries SR 44 between the mainland and the beachside, and the South Causeway carries SR A1A. Both reach the mainland near the city's hospital on Palmetto Street.
The beach is a traffic surface too. Volusia County permits driving and parking on the beach in designated areas, and its rules require drivers to keep to the posted speed limit, keep headlights on and keep at least one front seat window open. The PIP statute ties benefits to injury arising out of the ownership, maintenance or use of a motor vehicle and does not say the collision has to happen on a paved public road. Whether a specific incident on the sand qualifies is a question for your insurer, and for a Florida attorney if it is disputed. The 14 days run from the crash date either way, so do not wait for that answer before being examined.
What the city's layout means after a crash
New Smyrna Beach sits on Florida's central east coast in southeast Volusia County, with the Atlantic Ocean on its east side. The downtown is on the mainland, west of the Indian River and the Indian River Lagoon, and the beachside is on the barrier island across the water. The city covers about 41.3 square miles, of which about 3.5 are water. It borders Port Orange to the northwest, the Samsula-Spruce Creek area to the west, and Edgewater and Bethune Beach to the south, with Canaveral National Seashore beyond.
The city was incorporated as New Smyrna in 1887 and became New Smyrna Beach in 1947, when it annexed the seaside community of Coronado Beach. That merger still shapes daily movement: the mainland downtown around Canal Street and US 1 on one side of the river, the beachside around Flagler Avenue and the oceanfront parks on the other, and two causeways between them. For a crash-care decision the split is practical. If you are on the beachside when symptoms start, reaching the city's hospital means crossing the river.
The population was 30,142 at the 2020 census, and Census Bureau estimates for 2023 put it at about 32,655. The town is also a resort and surf destination with fishing, boating and a busy beach, so the people on its roads on a given weekend include many who do not live here. If you are visiting from another state, how your own policy responds to a Florida crash depends on that policy. Ask your insurer before assuming either way, and get examined inside the 14 days regardless.
At the 2020 census, 19.8% of New Smyrna Beach households were someone aged 65 or older living alone. If that describes you, tell someone about the crash and its date. MedlinePlus lists signs after a head injury that call for medical help right away, including a severe headache or stiff neck, unusual sleepiness, confused speech or behaviour, vomiting more than once, and being unable to move all or part of an arm or leg. It also notes that head injury symptoms can develop slowly over hours or days. Those are easier to act on when someone else knows to watch for them. Any of them is a reason to call 911, not to wait for an appointment.
Emergency departments that serve New Smyrna Beach
If anyone may be seriously hurt, call 911 and let the paramedics decide where to go. The emergency departments below are named the way each hospital system names them on its own website. This page lists no wait times.
AdventHealth New Smyrna Beach
The city's own hospital, on Palmetto Street on the mainland side of the river, formerly Florida Hospital New Smyrna. AdventHealth lists emergency and urgent care among its services there. An emergency department visit is qualifying care under Fla. Stat. 627.736, and the physicians who see you can make the emergency medical condition determination.
Halifax Health - Emergency Department of Port Orange
Halifax Health describes it as providing the greater Southeast Volusia County with 24-hour emergency care, run from Halifax Health - Medical Center of Port Orange as a 20-bed, full-service emergency department.
Halifax Health Medical Center of Daytona Beach
Halifax Health states that it operates the area's only Level II Trauma Center, serving Volusia and Flagler counties, alongside its Daytona Beach emergency department.
An emergency room is not the only qualifying first visit. Urgent care, a physician's office, a dentist or a licensed chiropractic physician all satisfy the 14-day requirement, and the ER or chiropractor page covers when each makes sense. Whoever you see, say that the visit is because of a motor vehicle crash and give the date, so the chart connects your symptoms to the collision. If pain showed up days later, the page on delayed pain after a car accident explains why that is common and how to describe it.
This site does not treat anyone. Where a licensed clinic advertises here it pays a flat monthly fee, never a fee per patient. Before you are treated anywhere, you can check the provider's licence on the Florida Department of Health's public lookup.
Questions
New Smyrna Beach crash-injury questions
Is there a Daytona Accident Chiropractor office in New Smyrna Beach?
No. Daytona Accident Chiropractor is an independent information service and callback helpline. It is not a clinic, not a medical provider and not a law firm, and it has no office, address or opening hours in New Smyrna Beach or anywhere else. Nothing on this page is medical or legal advice.
Does the 14-day PIP deadline work differently after a New Smyrna Beach crash?
No. Fla. Stat. 627.736 is a state statute and applies the same way across Volusia County. You have 14 calendar days from the crash date to receive initial services and care, weekends and holidays included. The count does not wait for symptoms, and an appointment booked for a date after day 14 does not count.
I was hit on foot on Flagler Avenue in New Smyrna Beach. Does PIP apply to me?
It can. The statute extends PIP to people injured while not an occupant of a self-propelled vehicle, where the injury is caused by physical contact with a motor vehicle. If you own a vehicle, your own policy is normally the one that responds. If you do not, the policy on the vehicle that struck you may, subject to the conditions in the statute. The 14-day requirement applies either way.
I am on Medicare. Who pays first after a New Smyrna Beach car crash?
Your PIP. Fla. Stat. 627.736(4) makes PIP benefits primary, with a credit named only for workers' compensation. Medicare does not replace the 14-day requirement, so qualifying care inside the window still decides whether the PIP benefit exists. Ask your insurer how bills beyond PIP will be coordinated.
Can I go straight to a chiropractor after a crash in Volusia County?
Yes. Florida permits direct access to a licensed chiropractic physician, and that initial care meets the 14-day requirement. The limit is the emergency medical condition determination, which a chiropractor cannot make. Without it from a medical doctor, osteopathic physician, dentist, physician assistant or advanced practice registered nurse, the medical benefit is capped at $2,500 instead of $10,000.
How long do I have to bring an injury claim after a New Smyrna Beach crash?
For a crash on or after March 24, 2023, a negligence claim generally has to be filed within two years under Fla. Stat. 95.11, as amended by House Bill 837. That is a separate clock from the 14 days, and talking to an insurer does not extend it. Have a licensed Florida attorney confirm any date before you rely on it.
Primary sources: Fla. Stat. 627.736 (the 14-day initial care requirement, qualifying providers, the emergency medical condition determination and the $2,500 cap, the 80% and 60% rates, the $10,000 limit, PIP as primary coverage, and coverage for people struck while not in a vehicle) and Fla. Stat. 95.11 (the two-year period for negligence actions), with statute text at Online Sunshine, and House Bill 837 (2023) for its effective date. Hospital details from AdventHealth New Smyrna Beach and Halifax Health emergency services. Local road advisories from the City of New Smyrna Beach; beach driving rules from Volusia County; head injury warning signs from MedlinePlus. Population and census figures are from the 2020 U.S. Census as reported for the city. Map points from OpenStreetMap via Nominatim; routes from the public OSRM router; distances are straight-line. General information only, not medical or legal advice. Last reviewed September 23, 2026.
Service areas
Does the 14-day deadline apply everywhere in Volusia County?
Fla. Stat. 627.736 is a state statute, so the deadline does not change with the address on the crash report, from the beachside to west Volusia.
Also written for: Ponce Inlet, Oak Hill, DeBary, Lake Helen and Pierson.
The map shows the county this site writes about. It is not an office: there is no clinic or treatment room at that point or anywhere else.
Getting around New Smyrna Beach
Maps and directions around New Smyrna Beach
Real places in and around New Smyrna Beach, mapped. None of them is an office: this site has no clinic or treatment room anywhere.
From Port Orange
- Roads we run: US 1, then SR 421
- Straight-line distance: about 8.9 miles, not a drive time
- Accident chiropractor in Port Orange
From Edgewater
- Roads we run: US 1 (South Dixie Freeway), then US 1 (Ridgewood Avenue)
- Straight-line distance: about 3.0 miles, not a drive time
- Accident chiropractor in Edgewater
From Daytona Beach
- Roads we run: US 1
- Straight-line distance: about 14.0 miles, not a drive time
- Accident chiropractor in Daytona Beach
Roads are the two longest named legs of each route on the public OSRM router, read 2026-09-23. Distances are straight lines between recorded town coordinates, measured with the haversine formula.
The deadline that decides your benefits
Florida gives you 14 days from the crash to start medical care.
Miss it and up to $10,000 in Personal Injury Protection benefits is forfeited under Fla. Stat. 627.736. The statute contains no hardship exception, and no provider or attorney can restore the benefit afterward. It runs from the crash date, weekends included, whether or not symptoms have appeared yet.
If anyone may be seriously hurt, call 911 first.