Late in the afternoon on July 18, 2025, Clearwater Fire & Rescue crews responded to a head‑on collision between a FedEx tractor‑trailer and a passenger vehicle at Pinellas Street and South Myrtle Avenue. The head-on impact was so severe that the driver of the passenger vehicle had to be extricated using the Jaws of Life rescue tool. The accident occurred during rush hour in Clearwater on one of the busiest streets in the city, US 19.
Why The US 19 Intersection Matters
This intersection in Clearwater is one of many like Pinellas Street and US Route 19, an urban extension in a bustling commercial strip notorious for through-truck traffic, lots of traffic, risky merges, and drivers anxious to get home.
Although we do not yet know the cause of the crash (we will update this article once we do), it’s safe to say that US 19’s age and many crossroads, traffic lights, and turning lanes are overburdened by the 3.3 million people who live in the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater metro area.
Local agencies have pushed for safety improvements to the roads in this area and across Clearwater, but the road remains a hotspot for car accidents. In 2021 (the most recent year we have thorough data for), Clearwater recorded some 20 traffic fatalities and nearly 4,000 additional vehicle crashes in this area during “business” hours when semi‑trucks are most active.
Overall, Clearwater’s roughly 4,000 car accidents per year make up 1% of all motor vehicle accidents in Florida each year. However, Clearwater’s population is only 0.5% of Florida’s total population, meaning the city has double the number of car accidents per capita compared to Florida as a whole.
Semi‑truck, Head‑on Collision, & Extrication: A Serious Trio
Each factor in this crash, the semi‑truck, the head‑on impact, and the need for Clearwater Fire & Rescue to extricate the driver from the vehicle, points to a very serious situation, regardless of the lack of facts being reported at this time.
A combination of these elements is rare and often catastrophic:
- Commercial truck collisions in the relatively small area of Pinellas County number in the hundreds annually. Each year, this leads to dozens of people being seriously injured or killed.
- Head‑on crashes, though less frequent than side‑impact or rear‑end collisions, carry a much higher rate of fatality—according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, head-on collisions are responsible for over half of all fatalities caused by motor vehicle accidents.
- Crashes that require extrication suggest that severe entrapment was involved in the accident; drivers and passengers who endure the crushing forces necessary to require extraction often have life-threatening injuries.
What Are the Jaws of Life?
The Jaws of Life is the brand name for a powerful hydraulic rescue tool used by first responders to rescue injured passengers from vehicles after serious crashes that cause the metal to become mangled in a way that prevents door or window access.
Needless to say, when the Jaws of Life are used, the accident is extremely serious, which is why we have highlighted it in this story.
The massive hydraulic-operated tool can cut through metal, spread crushed doors, and lift parts of a wrecked car to free trapped passengers. In high-impact collisions like the recent FedEx truck crash in Clearwater, these tools are often essential for extrication.
Statistics on Extractions from Vehicles
These statistics on extrication, vehicle entrapment, extrication-related injuries and deaths, and their context will give you valuable insight into the seriousness of these incidents.
They will also help show why a proper truck accident lawyer is necessary in these instances, besides the fact that FedEx could hire every lawyer in Florida and chalk it up to a rounding error.
Extrication & Entrapment Stats
- About 40% of motorists involved in serious crashes are trapped in their vehicles and require extrication by rescue teams rather than being able to self-extricate.
- With 1.3 million road deaths worldwide annually, approximately 40% of those fatalities involved entrapment conditions necessitating extrication.
Injury & Fatality Severity During Extrication
- A study from a level-1 trauma center shows that patients requiring assisted extrication have more movement of their spinal cord during rescue, which correlates with worse prognoses, including a higher likelihood of serious injuries.
- Across the U.S., motor-vehicle crashes caused 33,000–44,000 fatalities annually and 1.9–2.4 million injuries per year, many of which involve entrapment scenarios where extrication is essential.
Broader Context
- Nationally in 2022, there were about 39,200 fatal crashes and 1.66 million injury crashes, with extrication often required in the more severe cases.
- Emergency services respond to nearly 1.5 million motor crashes each year, a significant share of which involve vehicle entrapments that require extrication.
These aren’t just numbers. They reflect real families whose lives are uprooted, sudden hospital stays, and sometimes lifelong injuries and permanent disability.
We still lack updates on both drivers’ conditions or the cause of the accident involving the FedEx freight truck and the passenger vehicle. What’s clear is the brutal potential of this triple threat.
The Value of Hiring a Truck Accident Lawyer
At Dolman Law Group, we see this pattern far too often: a commercial truck collision—FedEx, UPS, Ryder, you name it—leads to a catastrophic injury or wrongful death, and families are left picking up pieces.
Here’s why an experienced truck accident lawyer matters:
- Trucking industry complexity: Unlike private vehicle crashes, commercial trucks involve federal regulations, driver logs, maintenance records, and often multiple insured parties.
- Corporate defense teams: FedEx has high-powered attorneys whose job is to minimize payouts. Victims deserve someone who can match that savvy.
- Time‑sensitive evidence capture: Black‑box data, trucker schedules, and inspections are essential and time‑critical in building your case.
- Maximizing fair compensation: Lawyers help recover full damages, including medical bills, lost wages, pain, and suffering, not just what insurance carriers offer.
Injured in a Truck Accident? Contact the Experienced Team at Dolman Law Group
If you or a loved one was involved in a commercial truck accident or an accident that required you or your loved one to be extricated from your vehicle, contact Dolman Law Group today.
Don’t face the aftermath alone while a major corporation’s lawyers and insurance company give you pennies on the dollar. We have handled thousands of truck accidents, and we are ready to handle yours, too!
If you were involved in an accident in the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater area, we are headquartered right here in Clearwater. If you were injured in another Florida city or anywhere in the country, we are here for you, too. Whether you live six blocks away or six states away, we will treat you like family.
Visit our Clearwater truck accident page to learn more. You can also call us now at 833-55-CRASH or fill out our simple online form to schedule a free, no-obligation consultation.
- As a precaution and to respect those involved, we have blurred out part of the image. The woman in the bottom right is believed to be a concerned citizen and was not involved in the collision. The man on the left appears to be the FedEx driver, though that has not been confirmed. It is unknown if this image was captured before or after emergency services arrived to extricate the driver of the car. ↩︎
