Florida opens highway shoulders when you evacuate. Know the rules.

Florida handles evacuation traffic differently than most states. Rather than flipping both sides of a highway into one-way contraflow, the state opens the paved shoulder as an extra travel lane. Transportation officials call it Emergency Shoulder Use. While it is running, most drivers can use the shoulder, but large trucks, buses, and anyone towing a trailer are kept out of it. You can only enter and exit at marked points where officers are posted, so you cannot dip onto the shoulder to skip a backup and hop off wherever you like.

Evacuating is a driving event, and that is where coverage gets missed. Damage to your vehicle from wind, water, or a falling branch is paid under comprehensive. A fender bender in stop-and-go evacuation traffic is collision. Neither one is covered by your homeowners policy, and liability-only auto pays you nothing for your own car. The timing matters too. Once a storm is named and the state is inside the forecast cone, most carriers stop writing new policies or accepting coverage changes, so the window to fix a gap closes before you pack the car. September is the peak of the season, which makes now the time to look.

An independent agent can pull up your auto policy, confirm comprehensive and collision are actually on it, and check the deductibles before the next storm puts a hold on changes.