Tybee Island accident and injury lawyers.

AFTER A TYBEE ISLAND INJURY

A small island that fills up every summer

Tybee Island is a small beach town at the far eastern end of US-80, past the marshes east of Savannah. On a summer weekend most of the people on its streets are visitors: families in rental houses, day-trippers, people on golf carts and bikes. If you’re reading this, a day at the beach or an ordinary drive ended with somebody else’s mistake.

You don’t have to figure out what comes next by yourself. Kenneth S. Nugent, P.C. handles Tybee Island injury cases from the firm’s Savannah location. Across Georgia we’ve recovered more than $5 billion for over 300,000 clients in 45 years, from 9 offices. There’s nothing to pay up front, and zero fee unless we win.

Here’s what makes Tybee different. There is one road on and off the island. The city has its own police department and its own municipal court. And many of the people hurt here don’t live here. They drive home to another state with a medical bill, a report number and a lot of questions. If that’s you, your claim can still move forward, and we can work with you by phone.

Don’t sign anything an insurance adjuster sends to your home before we’ve looked at it together. A call costs you nothing. A signature can cost you a lot.

One road on and off Tybee Island

US-80, which locals also call Tybee Road, is the only road on and off Tybee Island. It crosses about five and a half miles of causeway and two bridges, over the Bull River and Lazaretto Creek. When a crash blocks it, traffic in both directions can stop for hours, and there is no other way around. Crashes closer to town, on Whitemarsh or Wilmington Island, are covered on our page for the islands between Savannah and Tybee.

Most of that stretch is two lanes with little shoulder and nowhere to pull off. The Georgia Department of Transportation has said the lack of turn lanes and emergency access limits travel during crashes and busy weekends, and it has planned to replace both bridges. Crashes where a driver crossed the center line have closed the road more than once. On the island, the highway becomes Butler Avenue and ends at Tybrisa Street, near the pier.

Along the way you pass the entrance to Fort Pulaski National Monument. That’s federal land. A claim that involves federal property or a federal worker runs through a separate federal process, and we won’t guess at those rules on a web page. If your crash or fall happened inside the park, call us first.

Coming to see us? Take US-80 west across the marsh, then the Islands Expressway and President Street into downtown. Our office is at 1 Bull Street in downtown Savannah, Suite 400, usually about half an hour from the island when the road is clear. Already back home? We can work with you by phone. Still in the area and too hurt to make the drive? Tell us, and we’ll come to you.

Car, cart and rideshare crashes on Tybee Island

Many serious Tybee Island crashes happen on US-80, the causeway and bridges that lead to the island, and on Butler Avenue, where the highway runs down the island to Tybrisa Street. Our lawyers for injured drivers and passengers handle the report, the medical bills and the adjuster, with zero fee unless we win.

A lot of drivers here are on vacation, following a map app on roads they’ve never seen, and some are worn out after a long day in the sun. Plenty of visitors skip driving and take a rideshare to the island. If you were hurt in one, whose insurance pays can depend on whether the driver had the app on and a trip accepted. Our rideshare crash lawyers sort that out for you.

Golf carts are everywhere on the island. The city requires carts to be registered and keeps them off most of Highway 80, but a cart has no doors and little to protect you when a car hits it. Cart crashes raise their own questions about whose insurance pays, especially with rental carts. Call us and we’ll look at yours.

Tybee is a walking town. People cross Butler Avenue and Tybrisa Street all day to reach the beach, often with kids, chairs and coolers, and drivers hunting for parking aren’t always watching. Summer weekends and big events put more people in the street than these roads were built for. If a driver hit you or someone in your family on foot or on a bike, our lawyers for people hit while walking can help you work out what comes next.

Who has your crash report on Tybee Island?

Inside Tybee Island city limits, the Tybee Island Police Department usually writes the crash report, and it makes those reports available through a paid online report service. Out on US-80 between the Bull River and Lazaretto Creek, outside the city, the Georgia State Patrol or Chatham County police may work the crash instead.

That line matters. In June 2025, a crash on the causeway near Fort Pulaski Road killed one driver and sent six people to the hospital. Tybee police said it was outside their jurisdiction, and the State Patrol worked it. A year later, Tybee police investigated a multi-vehicle crash on the Lazaretto Creek Bridge itself. Two crashes a few miles apart, two different agencies.

Where it happened	Who usually has your report
On the island, inside Tybee Island city limits	Tybee Island Police Department. Copies through a paid online report service
US-80 on the causeway between the Bull River and Lazaretto Creek	Often the Georgia State Patrol or the Chatham County Police Department
On or near the Lazaretto Creek Bridge	It depends on the exact spot. Tybee police have worked crashes on the bridge
Inside Fort Pulaski National Monument	Federal property. A different process applies, so call us first
Back toward Savannah on Whitemarsh or Wilmington Island, or in the city	It depends on where. See the full list of Chatham County report custodians

For other police records, the city uses an online request system called JustFOIA and may charge a reasonable fee. You’re welcome to request your report yourself. You don’t have to. Tell us the date and roughly where it happened, and we’ll find the right report and read it closely. The diagram, any citations and the witness names often shape what an insurance company thinks your claim is worth.

Got a ticket at the scene? A citation from Tybee police usually goes to Tybee Island Municipal Court, which is in the city’s Public Safety Building at 78 Van Horn. That case is separate from your injury claim. Talk to us before you pay it, because how it’s handled can come up later.

On vacation when it happened and already back home? Call 912-715-9288. Tell us the date and the nearest cross street, and we’ll take it from there.

Falls at the beach, the pier and vacation rentals

Many Tybee injuries never involve a car. People fall on wet stairs at rental houses, on boardwalks and dune crossings, and in restaurants and hotels. When a property owner knew about a danger and let it sit, the owner may be responsible. Our lawyers for falls on someone else’s property will tell you whether you have a case.

Where you fell matters too. The pier and many public spaces on the island are run by the City of Tybee Island. If city property was part of your injury, a much shorter notice deadline can apply, generally six months. The deadline section below explains how that works.

Many people work the island’s restaurants, rentals and shops through the busy season, and injuries on the job happen. Our on-the-job injury lawyers can tell you whether you have a workers’ comp claim, a case against someone other than your employer, or both. If a dog bit you or your child on a walk or at a rental, our attorneys for dog attack injuries can explain what Georgia law expects from the owner.

How long do you have to file a claim after a Tybee Island injury?

Most Georgia injury lawsuits must be filed within two years, and going home to another state doesn’t pause that clock. Claims against a government move faster. If the City of Tybee Island played a part, written notice is generally due within six months. Chatham County and the State generally allow twelve months.

That notice has a name: an ante litem notice. It’s Latin for “before the suit.” In plain English, it’s a formal letter you have to send the government before you’re allowed to sue it. For the City of Tybee Island, the notice generally has to state the specific amount of money you’re asking for. Miss the deadline or leave out a required detail, and the claim can be lost.

Who caused the harm	Deadline to send notice	Georgia law
The City of Tybee Island (the pier, a city vehicle, a city worker or a city street)	Generally 6 months	O.C.G.A. § 36-33-5
Chatham County (a county vehicle, worker or county road)	Generally 12 months	O.C.G.A. § 36-11-1
The State of Georgia or GDOT (US-80, the causeway and its bridges)	Generally 12 months	O.C.G.A. § 50-21-26
A private driver, landlord, rental company or business	Generally 2 years to file suit	O.C.G.A. § 9-3-33

Fort Pulaski is federal property, and claims involving it follow a federal process with its own rules. We won’t guess at those here. For every other government body in the county, we keep the complete Chatham County deadline chart in one place.

Did a city vehicle, the pier or the highway itself play a part? Call 912-715-9288 this week. Six months goes fast, and faster when you’re recovering from another state.

When the injury is permanent, or a family loses someone

A head-on crash on the causeway or a serious fall can change a family’s life in seconds. When there’s a brain injury, a spinal cord injury or a death, the claim has to cover years of care and lost income, not just the first hospital bills. We bring in doctors and life care planners early.

A clean scan in the emergency room doesn’t always mean you’re fine weeks later, especially after a fall or a hit to the head, and our lawyers for brain injury cases know what to watch for. If you lost someone, our attorneys for families who lost someone will explain who can bring the claim and what it covers, at a pace your family can handle.