According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), a rear-end collision occurs every eight seconds in the United States. They also make up one-third of all car accidents in the USA. These accidents often occur when drivers are distracted by texting, infotainment, or daydreaming. They can also occur during sudden braking and in inclement weather.
One driver hits the rear-end of another and can even cause a chain reaction if the other cars are close enough. The problem is that injuries can even occur at low impact speeds of five to ten miles per hour. Let’s consider the common injuries that result from rear-end collisions below.
Common Injuries that Occur During Rear-End Collisions
Whiplash
One of the most common symptoms of an accident is whiplash. This occurs when there is a rapid back-and-forth jerking of the head and neck. Whiplash is one of the injuries that typically has a delayed onset. It will manifest hours later with dizziness, pain, and stiffness in the back and neck, and even blurred vision.
Whiplash results because nerves, tendons, muscles, and ligaments are pushed past their normal range of motion. This hyperextension creates tears in the tissue that is often numbed by adrenaline for the first few hours after an accident. When it hits, the suffers may feel like they were in a boxing match.
Fractured or Broken Bones
The interesting fact is that drunk drivers are rarely killed and sustain less serious injuries in car accidents because they don’t brace themselves. Bracing yourself for the impact can break your fingers, feet, and hands. The force of the seatbelt and airbags deploying with explosive force can lead to fractured ribs and vertebrae.
Head Trauma
The brain is bathed in cerebrospinal fluid that engulfs it entirely. When you are involved in a car accident, the brain bounces around inside the skull and takes the force of invisible shock waves. As a result, accident victims can suffer from traumatic brain injury. It may not be apparent at first. The brain may even swell or become inflamed as time passes. There are many degrees of traumatic brain injury that can range from mild to serious and temporary to permanent.
Scarring and Disfiguration
Glass, metal objects, and broken plastic can cause deep lacerations. Depending on the seriousness of the accident, this can lead to scars or even facial disfigurement. If the vehicle catches on fire, the injury victims may even suffer from burns.
Paralysis
Severe spinal damage can lead to paralysis. When the spine is damaged just below the head, it can result in total body paralysis from the neck down. The burden of living life as a paraplegic is tremendous and nothing to be taken lightly. Paraplegics require constant care and are limited to wheelchairs for the rest of their lives for mobility.
How to Obtain Compensation for Rear-End Accident Injuries
If you are injured in a rear-end collision, you need an auto accident attorney with experience in these types of cases. One of the biggest issues with rear-end accidents is determining who was at fault. The defendant (i.e. the at-fault driver) can claim that you braked too suddenly for them to react and, in the very least, establish comparative negligence.
Comparative negligence occurs when a jury finds that the plaintiff (i.e. the injured person) had a percentage of responsibility for the accident. If the plaintiff is found to comparatively at fault, the judge will reduce the jury verdict by that percentage of fault. In such a case, the total jury award for damages can be significantly reduced.
A rear-end collision attorney can help to present your claims with objectivity. They will work to eliminate any of the gray areas to make your narrative as black and white as possible. We can always speculate that the plaintiff could have done this or that to prevent an accident. But, realistically speaking, determining how a normal person would react in the situation is an argument that can be used to eliminate the ambiguity.
A normally reasonable person would, in the very least, try to turn out of the direct hit if a vehicle stops in front of them suddenly. This would ensure that the blow was glancing rather than direct. There is certain forensics that experts can piece together to determine which driver was distracted and to blame in any situation. A driver who is paying attention to the road would at least have done this or that to avoid the accident at the last second.
Building a personal injury claim also relies heavily upon the expert testimony of medical experts. Only an experienced auto accident attorney has access to the leading experts in the field. They can help to generate a professional report that estimates even the collateral effects of how the accident will affect you in the future.
The damages for a rear-end accident are typically for any of the following:
- Lost wages
- Pain and suffering
- Loss of consortium
- Wrongful death
- Disability
- Medical expenses
- Property damage
When you hire an attorney, you can also force the insurance companies to make fair offers promptly. The insurance companies won’t waste their time playing games and drawing out payments if an attorney is standing in your corner. Delayed compensation after a serious accident can deprive accident victims of critical care.
Contact Us
Let the Bodden & Bennet Law Group work tirelessly on your behalf to ensure swift justice. We have the elite training and years of experience needed to force the hand of insurance companies into fairly compensating your injuries. Don’t worry another day about the outcome of your injuries. Start the ball rolling today and resolve the dispute promptly for the best possible outcome.
