Common Car Accident Injuries
Did you suffer injuries in an auto accident? If so, you will need the help of an experienced personal injury attorney to build a compensation claim. Call our legal team at (888) 424-5757 now to schedule a free consultation.
Rosenfeld Injury Lawyers, LLC, can obtain the maximum financial recovery on your behalf meant to compensate you and your family for the injuries you endured.
Our car accident lawyers can thoroughly investigate the crash, evaluate the facts, and gather evidence for a successful resolution.
Car Accident Damages
Car crashes cause injuries, property damage, and wrongful death. Typically, the visible signs of damage can be viewed at the collision's impact points.
However, damage to the victim's bodies is not always readily apparent. Vehicle collisions typically produce a tremendous force that causes the vehicles to twist and bend.
Vehicle collisions account for an astounding number of severe accident injuries every year, leaving victims with a traumatic brain injury (TBIs), spinal cord injuries, contusions, whiplash, knee injuries, shoulder harm, and psychological injuries.
Most victims experience pain and discomfort for weeks or years, even after receiving competent medical care.
According to the Insurance Information Institute (III), nearly two million people sustain minor to serious injuries every year in car accidents. Nearly all types of injuries suffered in serious accidents, including brain contusion and internal bleeding, required medical treatment.
Common Car Accident Injuries
Whiplash is the most common car accident injury when the head and neck are thrust quickly forward and backward, straining the neck and shoulder muscles and ligaments. Often, the victim is unaware that the mild tension in the results from whiplash until a few days or weeks later.
Other common injuries include:
- Fractures and broken bones – The high-speed impact on the body during a collision stresses the skeletal bones, leading to fractures or broken bones. Arms and legs may be pinned inside the crash vehicle, and ribs can be fractured, hitting the steering wheel. All broken bones require immediate medical treatment.
- Head injury and concussion – Car accident victims can easily hit their face and forehead on the steering wheel, dashboard, side window, or cushion, resulting in a concussion. The concussive impact could cause memory issues requiring days, weeks, or months to restore the brain to a normal state.
- Burns – Victims can be burned in a collision inside a burning vehicle or road rash friction if ejected from the car. Seek medical attention immediately to treat an extensive burn.
- Bruising, cuts, and lacerations – Scrapes and bruising occur in a collision when the body slams into the seat belt, steering wheel, or dashboard.
- Muscle, tendons, and ligament harm (soft tissue injuries) – Stretching injuries resulting in harm can cause lifelong problems with muscles, tendons, and ligaments that may require surgery for repair.
- Neck and back injuries – The rapid and intense force of a collision impact can cause serious damage to the back and neck. Back injuries may require surgery for repair.
- Traumatic brain injuries – Serious traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) could result in potentially life-altering, long-term harm that disrupts how the brain functions, processes emotions, and handles information. TBIs require immediate medical attention.
- Neurological damage – Scraping injuries, blunt force trauma, and burns can cause neurological damage that affects sensation, muscle movement, or memory retention. Nerve injuries require ongoing medical treatment.
- Chest injuries – A blunt force trauma accident can cause chest internal injuries and broken ribs when the victim is thrown forward in car accidents. Broken ribs and chest injuries can occur even if the torso impacts the dashboard or steering wheel.
- Internal bleeding – Injuries in an accident may include internal bleeding that requires immediate medical treatments. Seek medical help immediately after the crash if you suffered any symptoms, including swelling or bruising.
- Foot and ankle injuries – Head-on car accidents can cause crushing force, pushing the engine, wheels, and axles into the footboard toward the driver and passengers, causing life-altering ankle and foot injuries.
- Spinal cord damage and paralysis, including quadriplegia, paraplegia, and tetraplegia – Any temporary or permanent harm to the spinal cord could require ongoing occupational or physical therapy, surgical procedures, casting, splinting, or epidural steroid injections.
- Internal organ damage – An internal organ's delicate nature makes it susceptible to severe harm in an auto collision, requiring immediate medical treatment in the emergency room in the moments after the crash.
- Crush injuries – The sheer weight of vehicles involved in collisions can cause crush injuries where soft tissue and bones are seriously damaged.
- Wrist and hand injury – An auto accident's blunt force can throw the hands and wrists forward. Some victims are hurt by their defensive motions when attempting to grab anything during the collision.
- Post-traumatic stress disorder – The extreme stress of a car accident can result in post-traumatic stress disorder, and other psychological injuries affecting the body's mental and emotional conditions. Some victims develop common symptoms, including sleeping disorders involving nightmares and high anxiety, that require therapeutic care to restore healthy life, if possible.
All the serious injuries listed above could result in typical symptoms, including ongoing dizziness, headaches, loss of balance, severe pain, swelling, bruising, constant weariness, or blurred vision. Some car accident injuries result in a lifelong limited range of motion, body deformity, mental fog, decreased focus, restricted mobility, and the inability to lift heavy objects.
Typical Causes of Common Car Accident Injuries
Statistics maintained by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) show that car accidents' common injuries vary broadly based on the collision circumstance.
All car crashes with serious injuries can be identified in two categories: penetrating injuries and impact injuries. Injuries that penetrate the body could include cuts, lacerations, punctures, or scrapes by sharp objects, shattered glass, or other components inside and outside the vehicle.
Impact injuries typically involve the body hitting some component in the car's interior or exterior or by blunt force trauma, causing injury to soft tissue, organs, and the brain (head injuries).
The most common injuries from car accidents share certain factors that include:
- The individual was not wearing a seat belt
- The victim was hit during the accident closest to their side of the vehicle
- The victim's body or head was turned in a specific direction at the time of the car crash
- The car did not have airbags
- The crash happened at high speed or low-speed
The Importance of Getting a Lawyer for a Minor Car Accident
Many victims involved in minor accidents forego hiring a crash accident attorney believing that they were not "really" hurt in the crash.
Others believe hiring an attorney will cut into their compensation award, leaving them with insufficient funds to pay for hospitalization costs, medical expenses, lost wages, pain-and-suffering.
Many believe that they can combat the tactics used by insurance companies' proven strategies for offering injured victims the minimum compensation to resolve their case. Claims adjusters are specifically trained to minimize the amount an insurance company will pay at the victims' expense.
Some car accident victims believe that because the accident was their fault, there is no need to hire an attorney to work with their insurance company and defend them in resolving a claim.
However, an auto accident lawyer can guide you through the complicated legal and insurance processes while protecting your rights and interests to obtain the maximum compensation to recover your losses.
Car Accident Injuries FAQs
Below are some frequently asked questions related to injuries sustained in auto accidents. We appreciate that an accident involving a serious injury or death only brings on various stress on you and your family.Consequently, we invite you to contact our law firm for a free consultation regarding your legal rights and options.
Personal Injury Attorneys Resolving Car Accidents
Were you the victim of a car accident, leaving you with injuries or extensive property damage?
Did you lose a loved one through a wrongful death caused by the reckless actions of others?
The auto collision injury attorneys at Rosenfeld injury lawyers, LLC, can help. Let our legal team handle your car accident injuries case to ensure you receive adequate financial compensation.
Contact us today at (888) 424-5757 to schedule a free consultation. We accept all cases through contingency fee agreements. This arrangement ensures you pay for our legal services only after we have successfully resolved your case.
Our legal team currently follows CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) guidelines on social distancing to maintain everyone's well-being. All information you share with our law office remains confidential through an attorney-client relationship.
Resources:
- Insurance Information Institute – Distracted Driving
- National Highway Traffic Safety Administration – Auto Crashes
- Chicago Airbag Injury Lawyer
- Amputation Sustained in Car Accidents
- Bone Fractures From Car Accidents: Chicago, Illinois
- Burns From Car Accidents: Chicago, Illinois
- Children Injured in Chicago Car Accidents
- Fetal Death in Car Accident
- Foot, Ankle & Leg Injuries in Car Accidents
- Hand & Wrist Injuries
- Hip Fracture from Car Accident: Chicago, Illinois
- Organ Damage Injury
- Joint Injury & Dislocations Sustained in Car Accidents
- Laceration & Cuts in Car Accidents
- Neck Injuries from Car Accidents
- Occupant Ejection from Car Accidents
- Paralysis from Car Accidents
- Chicago Car Passenger Injury Lawyer
- Pregnant Women Injured in Car Accidents
- Seatbelt Injuries
- Vision Loss Injury