Common Motor Vehicle Accidents In West Virginia

It is essential to be aware of the potential injuries that you can sustain after a car accident.

Car accidents can result in immediate injuries or delayed injuries to virtually any part of your body. There are some injuries, however, that are more commonly present after a motor vehicle accident.

Being aware of these injuries helps you to take action by seeking medical help earlier. Further, it makes it so that you can report the damages to the insurance company and ensure that they are current with the state of your present wellbeing.

Keep in mind that a seemingly minor incident as a fender bender can result in needing surgery, resulting in needing physical therapy and thousands of dollars in medical bills.

During situations as seemingly minor as fender benders, individuals can turn the wrong way, and muscles can clench as a result of an impact. Further, you may witness pre-existing conditions that arise and flare up due to a muscle or other bodily injury in the incident. Be aware that even if you are a healthy person, you can experience injuries after a minor car accident.

Here are a few of the most common motor vehicle accidents that you should be aware of and how to proceed after a motor vehicle accident.

Traumatic Brain Injuries 

Brain injuries, specifically traumatic brain injuries, are common in car accidents. In fact, car accidents are the leading cause of traumatic brain injuries. This type of injury occurs when damage to the brain is a result of hitting the head intensely. 

With airbags deploying and your upper body being jettisoned depending on the severity of the accident, it is no surprise that brain injuries occur. 

TBI's are worrisome since about 150,000 people are affected by TBI's every year. About 50,000 of these people die, and the rest have to cope with long-term side effects.

Spinal Cord Injuries and Paralysis

Immediately after a car accident, you might feel sore. This soreness can hide damage to areas such as the neck and spinal cord.

Recall that it is crucial that individuals who have been through a car accident recently take note of any symptoms.

It would be best to go to your general practitioner to go for a check-up a couple of days after your accident. Healthcare practitioners and other experts would suggest following up in a week or shortly after to ensure that anything out of the ordinary is addressed as soon as possible.

If injuries are not treated in time, it can result in the individual coping with neck and back pain for life. Any injury can last in reduced quality of life. Remember that the impact of having constant pain in your neck and back can impact your quality of life drastically.

Minimizing Injuries in A Car Accident

Various orthopedic surgeons or health professionals such as EMTs will boldly state to practice proper seating posture when in a car. Following simple but effective posture will help to mitigate injuries within a car accident.

For example, it is wise to not place your feet on the dashboard or hang them out of the window. This same advice applies to passengers in your car. Keeping feet off the dashboard is important because when the airbags deploy, the force can result in broken foot bones or result in kneecaps going through your eyes. This is because airbags utilize explosives to deploy.

This force makes it so that the airbag is fully deployed by the time your head is a couple of inches off your headrest.

Everyone in your car must be wearing their seatbelt. If you are driving with your dog, buy a harness and make sure your dog is secure before starting your car.

If you do not want to use a harness, you could purchase a crate and place your dog in the container for the duration of the trip. For instance, If there is an accident, and your dog was unsecured, this can result in a delay of treatment as EMT's will be trying to figure out where you are bleeding from when in actuality, it was your dog that was injured.

Another precautionary measure you can take to minimize injuries is to rest your thumbs on your steering wheel instead of wrapping them around the steering wheel.

If you wrap your thumbs around the steering wheel when you drive, there is potential for both thumbs to be damaged due to the force from the airbag.

Note that if you get into an accident and the airbag deploys, your thumbs will be forced backward.

Seek Legal Help After A Motor Vehicle Accident

There are a few critical steps that you must take after a car accident. The primary step is to obtain medical help as quickly as possible to assess the damages that you may have sustained from the accident.

Then proceed to take the necessary actions to deal with the other aspects of the accident that may pertain to establishing fault, obtaining compensation, and recovering from the incident.

After notifying your insurance company and the other party's insurance company of injuries, you would also proceed to reach out to a law firm. This is to ensure that everything goes smoothly and you are being treated fairly in terms of compensation for your injuries. 

Seeking legal assistance is essential for several reasons. The first reason deals with the aspect of loss of income. If you have to take time off for an extended period due to the incident, you may suffer income loss or have other issues related to your income potential.

The second reason deals with experience and ensuring a smooth compensation recovery process.

It is essential to ensure that you have someone who is experienced with motor vehicle accident injuries in your corner that will be fighting for you.

Contacting a law firm as soon as possible after the accident occurs will make it so that the law firm will be up to date with everything that is happening and can make recommendations on how to proceed, whether it be negotiating or litigation.

Your collaboration with your lawyer will ensure simplicity, transparency, and additional security. A legal professional will make it so that the whole process is more straightforward and less anxiety-inducing.

Contacting a law firm also helps with aspects of the process that might come up unexpectedly. Having a law firm that is by your side through the whole process makes it so that you are not drowning in medical costs that you should not be paying for.

Reach out to us at Miller Luzier PLLC to find out how we help our clients get financial compensation after motor vehicle accidents.