Insurance industry experts have studied and found that the average driver will file a major claim about every 18 years. That means over the course of the average American lifetime, you will have been involved in roughly four accidents. Not every accident results in injury, but often they do! Take a look at this infographic.
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One of the most common injuries sustained during a motor vehicle accident is some form of whiplash. According to an article released by the National Institute for Biotechnology Information, approximately 1 million people suffer from whiplash injuries related to a motor vehicle accident. Many of those people are probably between the ages of 30 and 55. What makes whiplash so prevalent is that you could get hit from any direction, at nearly any speed, and could suffer from this injury. The average prognosis is that rehabilitation takes about 3 months, but some people have prolonged, serious problems such as severe headaches and neck pain.
It is also possible you may suffer from a trimalleolar (ankle) or Colles wrist fracture. Trimalleolar fractures occur when all three areas of the ankle are broken. It often requires intensive medical treatment and can take a very long time to heal. Colles wrist fractures happen when there is a break at the end of the radius bone nearest the wrist. This injury can be particularly painful and detrimental to your quality of life as it greatly impacts how you can perform daily activities. Initial recovery from a wrist fracture can take 3-4 months but may extend beyond, as you may need physical therapy or other medical treatment after the initial healing.
Spinal cord injuries, like a herniated disc, are common to find after a car accident. Trauma like this is very sensitive; herniated discs, for example, are often treated with risky surgeries like laminectomies and spinal fusions which can impact how you live the rest of your life. Spinal cord injuries are often painful, costly, and sometimes permanent. They can result in some form of paralysis, mental and cognitive changes, or in the worst cases, the inability to move or speak entirely.
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is one of the more serious wounds received in an accident, even though often you cannot see the injury. TBIs can be a significant event causing everything from memory, language, and speaking problems to full amnesia or problems similar to a stroke, like having to re-learn how to walk and eat.
The most common injuries we discussed could all be caused by a car accident. But what causes the accident? Sometimes, it is something obviously dangerous. For example, most people readily acknowledge it is not ok to drive drunk or otherwise impaired, because you could get into an accident. There’s also reckless driving like excessive speeding or disobeying traffic laws that could cause people to get hurt. Frequently, it is something preventable, like distracted or drowsy driving. Distracted driving can be using your phone, talking to a passenger in the vehicle, eating, changing the Pandora channel, anything where you are not actively focused and attentive to the road and other drivers. Drowsy driving, according to the results of a study conducted by AAA, can be equivalent to drunk or otherwise impaired driving. Their study found that missing a mere one to two hours of sleep can double your risk of accident; meanwhile, missing two to three hours of sleep can skyrocket that number and increase your risk of crash by 400%.
The financial impact of motor vehicle accidents isn’t just related to the medical expenses at the time of the accident; you could be seeing doctors, specialists, getting scans, going to therapy, and taking medications for a while. There is also loss of income from the time you’ll have to take off from work for the initial recovery and all the follow up appointments. You could also face a reduction in wages just because you cannot do the job you used to do anymore due to your injury. This is when you may need legal counsel to help you navigate and interact with all the different doctors, clinics, billers, and insurance companies to make sure everyone is taken care of, including you. A great attorney can help take some of that stress out of your hands and allow you to focus on healing while getting the compensation you deserve. That’s what we do here at Heuser & Heuser, L.L.P. Should you ever need our services, Heuser & Heuser would be happy to help you get to a better place after your accident. Give us a call at (719) 520-9909 to schedule your free consultation.
