Car Accident News

Driving Safety Tips from LegalView Be safe this holiday season on the road! It is important to be careful when driving and watch out for others who may be distracted or intoxicated. Automobile accidents kill thousands in the United States each year and are a leading cause of personal injury lawsuits. The National Transportation and... Read More at the Automobile Accidents Blog

New Hand-Held Device Could Make TBI Diagnosis Faster When someone suffers a traumatic brain injury (TBI), a quick and accurate diagnosis can mean the difference between life and death. Researchers at the United States National Institute of Health have created a hand-held device to quickly detect brain injuries, including hematomas which occur when... Read More at the Automobile Accidents Blog

Home : Personal Injury : Automobile Accidents : Law Articles : Common Automobile Accident Injuries

Common Automobile Accident Injuries

Car crashes are rife with the potential for injury, disability, and even death. Read on for facts and statistics about the most common auto accident injuries:

Death

Car crashes claim the lives of more than 20,000 people every year, at least 2,000 of which are children under the age of eighteen. Auto deaths can be the result of another driver's negligence, the consequence of a vehicle mechanical error or component defect, or hazardous road conditions.

Other vehicle accidents may be more likely to result in auto deaths due to their relative lack of stability on the road. SUVs (Sports Utility Vehicles) are three times more likely to rollover in an auto accident. In rollover accidents, victims are more likely to sustain serious head injuries or be ejected from the vehicle which can result in auto deaths.

In a majority of auto accidents, one party is responsible for causing accidents which resulted in auto deaths. In 2001, 13,000 auto deaths or injury cases were attributed to one party's aggressive or reckless driving behaviors. Approximately 40 percent of all auto deaths are the result of alcohol related motor vehicle accidents.

Auto deaths can also be the result of auto accidents that were not caused by another driver, but rather by mechanical failures and other defects that result in death. In these cases, the auto manufacturer or supplier can be held liable for any damages caused as a result of their negligence, including auto deaths. Defective tires, inadequate roof structures, faulty seat belts, and a number of other auto component defects can cause tragic auto accidents.

Spinal Injuries

Whiplash is one of the most common types of car accident back injuries. Whiplash accounts for more than one million car accident back injuries each year. Ten percent of these car accident back injuries lead to long term disability. This type of injury occurs most often in rear end collisions and can also occur when a vehicle strikes a non-moving object or gets broad-sided by another vehicle. Whiplash is sustained when a victim's head is violently hurled forward (hyperextension) and then backward (hyperflexion). Whiplash injury can cause serious injury to the joints, discs, muscles, nerves, and ligaments of the neck and is most serious when a victim's head is turned to the side during impact. Whiplash car accident back injuries, though common, are sometimes difficult to diagnose. Symptoms of these car accident back injuries can include muscle spasms in the neck and upper back area, increased neck pain with movement, and increasing pain in the base of the neck.

Car accidents can also result in a lumbar or lower back sprain or strain. These car accident back injuries result in serious and sometimes debilitating pain in the larger muscles of the lower back injuries and are difficult to diagnose or may be misdiagnosed if there is an underlying disc injury that has not been identified. Pain from these injuries can occur on one or both sides of the lower back, may worsen with activity, or may cause muscle spasms.

Spinal cord injuries are also common. These injuries are caused by different kinds of trauma including bruising (contusion), excessive pressure (compression), lacerations, and specific damage to the corticospinal tracts in the cervical spinal cord area. Spinal cord injuries can cause serious nerve damage resulting in paralysis, loss of feeling in certain areas of the body, loss of reflex function, and autonomic disturbances. These debilitating injuries can also lead to secondary medical problems including infection, sexual dysfunction, muscle spasms, loss of bladder control, and centralized hypersensitivity or pain in certain areas of the body.

There are a number of medical tests that can be performed on a patient who is thought to have sustained car accident back injuries. In some cases, car accident back injuries can be detected through the use of x-rays, though muscle strains and sprains cannot be diagnosed through this medical means. Medical professionals can also use CT or CAT scans, MRIs, myelograms, discograms, electromyograms, and bone scans to determine the nature and extent of car accident back injuries.

Traumatic Brain Injury

Brain injury is one of the most catastrophic injuries that a person can sustain in a motor vehicle accident. Almost two million people suffer a traumatic brain injury in the United States each year. For more information about traumatic brain injury or head injury, visit LegalView's site on traumatic brain injury. At least half a million people die each year as a result of brain injury complications. One half of all brain injury cases are the result of motor vehicle accidents. A good percentage of these motor vehicle accidents were caused or exacerbated by an auto defect.

Automobiles and their parts should be designed to ensure that a passenger is as protected as possible from injury in a motor vehicle accident. Fuel systems, seat belts, seat backs, door latches, roofs, tires, and overall vehicle structure should be designed, manufactured, and repaired in such a way that the risks of brain injury and other catastrophic injury are mitigated. Unfortunately, defective auto parts can and do often cause and contribute to brain injury in motor vehicle accidents. When this is the case, a victim of brain injury has the legal right to seek compensation for their injuries from the party who is responsible for the defective auto component.

Traumatic brain injury can be sustained in an auto defect vehicle accident when a victim suffers a sudden violent blow to the head. A victim is more likely to sustain this type of head trauma in accidents where the vehicle's roof fails to hold up in an accident, where the vehicle rolls over (which is more likely in SUVs with an overall faulty structural design), and when a person is ejected from the car because a door latch fails to keep a passenger's door intact, or a seat belt fails to restrain a person or any number of other mechanical vehicle failures.

Traumatic brain injury can be classified as mild, moderate, or severe based on the amount of physical, motor, cognitive, behavioral, and psychological trauma that was sustained in the accident. Brain injury can result from closed or open head trauma. There may be no immediate distinctive signs of brain injury following an accident. A person may suffer a loss of consciousness following brain injury or they may not. It is vital for a person who may have suffered a brain injury to seek immediate medical treatment for condition evaluation and stabilization. This care is crucial for prevention of secondary and exacerbated primary injuries.

Closed Head Injury

A closed head injury from car accident incidents occurs when a victim's head violently impacts some internal portion of a vehicle, is struck by a moving object during collision, or strikes any other non-moving object in the course of a motor vehicle accident. Closed brain injury results in damage to the skull, brain, or scalp, but does not penetrate the skull. Closed head injury from car accident incidents may be difficult to diagnose because there might not be any visible external injury that indicates head trauma.

A concussion is the most common closed head injury. Concussions can range from mild to critical in terms of severity. Concussion closed head injury from car accident incidents can result in a temporary loss of consciousness or coma, or symptoms may not appear for some time after the initial trauma. Bleeding and swelling of the brain can occur from this type of closed head injury from car accident incidents when the brain is violently jolted back and forth in the skull upon impact. Even a mild concussion can result in subtle brain damage.

Brain damage can have physical, cognitive, and psychological repercussions. The physical characteristics of a closed head injury can occur immediately following a car crash or can worsen in the period following the accident. Physical repercussions include headaches, paralysis, coordination difficulty, weakness, sensory problems, nausea, and difficulty sleeping.

Concussion-related brain damage can also impede on a victim's cognitive abilities. This can greatly affect one's ability to work or attend school following a car accident. Problems with attention and concentration, difficulty with both short and long term memory functions, reasoning and problem solving, and reduced information processing may all be cognitive impairments that develop after a closed head injury from car accident incidents. The consequences of a closed head injury from car accident incidents can also intrude on a victim's personal relationships and psychological well being. People who have suffered these types of head injuries may experience changes in their personality. Closed head injury from car accident victims may suffer increased irritability, anxiety, and disinhibition. These victims may lack adequate coping mechanisms and social skills as a result of their injuries.

Paralysis

Severe auto accidents can sometimes cause paralysis, with 55 percent of all spinal cord injury paralysis resulting from motor vehicle accidents. These injuries can be devastating in their own right, but can be made much more complicated when the injuries were caused by an auto defect in an auto accident.

Auto accidents that cause paralysis can be caused or exacerbated by an automobile defect such as roof crush, rollover accidents, and other defects in an automobile's strength and integrity that make an individual more prone to the injuries that cause paralysis.

Paralysis occurs when violent and sudden impact crushes the spine and its cord. The spinal cord functions as a messenger between the brain and the rest of the body. When the spinal cord or spine is damaged in an accident, a patient may suffer some degree of temporary or permanent paralysis. Depending on the location of the spinal cord injury, a person may lose control and sensation in different regions of the body. Paralysis can vary in severity from partial to complete loss of function or feeling in parts of the body. In some cases, early and effective medical treatment can facilitate recovery from paralysis. The longer a person suffers paralysis, the greater the likelihood that paralysis will be permanent.

Paraplegia

Paraplegia is the medical term used to describe the paralysis that results from serious spinal cord injury. Spinal cord injury paraplegia is one potential catastrophic outcome of motor vehicle accidents. An estimated 55 percent of all spinal cord injuries are suffered as a result of automobile accidents.

In paraplegia, a patient loses control and sensation in their lower extremities and part, or all, of their trunk as a result of traumatic injury to the spinal cord. The spinal cord is responsible for conveying information between the brain and the rest of the body. When the spinal cord is damaged, a person can lose the ability to feel and control parts of their body. This paralysis from paraplegia can be complete or incomplete depending on the severity of the injury. When the spinal cord is bruised, swollen, or damage to the nerves and blood vessels is minor, it is possible for a paraplegia patient to recover from paralysis. Unfortunately, paraplegia is irreversible, and patients are often left with extensive permanent disability.

Paraplegia victims can suffer from a number of symptoms that indicate complete or partial paralysis. A paraplegia patient may experience extreme muscle flaccidity or limpness, especially in the arms and legs. Paraplegia can result in the inability to move or feel anything below the damaged area. Bowel and bladder control can also be lost when a person suffers paraplegia. If paraplegia affects the lung region of the trunk, a victim can have troubles breathing or may be unable to breath without assistance.

Treatment for paraplegia involves a team of medical professionals that have special roles in helping victims with these catastrophic injuries. Neurologists, psychologists, physical and occupational therapists, respiratory specialists, social workers, and a number of others can have an integral role in treating patients with paraplegia. Paraplegia can be diagnosed through a number of medical tests including x-rays, CT or CAT scan, and MRI evaluations. In addition to a variety of therapies, paraplegia patients can also benefit from physical support from wheelchairs or braces, medicines such as steroids, diuretics, and blood pressure medications, bowel and bladder programs, and skin treatments. Surgery may also be required. Though spinal cord injury cannot be repaired, surgery can stabilize the bones in the spine and make use of equipment that can facilitate movement in patients with paraplegia.

Quadriplegia

Quadriplegia is the paralysis that results from serious spinal cord injury. Sudden violent impact in an accident can crush the spine and the spinal cord. The most common type of accident by which paralysis is sustained is motor vehicle accidents. Quadriplegia can leave a person severely, and often permanently, paralyzed and can greatly reduce a victim's life span.

Quadriplegia leaves a person with no control, feeling, or movement in all four arms and legs and the trunk of the body. Quadriplegia injuries can be complete (total) or incomplete (partial) and are the outcome of extensive nerve damage in the spinal cord which cannot be repaired. In some cases, quadriplegia impairments can improve with time if the spinal cord was bruised or swollen, but often times quadriplegia leaves a patient with insurmountable permanent disability.

Symptoms of quadriplegia include loss of feeling and movement below the neck region, difficulty or inability to breathe independently, loss of bowel and bladder control, reduced organ function, low blood pressure, sexual dysfunction, and more.

Catastrophic Injury

The pain and disability of catastrophic motor vehicle accidents can be enormous. Dealing with the aftermath of a catastrophic injury from a car accident is very difficult, but auto defects causing the motor vehicle accident may thrust victims into a complex legal battle in order to receive the compensation they deserve for auto accident injuries.

When catastrophic injury is the result of an auto defect, the victim has a legal right to seek compensation for their losses including all related medical expenses, loss of income or earning potential, and pain and suffering. Catastrophic injury can have an enormous impact on a victim's life. When treated early and properly, some individuals are able to recover from catastrophic injury . Others may endure significant suffering, permanent disability, and a reduction in lifespan. Victims of catastrophic injury from an auto defect car accident deserve to be adequately compensated for their enormous losses.

Catastrophic injury can include any of the following: traumatic brain, spinal cord, back, neck, eye and internal injuries, serious injury or fracture to a weight-bearing bone(s), accidental amputation, and severe burns. The majority of all catastrophic injury cases involving spinal cord injury and traumatic brain injury occur in car accidents. The sudden violent impact of a major car accident can crush the spine and spinal cord, and cause injury to the skull, scalp, and brain. These can be some of the most serious catastrophic injury cases because severe physical, cognitive and psychological damage can result. Spinal cord and brain catastrophic injury can lead to paralysis, or complete or partial loss of feeling and control to major portions of the body.

Catastrophic injury from a vehicle accident can also be sustained as a result of other auto defects. The auto defects that cause or exacerbate catastrophic injury in an accident include: defective door latches, tires, seat backs, and seat belts, roof crush, and SUV rollovers. Auto defects are the consequence of faulty design, production, or repair of an automobile or any of its parts. Many auto manufacturers are aware of the risks inherent to their products but choose to forgo consumer safety for financial gain. Auto defects that have caused catastrophic injury can result in warnings and product recalls, but this can do nothing to protect those who have already suffered a catastrophic injury.

If You've Suffered Auto Accident Injury

If you have suffered injury in an automobile accident that you believe is related to a defect in your automobile, contact a crashworthiness attorney immediately. An experienced crashworthiness lawyer will be able to evaluate your claim, file a law suit if applicable, and help you collect the compensation you deserve for your injury.