Rear-end Collision Injuries? Here is How an Attorney Can Help

Written by Jeremy D. Earle, JD

January 18, 2023

Rear End Car Accident ATtorney

You’re sitting at a stoplight, minding your own thing and daydreaming when—BAM!—a thoughtless motorist rams into the back of your car. Your head jerks back and then snap forward. A searing ache radiates from your neck. In less time than you can say “tailgating,” your day has gone from routine to awful.

Does this ring a bell? You’re not the only one who feels this way. Every day, rear-end crashes occur all around the world. They’re one of the most prevalent forms of traffic accidents in the nation, and they may result in significant injuries even at modest speeds.

Your injuries may result in significant financial losses, leaving you unsure of what to do. The best approach to safeguard your health and your rights is to obtain medical aid and then call a qualified rear-end accident attorney for assistance.

A rear-end accident lawyer may assist you in your physical and financial recovery. Learn how to preserve your legal rights and collect compensation after a rear-end collision, as well as why they happen and what injure they might inflict, by continuing reading.

WHAT TO DO IF YOU’VE BEEN INJURED IN A REAR-END COLLISION

Photograph the damage, even if you believe it is insignificant. You could believe you merely have a scratched bumper or a damaged taillight right now. Still, you might later learn your car has alignment difficulties, frame damage, or axle problems that could cost thousands of dollars to repair. Your insurance claim against the at- fault motorist should include property damage.

Discuss the situation with the other driver(s). Gather information such as their name, phone number, insurance information, and license plate number.

Schedule an appointment with a medical practitioner right away. If you’ve been in an car accident, you should see a doctor right once, even if you don’t feel hurt. This is quite important. Even if you were in a small collision, get medical help. Some of the injuries listed here may have immediate symptoms, while others (such as soft tissue injury and brain trauma) may not. Do not put your life in jeopardy by

 

attempting to push through a headache or discomfort that might be an indication of a far more severe injury.

Then, speak with an expert car accident injury lawyer about your legal options for recovering compensation for your injuries. Many individuals, in our experience, are hesitant to seek legal guidance for injuries sustained in a rear-end collision. Because of this blunder, their payout is reduced, or the case is dismissed outright!

Perhaps they have a mental image of a plaintiff wearing a foam collar attempting to extort a few dollars from a defendant (or an insurance company). Perhaps you’ve heard the phrase “fender-bender” and are wondering whether contacting a rear-end collision lawyer is excessive. Make an effort not to feel that way. For starters, no ethical lawyer would overstate an injury or make a fraudulent claim to insurance, a court, or anybody else.

Also, don’t compare yourself to others. Suppose your accident did not result in serious car damage or a life-threatening injury. In that case, it does not diminish the importance of your legal rights or the validity of your compensation claim. You don’t deserve any of the suffering and difficulties caused by someone else’s careless driving.

A lawyer specializing in rear-end collisions may also assist you in determining fault. The driver of the following car gets the brunt of the responsibility in most rear-end crashes, but not all. That’s what should happen if the driver has insurance and/or can reimburse you for your injuries. An expert rear-end accident attorney can assist you in determining the degree of your injuries, how much it has already cost you, and how much it will cost you in the future.

Take advantage of any available assistance if you’ve been rear-ended. A rear-end collision lawyer is ready to assist you and understands how to pursue your right to compensation for your out-of-pocket expenses as well as your physical and emotional pain and suffering.

WHAT CAUSES REAR-END COLLISIONS?

We must first grasp the mechanics of an car accident to comprehend why rear-end crashes generate so much agony and anguish. It helps to imagine what occurs when the front of one car collides with the rear of the other. Our rear-end accident attorneys are well-versed in this sort of collision and how it affects our clients.

Let’s begin with the fundamentals. Assume there are two cars: one leading and the other behind. The car in front of you moves quicker than the car in front of you. The leading car might be stopped at a stop sign or a red light or parked at a parking spot.

When the following car collides with the leading car, it transmits part of its force to the leading car, and the two cars move ahead as one new “connected” unit. The distance they travel is determined by the speed at which the two cars collided. An car may sometimes be pushed into another car, into a different lane, or into oncoming traffic due to the force transfer in a collision! A minor collision may quickly escalate into a massive pile- up.

 

The pace at which the two connected cars drive will generally be slower than the speed the following car was driving when they collided but quicker than the leading car’s pre- accident speed. Here’s a movie with equations that explains everything.

In other words, in a rear-end collision, the leading car accelerates suddenly and unexpectedly while the following car decelerates. Both cars’ passengers are in danger of injure, but those in the lead car are at a far greater risk. Because, although all cars have basic safety systems to prevent abrupt deceleration if you have to slam on the brakes for any reason, safety mechanisms for fast acceleration are significantly less frequent and far less effective.

It should come as no surprise, given the physics, that even slow-moving rear-end collisions may result in significant casualties. Our car accident lawyers can help you safeguard your rights after an injury or other loss.

INJURIES CAUSED BY REAR-END COLLISIONS

Now that you understand how they occur, you should know the multiple hazards associated with a rear-end accident. Even a modest rear-end accident might cause serious bodily injury. It might turn into a dangerous problem if you don’t get adequate care for a seemingly small injury.

The following are some of the most frequent injuries sustained after being rear-ended:

DAMAGE TO SOFT TISSUE

Soft tissue injuries are prevalent in car accidents, particularly in rear-end collisions. You’ve certainly heard the word, but do you understand what it means or how it happens? We’re here to clear things up.

Assume you’re a passenger in the lead car in the above hypothetical situation. Your car comes to a halt. Another car slams into yours from behind, seemingly out of nowhere. Your car accelerates, which implies your body accelerates as well.

However, not all of your bodily parts jolt forward simultaneously.

If you’ve never contemplated what happens to your body when you’re suddenly accelerated as a result of a rear-end accident, the researchers who produced this study have. They determined that the first impact’s fast acceleration causes your body to go forward before your head and neck. The discs in your middle back are compressed, but those up near your neck have not yet flexed, resulting in an “S” shaped curvature in your spine.

A shearing force transfers up to your spine, one disc at a time, as your body moves horizontally below the center of mass of your head and neck until your cervical spine adopts a C shape with your head flung backward. To help clarify the study paper’s results, here’s a video of the spinal whipping action.

All of this occurs in the blink of an eye, and it’s a completely unnatural action for the spine. Your head usually moves while your body remains relatively stationary. Your body is pulled out in front of your head in this position. When this happens, the spine deforms from an S to a C shape, and each disc absorbs and transfers stress upward up the spinal column.

The head and body then rebound in the opposite direction. Whiplash is a kind of damage caused by a combination of these motions. (The “whip,” as it were, is the person’s spinal column, which deforms and transforms the energy of the impact into a rapid, forceful movement of the head.)

So, what happens when your spine serves as a whip, with your skull at the tip? What comes to mind is “OUCH!” The soft tissue in the neck, such as muscles and ligaments, extends well beyond its usual range of motion after a car collision. These are painful injuries, just like any other strain, but they may also generate secondary symptoms, including headaches and skeletomuscular discomfort. As anybody who has dealt with chronic pain knows, such long- term misery can make life a living hell.

Others may disregard or minimize your whiplash pain and suffering, but our rear-end collision attorneys will never do so.

INJURIES TO THE SPINAL CORD

The pressures that affect the soft tissue in your head and neck may also injure your spine, making it more susceptible. Rear-end accident victims often suffer from ruptured discs, fractured vertebrae, and spinal cord injury in the most catastrophic instances.

Injury to the spine is a significant matter. A back injury, such as a disc or vertebral fracture, may take months to heal and need surgery. To move about, people often need to wear back braces and cannot spend long periods on their feet. This makes it impossible to work, prompting Americans to seek relief from potent, habit-forming opioids. Even if a back injury cures, a severe opioid addiction may develop in its stead.

Spinal cord damage may make life almost impossible to tolerate. The spinal cord is a network of nerves that runs through the spinal column and carries information from the brain to the rest of the body. When the spinal cord is damaged, such signals are interfered with or shut off entirely. This typically causes temporary or permanent paralysis or loss of sensation in the bodily portions below the damage site.

Living with a spinal cord injury may result in secondary health issues and cost millions of dollars throughout a victim’s lifetime. Consequently, the car accident claims that ensue may be very intricate. Speak with a car accident lawyer who has expertise in representing people who have suffered spinal damage.

TRAUMA TO THE BRAIN

The brain is another organ of a person’s body that may be severely damaged in a rear-end accident due to all of the “whipping” of the neck and head.

The brain moves independently of the skull in the same way as the head and neck move independently of the body. When a person’s head experiences an impact or a quick shock (such as the sudden, violent head snapping in a “whiplash” scenario), the brain’s tissue may be damaged when the brain moves abnormally inside the skull.

A concussion may occur due to minor bruising or swelling, and it can cause rapid cognitive, motor, and emotional impairment. Some concussions heal independently, while others have difficulties and side effects that may last months or even years. A traumatic brain injury may cause more serious damage and leave an injured person permanently disabled.

One of the numerous hazards of brain damage is not always obvious. Though it’s tempting to dismiss symptoms as stress after a stressful accident, the headache or “brain fog” you may have after a car accident might be an indication of significant brain damage. If you hit your head or get a violent shock in an accident, get medical help right once.

Even low-speed rear-end crashes may cause severe whiplash and traumatic brain damage. This is why, following a rear-end accident, you should seek medical treatment right away and keep all of your follow-up visits to ensure that no new symptoms requiring additional medical attention have arisen.

Because a brain injury is a complicated medical condition with many consequences, the subsequent damage claim may be difficult for victims and their families to navigate. You need legal assistance from a rear-end collision attorney who is familiar with the nature of brain damage.

SEVERE INJURIES: BURNS, LACERATIONS, COMPLEX FRACTURES, AND OTHER SERIOUS INJURIES

Burns, lacerations, and fractures are three more typical injuries sustained by passengers of the leading car in a rear-end accident. However, as we’ve seen, they aren’t the only injuries that may occur in a rear-end collision, and the passengers of the leading car aren’t the only ones who may be hurt. In every accident, the passengers of both cars are in danger of serious injury.

A collision might create a fire or an explosion, resulting in serious, life-threatening burns and scarring. Glass shatters, and metal bends in all but the mildest accidents, leaving sharp edges that may cause serious wounds. These lacerations might result in a large amount of blood loss or long-term muscle and nerve damage.

Accidents involving abrupt accelerations and decelerations may cause the frame of your car, commonly known as the chassis, to bend and collapse, pinning, pinching, or compressing limbs. Passengers in both cars may suffer fractures and fractured bones due to this. The list goes on and on, with the worst-case possibilities resulting in death.

A car accident lawyer can assist wounded people and families who have lost a loved one as a result of a deadly accident. A wrongful death lawsuit may assist them in recovering compensation for their awful losses.

ACCIDENT-RELATED INJURIES

Rear-end crashes are often the start of a tragic chain reaction. Trucks and cars may quickly pile up due to the disturbance in traffic flow, sliding onto walkways, other lanes, or crossings, or being driven into ditches or down embankments.

Consider a typical interstate pile-up: it generally begins with an unforeseen event or road condition that causes traffic to come to a standstill. Drivers repeatedly collide because they were not anticipating an unexpected traffic bottleneck.

Whatever the circumstance, the injuries and deaths caused by so-called “secondary” collisions may be just as devastating as those caused by the first rear-end collision. Anyone injured in a car engaged in an accident, whether in the main or secondary accident, needs the best legal representation possible.

TAKEAWAYS FROM REAR-END COLLISIONS

To summarize everything we’ve learned about rear-end accidents and their consequences, consider the following:

Even at modest speeds, rear-end accidents may result in significant injuries.

Passengers in the leading car are particularly vulnerable to whiplash, back injuries, spinal cord damage, and brain injury due to the powerful and unnatural forces exerted on their bodies when their car accelerates without warning.

Any injury sustained in a car accident should be treated right away. If you do not get checked out, the seriousness of your injuries may go undiscovered for hours or days. Whiplash and other soft tissue injuries may seem minor at first, but they may permanently limit your movement and cause lifetime aches and pains. Attend all follow-up sessions and complete the necessary physical treatment to improve your chances of a full recovery.

Getting in touch with a skilled rear-end collision accident attorney may assist you in recovering physically, emotionally, and financially. No matter how serious your injuries are or how intricate the circumstances of your accident were, you are entitled to full compensation for the entire cost of your injuries. We’re here to assist you. Please contact us right away for a free consultation!

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