With so many drivers on the road there is little wonder as to the number of car accidents that occur on a daily basis. According to reports from Florida’s Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles department, more than 235,000 accidents were totaled in the state’s most recent annual inventory that was conducted. And with that many crashes, the number and types of injuries resulting are likely to reflect the same magnitude.
While the reason for auto collisions may be accounted for by numbers and statistics, the types of injuries that are caused in any car accident are less easy to fathom and more difficult to endure for victims. Among the most common injuries incurred during any type of automobile collision in the state include whiplash, back injuries, head injuries, broken bones & fractures, burns, and overall bodily disfigurement. That is not to say that other impairments, both physical and mental, cannot result from a car accident of minor or catastrophic proportions; rather, as the most typical of car accident injuries, the above mentioned maladies are almost to be expected after an auto collision.
Injury to the neck caused by excessive acceleration or deceleration is known as whiplash. Any distortion to the neck, as associated with extension of the muscle in some way, is considered to be symptomatic of a whiplash injury. When a vehicle is rear-ended it often causes the neck to extend in an abnormal way, causing a whiplash injury to the victims of the vehicle accident. As such, it has become one of the most covered injuries by car insurance companies.
Vehicle accidents can also cause serious damage to the back, including injury to the spinal cord. When trauma is inflicted onto the soft tissue, bone, or muscle of the back it will almost always result in physical harm. For this reason, car accidents that come on suddenly generally tend to enforce a large amount of weight and trauma onto the passengers of the vehicle, subsequently causing herniated disks, sprains, and even fractured vertebrae.
Head injuries are particularly dangerous because they have the potential to affect brain functioning as well. When an accelerated vehicle must come to a screeching halt during an accident there is a great chance that the sudden and forceful stop could cause an individual’s brain to slam up against their head, causing severe damage. Unfortunately, this type of physical damage is all too common among car accident victims, especially for those involved in serious auto accidents. Head injuries can be as minor as a small cut or bruise on a person’s exterior, and as major as a concussion that leads to coma or death.
Yet another common injury obtained in car accidents is that of fractured or broken bones. When passengers are slammed into the dashboard of a car or are jerked around during an accident, there is a high chance that the flailing of arms, legs, and neck could result in a broken bone or fracture. It is fairly easy to see how a break in the continuity of a bone could occur when the fragile and compact bones are thrown around carelessly during an auto accident.
Burns can also result from serious car collisions. In fact, the more severe the crash the greater the chances that burns may occur. This is because accidents damaging enough to engulf a vehicle in flames will also engulf the passengers of those vehicles. The victims that are lucky enough to escape this kind of accident will likely suffer from severe burns that could greatly distort their outer appearance. Furthermore, burn victims of a car accident could also suffer from damage to their lungs from smoke inhalation, as well as other fire injury symptoms.
It is fairly safe to assume that any car accident will result in some type of injury to its victims. However, it is difficult to estimate just how severe each case will be. In the worst cases, wrongful death or overall disfigurement could result. No one should be made to suffer unnecessarily from the injuries incurred in an automobile accident. This is particularly true when the accident was wrongfully caused by the negligent or reckless behaviors of another driver on the road. While there is no way to completely avoid auto accidents and injuries, there are ample ways to protect yourself against them.
Perhaps the best thing you can do to ensure your protection is to keep yourself informed about every type of accident and injury that you may be susceptible to while driving on the state’s roads and highways. Knowing what to expect in any accident and knowing the types of injuries that could result might very well help you better attend to the matters at hand. In addition, aligning yourself with a personal injury attorney will likely increase your chances of obtaining financial compensation and medical benefits that will help you recover from any type of car accident injury from which you may suffer.
