Injuries and damages frequently occur in rear-end accidents. Learn about the most common injuries in a high-speed rear-end collision.
It’s more likely for severe injuries or death to occur in a car crash at high speeds. High speed is typically classified as faster than 40 miles per hour. A rear-end collision is one of the most common types of accidents involving high speeds. It happens when the front of one vehicle smashes into the back of another.
Getting hit in a rear-end collision can be a traumatic experience. However, a quality car accident lawyer can help you get the compensation you deserve from the at-fault driver.
Compensation helps accident victims pay to treat their injuries. So, it’s helpful to speak with a car crash attorney in Los Angeles when you or your loved ones sustain injuries. This article looks at common high-speed rear-end collision injuries.
What Injury Can You Sustain in a High-Speed Rear-End Collision?
The following wounds are commonly seen in a high-speed rear-end collision:
Whiplash and Neck Injuries
In a rear-end collision, the impact forces the body forward and backward rapidly. One common effect is a neck strain or tearing of the neck muscles and a whiplash injury.
Whiplash often happens in car accidents. But most people mistake the symptoms, like loss of range of motion in the neck, for head or spine injuries. Receiving treatment immediately after an accident can allow you to treat it quickly, and rule out more severe injuries.
Chronic neck pain can arise from other injuries. Examples are herniated discs and cervical fractures. Any neck pain must be considered severe. Sometimes, though, there are no immediate symptoms of neck injuries. So, getting medical care with or without visible signs is crucial.
Skull or Brain Injury and Head Trauma
Blunt force trauma involving the head can result in skull fractures. In some cases, the accelerating force causes the brain to move inside the skull.
Traumatic brain injury is one example of severe head injury. Victims can experience common symptoms such as seizures, numbness in the limbs, disorientation, and memory loss. A mild concussion comes with severe headaches, nausea, chronic pain, and discomfort.
Facial Scarring and Disfigurement
Sometimes, hitting your head after a collision may not lead to brain injuries. But damages to the face often happen. Bruises, lacerations, and broken facial bones are common injury types that cause significant pain.
Treatment for these injuries can be pretty extensive and expensive. Most likely, though, an injured person ends up with scars or disfigured features. There’s also the psychological effect, and facial injuries negatively impact a victim’s quality of life.
Spine and Back Injuries
The spine consists of bones and rubbery cushions (discs) intersecting one another. A rear-end accident can cause damage to the bones or the discs, including nerve damage.
Disc herniation is a typical rear-end collision injury. Here, a person suffers from slipped discs or discs that fall out of place from the spine.
A spinal fracture is another possible injury. Asides from simple fractures, a compression fracture occurs when some bones collapse in the spinal column. A person can suffer back pain or muscle spasms when moving with severe fractures.
A high-speed collision also impacts the muscles, ligaments, and tendons in a person’s back. Often, the forceful movement tears and twists these soft tissues, causing sprains and strains.
Also, a person can suffer back injuries due to complications from other accident injuries. The most common symptom is severe pain when moving the back muscles. Others are a reduced range of motion, swelling, etc.
Broken and Fractured Bones
A rear-end collision at excessive speeds can eject a person’s body from a vehicle. This often happens when the driver is not using the seat belt correctly. Then, breaking and fracturing of bones can happen easily.
Body parts susceptible include joints, wrist, hand, arms, knees and legs, and ribs. Sometimes, a broken body part may not heal correctly, leading to deformity.
In addition, medical complications, such as internal injuries and infections, accompany bone injuries. Further effects include loss of body functions and diminished quality of life.
Crushed Limbs and Paralysis
A victim’s car can get totaled in a rear-end collision, and occupants may suffer crushed or severed limbs, leading to amputation. A devastating brain injury or spinal damage can lead to complete or partial paralysis for a victim. The severity depends on the affected areas of the spine or damage to specific brain parts.
Seatbelt and Airbag Injuries
Seatbelts and airbags are safety features in a car. But, in an accident, they can also contribute to body injuries.
As mentioned, a high-speed rear-end collision can force you out of your car. However, a seatbelt restrains you with equal force. In the process, your head and spine snap backward more forcefully.
Likewise, an airbag deploys to prevent hitting your head against the steering wheel or dashboard violently. But, it often pops out with force, causing facial injuries, straining neck muscles, and concussions.
Seatbelts and airbags carry a certain amount of risk in a rear-end collision. Yet, their protection against severe injury has a much more significant positive impact. Usually, these injuries happen by not sitting correctly in the car.
Internal Injuries
Car accident injuries often have visible symptoms. Common types include bleeding from open wounds, pain from muscle strains, or deformity from broken bones.
However, rear-end collision victims can experience major damage and severe bleeding in internal organs like the liver, spleen, lungs, and stomach. Sometimes, these wounds, if not detected early, leave victims in critical condition.
Mental and Emotional Effects
The negative impacts of a rear-end collision are not only physical. Body injuries usually take a mental and emotional toll on victims.
An accident victim has to deal with extensive hospital visits, the pressure of medical bills, and missed school or work days. Post-traumatic stress and anxiety may also occur during recovery from accident injuries. All these effects cause significant mental and emotional distress.
What Are the Next Steps After Sustaining Injuries in a Rear-End Collision?
It’s natural to feel disoriented or anxious after an accident. However, you must take the proper steps immediately to restore your well-being.
So, your priority must be getting proper medical treatment. Sometimes, you’ll need specialized or alternative procedures, such as chiropractic care and physical therapy. Plus, medical records serve as proof of car accident injuries.
It’s also essential to inform the police. A police report verifies that the accident took place. Another helpful step is identifying and exchanging contact information with witnesses at the crash site.
Additionally, consulting an auto accident attorney can get you the help you need. Working with a car crash attorney in Los Angeles may also increase your chances of recovering fair compensation for your damages after an accident.
A Car Crash Attorney in Los Angeles Can Help You Seek Compensation After a Rear-End Collision
Again, a high-speed rear-end collision is a common type of crash. Data from the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration reports rear-end collisions in more than 30 percent of two-vehicle accidents and traffic fatalities annually.
Victims suffer severe injuries and serious health complications when these vehicle accidents happen. As such, they’ll usually need quality medical treatment, chiropractic adjustments, or physical therapy to get better.
What does this mean? Unexpected out-of-pocket expenses. But an injury lawyer can help you get compensation as a rear-end collision victim.
Hiring a qualified car crash attorney in Los Angeles also protects you from delay tactics or unfair settlements when dealing with insurance companies. In addition, a lawyer can professionally handle settlement negotiations with insurance adjusters.
Contact a Professional Car Crash Attorney in Los Angeles, California
Treating injuries from a high-speed rear-end car collision is expensive, and healing and recovery can take a prolonged amount of time. Meanwhile, victims still have to deal with the pain and suffering from their wounds.
Thankfully, it’s possible to identify the at-fault party in a rear-end collision. But, establishing proof of fault and receiving fair compensation for injuries is complex. A skilled car crash attorney in Los Angeles at McWorley Law Firm can professionally review your case and commence the compensation process.
Contact a car crash attorney in Los Angeles for a free case review.