Maryland Car Accident Attorney Blog
Few would argue that most any car, truck or motorcycle accident has the potential for serious personal injury or even death. Certainly, even the most minor of automobile wrecks has the capability of causing a fair amount of bodily injury, if the circumstances are right. In fact, there should be no surprise to know that seatbelt usage and well-designed airbag systems can be life savers in low to medium speed accidents.
Striking one’s head on a hard automotive interior surface during a medium- to high-speed road accident can result in not only deep cuts and blood loss, but may also cause traumatic brain injury that can potentially lead to temporary or permanent disability. Emergency responders arriving at the scene of a mild to severe auto, bike or commercial trucking crash will usually recommend that victims be treated by a doctor to rule out any serious complications from a bump to the head.
Traumatic brain injury, also referred to as closed-head trauma, can result in a number of problems, some immediate and others that may develop over time. Along with head and neck injuries, damage to a person’s spinal cord can also have deleterious effects on one’s current and future health, not to mention the ability to hold a job and make a living for one’s family.
Of course, when considering any possible traffic wreck, preventing injury would be the first line of defense, which includes avoiding accidents altogether, or at the very least lessening the effects of a crash.
As Maryland personal injury lawyers and D.C. auto accident attorneys, we know that some accidents and their inevitable injuries are either unavoidable or impossible to predict. One of the more dangerous crash scenarios involves a vehicle rollover resulting from a highway collision or high-speed maneuver. Whatever the cause, the resulting crash can be violent and potentially fatal to the occupants of the vehicle.
It is well known that both a vehicle’s driver and passengers have a greater likelihood of dying or being critically injured during a rollover, which can result in one or more of the occupants being ejected from the car, truck or SUV as the motor vehicle rolls over and over. Again, some of the more severe injuries due to such an event may include spinal injuries, closed-head trauma, paralysis, broken bones and internal bleeding.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), a person who is thrown from a vehicle, or even partially ejected, is three times more likely to be killed as a result than those occupants who remain within the relative safety of the passenger compartment.
For some victims of traffic accidents, the possibility of being ejected from a vehicle that has begun to roll can be increased as a result of certain design or manufacturing defects of the car or truck that involved in the crash. Regardless of the reasons, it’s always a good idea to wear a seatbelt when riding in any vehicle. Based on NHTSA research, safety belts are the primary means to avoid being thrown from a vehicle that is involved in an accident, including rollover type crashes.
And while defective seatbelts have been known to fail during a collision, there is no good reason not to wear them in the first place. Just hoping that all the other safety components in a vehicle will function flawlessly is not a good strategy, as it is the combination of these measures that help occupants to survive a serious car or truck wreck.