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Types of Car Accident Injuries

There are many common types of car accident injuries that can develop, including whiplash, lacerations, broken bones, and traumatic brain injuries. If a negligent driver or another party is liable for a car accident and subsequent injuries, you may be able to recover total compensation in a claim or lawsuit.

Woman holding her neck trying to get out of her car after an accident. Types of car accident injuries

For help with a car accident case, call Shindler & Shindler Injury Attorneys at 847-933-4448 for a free consultation with a Chicago auto accident attorney.

What Are the Most Common Types of Car Accident Injuries?

Auto accidents frequently occur in Illinois and across the U.S. In one recent year, according to statistics from the Illinois Department of Transportation, the state saw 298,347 motor vehicle accidents, with 20% of those resulting in injuries.

The injuries resulting from these types of accidents can range from mild to severe, potentially resulting in life-threatening conditions in many cases.

The following are some of the most common types of car accident injuries that victims experience:

Whiplash

One of the more typical injuries from car accidents is whiplash, which occurs when a vehicle suddenly stops, and the body continues moving forward. In the process, the head rapidly moves forward and backward, which often strains the neck. The momentum of these injuries can also cause damage to the brain, with symptoms similar to a concussion.

Symptoms of whiplash can include pain in the neck or headaches, along with dizziness, and more extensive whiplash injuries could require more involved treatment.

Broken or Fractured Bones

When a person’s body hits the interior of the vehicle or other objects in or out of the vehicle, it’s possible to suffer fractured or broken bones. Depending on the amount of fractures and breaks or the overall severity of the injury, patients may require everything from a cast to extensive periods of rehabilitation and physical therapy to make a full recovery.

Spinal Cord Injuries

If the vertebrae and nerves in the spine sustain injuries in an accident, these injuries could lead to partial or total paralysis, which could either be temporary or permanent, depending on their extent. Spinal injuries could also lead to various symptoms even if paralysis doesn’t develop, such as muscle weakness and tingling sensations or loss of feeling in parts of the body.

Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBIs)

In more severe cases, brain injuries can develop, from concussions to extensive life-altering TBIs. TBIs can permanently impact a person’s life, with signs of TBIs ranging from headaches and confusion to extreme personality and behavioral changes.

Soft Tissue Injuries

Different parts of the body could also sustain various types of soft tissue injuries, which could entail strains and bruising on ligaments, muscles, or tendons. Like other types of car accident injuries, these injuries can be anywhere from mild to severe and require extensive care to make a full recovery.

Internal Injuries

Injuries to the internal organs can also develop in a car accident with impact. Internal organ injuries could result in serious internal bleeding and, in extreme cases, death. Like soft tissue injuries, these injuries may not be readily apparent shortly after an accident, which is why you should see a doctor if you experience early symptoms such as difficulty breathing, pain, or swelling. Seeking immediate treatment in these cases could help prevent internal injuries from developing into life-threatening conditions.

Mental Anguish

In addition to physical injuries, individuals can suffer psychologically following an accident. For example, they can experience physical pain and suffering that leaves them feeling emotionally distressed, and the experience of the accident itself can cause trauma in the form of post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, depression, or other conditions. A catastrophic injury that leads to disfigurement and disability will often lead to psychological trauma.

What Are the Long-Term Impacts of Car Accident Injuries?

There are several long-term effects of car accident injuries. These include:

Temporary or Permanent Disability

Car accident injury victims often experience partial or total disability, which could be either temporary or permanent. Even temporary disabilities could last for months or years following an accident, rendering an individual either entirely unable to work or return to work in the same capacity as before the accident.

Depending on the circumstances, disabled victims may need to receive disability benefits for the rest of their lives to compensate for their inability to work and function normally.

Extensive Costs

Serious physical and psychological injuries can quickly accrue high costs. The costs of immediate and ongoing care can quickly add up, costing an individual up to millions of dollars over his or her lifetime. At the same time, disabled or recovering individuals’ inability to work could result in lost wages and lost earning potential, making them even more incapable of covering medical and therapy costs.

Victims may need to pay for other costs, such as replacements for property damage or changes made to homes or vehicles to maintain mobility while disabled or recovering.

Chronic Pain

Many victims also have to live with chronic pain resulting from their injuries, which can be debilitating with enough consistency and intensity. For example, victims who suffer spinal cord injuries could experience loss of sensation or pain in different areas of the body for years after the initial injury.

Chronic pain could also negatively impact a person’s psychological well-being, resulting in depression, anxiety, and other forms of distress.

Loss of Consortium or Companionship

Another loss that victims may suffer is that of relationships. For example, individuals could experience loss of consortium with their partners due to their inability to maintain intimate romantic relationships. They may also be unable to sustain healthy relationships with their family and friends due to their inability to communicate or other issues stemming from their injuries. Subsequently, this effect could further contribute to psychological injuries to victims and their loved ones.

What Types of Damages Can You Recover?

Following a car accident, under Illinois comparative negligence laws, victims or their loved ones may be able to file a claim or lawsuit against negligent drivers or others who caused the accident.

There are multiple types of damages that victims may recover, such as:

  • Financial Losses: Individuals can recover financial losses resulting from their injuries, i.e., economic damages. For example, victims could recover compensation for medical expenses, lost income, lost earning potential, and replacements or repairs for damaged property.
  • Personal Losses: In addition, victims may recover different types of non-economic damages that relate to the person’s suffering after an accident. Examples of these damages could include psychological distress, trauma, disfigurement, loss of enjoyment of life, and loss of consortium or companionship. They may be harder to calculate than easily defined financial losses, but attorneys could help factor them into a total settlement amount.
  • Punitive Damages: If an accident is serious enough and involves instances of gross negligence or malicious acts, your attorney may help you recover punitive damages in a trial setting. However, only a judge or jury can award these, and they rarely factor into compensation unless the court wants to make an example of a defendant.
  • Wrongful Death Damages: The loss of a loved one could lead an accident victim’s family to seek wrongful death damages, which could include a combination of economic and non-economic damages, including the costs of burying the decedent.

Do Damages Cover Your Future Medical Needs?

Damages in car accident cases cover ongoing medical costs based on what a person will require to make a recovery or receive treatment for a disability. An attorney can work with you to factor in ongoing costs into a settlement and help determine how insurers or other parties should pay out your settlement to help cover these expenses.

The Benefits of Hiring a Car Accident Attorney

Car accident cases involve many elements that can make it difficult to recover full compensation from vehicle insurance companies and other parties. For help with handling a car accident case, consider working with experienced auto accident lawyers who assist accident victims in multiple ways.

For example, an accident attorney can help determine how much your car accident injury is worth based on all the damages resulting from the accident and their impact on your life.

Additionally, an attorney could help you negotiate with insurers during the claims process. Experienced car accident lawyers have experience making counteroffers against insurers’ initial offers, which tend to be lower than what the case is actually worth.

In the process of building your case, your attorney will be able to collect and organize all relevant evidence to support a claim or suit. This evidence could include police and medical reports, footage of accidents and injuries, and much more.

For help from the Chicago accident attorneys at Shindler & Shindler Injury Attorneys, contact us to schedule a free consultation with us today.

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Keith & Robert Shindler

Keith & Robert Shindler are partners at the personal injury law firm of Shindler & Shindler, Attorneys at Law. The brothers focus their practice on protecting the rights of injured victims throughout the Chicagoland area. They take pride in handling every case personally, and delivering top-notch legal services to the people of Illinois.

Years of Experience: More than 65 years of combined experience
Bar & Court Admissions: Active

Bar & Court Admissions: Illinois Wisconsin United State District Court, Northern District Illinois United State District Court, Central District Illinois