When we talk of motor vehicle injuries, it’s often in terms of the physical effects of accidents – the broken bones, the traumatic brain injuries, and the sprains and strains – which can often have devastating long-term effects. We also tend to assume that the severity of the injury is in direct relation to the severity of the accident, and that only severe injuries produce long-term effects.
The truth is that the lasting impact of motor vehicle accidents goes far beyond the physical, and neither the severity of the accident or nor the severity injury is a clear predictor or indicator of the long-term effects.
Not All Accidents Are Predictable
Generally, you could assume that an accident where the vehicles sustain catastrophic damage would result in catastrophic injury. In many cases this could be true, but there are also cases where vehicles are almost completely destroyed and the occupants walk away with little more than scratches. Conversely, there are cases where what appears to be a minor fender bender results in fatalities.
The reality is that damage to the vehicle is not always a predictor or indicator of damage to the occupants of that vehicle.
Thanks to current vehicle safety measures, modern automobiles are designed to crumple on impact, which often results in higher rates of damage to the vehicles. However, while these accidents often look bad, the crumpling actually redistributes the force of the impact away from the occupants, which reduces the risk of injury. These same vehicles also have more safety features, such as multiple airbags, that can actually provide more protection than the car’s frame alone.
On the other hand, older vehicles are often made of harder materials that don’t redistribute the force of impact, and they could also lack many of the safety features that prevent people from sustaining serious damage in a collision. As a result, a large, older vehicle could sustain very little external damage but the driver and passengers could sustain serious injuries.
Not All Injuries are Immediately Recognizable
The truth of the matter is that, unless you are visibly bleeding, unconscious, or something is broken, you could be injured in an accident and not realize it right away.
Some of this might be due to the adrenaline rush that many people feel immediately after an accident. Adrenaline is the fight-or-flight hormone that is released during a time of extreme stress, such as a car accident. Its sole purpose is to enable you to run away from, or fight through, danger even if it tests the limits of your body’s endurance. It’s not until after the adrenaline wears off that you begin to feel pain from your injuries, and that could take hours and even days.
To make matters worse, you could spend a great deal of time after the accident moving around and doing things that are actually aggravating an injury that you didn’t know you had. By the time you do feel it, the damage could be much worse than what occurred with the initial injury.
Not All Injuries are Physical
WebMD reports that many of the lasting effects of car accidents aren’t physical at all. In fact, studies of car accident survivors shows that passengers are more likely to have lasting psychological effects from car accidents, regardless of the severity of their injuries. These lasting psychological effects could include post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), phobias, and anxiety and depression.
Additionally, people can experience these effects for years after the accident and not even realize that the accident it the cause.
The Issue with Long-Term Effects
The biggest issue with the long-term effects of car accidents is that it can be very hard to prove that the accident was the source of the lasting-effects, especially if those effects are psychological. They often occur after the fact, and it’s easy for people to dismiss the symptoms as being the result of other things. It’s not unusual for insurance companies to deny injury claims based on the fact that the person making the claim can’t prove the accident was the culprit. It’s also not unusual for a driver, found at fault for the accident, to deny that he is responsible for someone else’s injury – especially if the injured party does not appear to be injured at the time of the accident.
As a result, you might have to retain the services of a accident lawyer to get the compensation that you deserve. This is why it’s important to have medical attention as soon as possible after an accident. If medical assistance is not available at the site, you should go to an urgent care or hospital emergency room as soon as possible.
You should also make sure that you have called the police and reported the accident. It can be tempting to just exchange information and be on your way, especially if it’s a minor fender bender, but doing so could come back and haunt you if it turns out that you actually are injured.
If you are injured, it’s not a bad idea to consult a car accident lawyer anyway. Even if it turns out that you don’t need his services, it’s a good idea to find out what you can expect from the insurance companies, and whether or not you have a case against the other driver.
Getting medical attention, calling the police, and talking to a lawyer can help you establish a paper trail documenting your injuries, which can ultimately help you if you do end up going to court.
