Even while wrong-way crashes are not frequently encountered, they are among the most dangerous. They can happen when a car travels the incorrect way on a highway’s exit or entrance ramp, crosses the median, or travels the incorrect way on a one-way street. In most of these crashes, someone is killed or badly hurt. The careless driver or another party may be required to pay the injured victims compensation in Connecticut.
In this guide, we’ll look at the most common injuries one can experience in a wrong way collision. If you’ve been injured in a wrong way accident, we strongly suggest seeking out the assistance of car accident lawyers for your case.
The Most Common Serious Injuries in Wrong Way Collisions
Minor injuries from vehicle accidents frequently go away on their own in a few days. More severe injuries might leave you physically disabled for the rest of your life. Several variables, such as whether the victim was restrained by a seatbelt, the location of the impact, etc., affect the severity of the injuries sustained by drivers and passengers.
The following are the most common serious injuries experienced by victims of wrong way collisions.
Severe Scrapes and Cuts
Any unsecured items inside a car during an accident become projectiles that fly about the vehicle’s interior. Cell phones, coffee cups, eyeglasses, handbags, novels, and dash-mounted GPS units are examples of items that fall under this category. Any of these objects have the potential to harm your flesh or injure you if they impact your body.
Most cuts and scrapes are really small and don’t need to be treated by a doctor. Stitches may be necessary for more severe injuries. During an accident, airbags can also result in wounds and scratches.
Chest Injuries
The majority of automobile accidents also result in chest injuries. Painful bruising, fractured ribs, and internal wounds are all types of chest injuries. When drivers have contact with the steering wheel, they frequently get chest injuries. Injuries to the chest can also result from dashboards and seatbelts.
Limb Injuries
Arms and legs are similarly affected by the same forces that abruptly displace a person’s head during automobile crashes. Your arms and legs can be thrown into the door if your automobile is hit from the side. Passengers’ knees frequently strike the dashboard or the seats in front of them during auto crashes. In a vehicle accident, your arms and legs may get bruises, scrapes, sprains, or even fractures, depending on the severity of the crash.
Skin and Muscle Damage
Damage to the connective tissue of the body results in a soft tissue injury (muscles, ligaments, and tendons). This is the kind of injury that arises from an automobile collision the most frequently. Numerous different types of soft tissue injuries exist.
Soft tissue injuries include neck and upper back injuries of the whiplash variety. When the head and neck suddenly move back and forth during a collision, muscles and ligaments are strained, which can result in a whiplash injury. Other areas of the body, including the back and abdominal area, can sustain soft tissue injuries from the same stresses. A collision could put sudden pressure on the spine, resulting in muscle strains in the mid-back and lower back that can be permanent.
Head Trauma
Injuries to the head can range in severity from mild to severe. The rapid and unnatural movements of the heads of drivers and passengers might result from an unexpected halt or direction shift in an automobile. The neck and back muscles may get strained or sprained as a result of these motions. But damage to the head itself is also possible. When someone’s head strikes a side window or the steering wheel, they may get cuts or bruises. A severe head impact might result in a closed head injury that tears blood vessels and bruises the brain tissue. Concussions are the most common side effect of closed head trauma, but more severe blows might result in permanent brain damage.
Who is Liable in a Wrong Way Car Accident?
The person driving the vehicle that is traveling the incorrect direction on the highway is often to blame. Others, though, can also share some or all of the guilt.
The driver who was on the wrong side of the street could be liable. It is possible to hold the other driver accountable for their carelessness if they were operating their vehicle negligently and caused your collision. You could even be able to get punitive damages, which are supposed to penalize extremely egregious behavior if they were inebriated or driving while inattentive.
An agency of the government might potentially be at fault. The government that was in charge of the signage may be at fault if that signage was unclear, done incorrectly, or not at all. You should speak with a lawyer straight soon since there are unique regulations for suing the government.
Sometimes construction firms are to blame. The construction business may be responsible if your accident happened in a construction zone or work zone. Work zone signage may be unclear and cause accidents.
It’s crucial to ascertain the precise details of your collision and to list all parties who might be held accountable. You risk losing your chance to receive the full amount of compensation you are due if you don’t identify anyone in a case.
How Can Wrong Way Accidents Be Avoided?
In addition to raising driver awareness, transportation authorities may drastically lower wrong way driving accidents by taking preventative driving measures. Adding wrong way signs and flashing lights in high-risk locations can assist deter vehicles from traveling the wrong way on a road or highway in addition to maintaining road signs. To aid them in identifying drivers going the wrong way, many states are also putting in place additional measures.
For instance, a number of state government agencies are developing new countermeasures to enable them to detect wrong way driving events, warn wrong way drivers, and notify authorities of these incidents in an effort to decrease the number of wrong way drivers on the roads. To identify cars going the wrong way, radar and video cameras are being tried, and LED signs are being utilized to alert drivers when they are going the wrong way.
Why are Wrong Way Collisions So Deadly or Cause Serious Injuries?
These encounters frequently end in head-on collisions, which may be some of the most devastating vehicle accidents in the country, which is why there are so many injuries. In a head-on collision between two automobiles, airbags nearly invariably deploy. Even though airbags can protect you in major collisions, their rapid inflation might result in significant harm.
In addition, there is a jolt of energy that is transmitted to the passengers when two automobiles collide. Your body feels compelled to halt abruptly, occasionally fast going in the other way. Soft tissue injury from this back-and-forth motion, which frequently causes injuries like whiplash, is possible.
What are Common Causes of Wrong Way Collisions?
Most wrong-way collisions are the result of driver mistakes. Because the cars are frequently moving more quickly during these collisions, neither the careless driver nor the victims have time to respond. The probability that victims may have life-altering injuries including brain damage, paralysis, broken bones, deformity, or death is increased since the cars frequently hit head-on. Drunk driving or drug-induced drunkenness, sleepy driving, distracted driving, and confusion brought on by unfamiliarity with the area’s roadways are some of the common causes of wrong-way driving.
It’s important to remember that not all wrong-way collisions are caused by motorists. In certain situations, a cautious driver who is completely sober may drive the incorrect way on a highway exit or entry ramp due to a faulty road. Unsafe ramp design, inadequate signage, missing signs, and poorly designated ramps are a few of the issues that cause wrong way accidents. The case may be challenging if a municipality or other government body was negligent in a collision caused by a traffic defect.
Car Accident Lawyers That Can Help
The team of automobile accident attorneys at Jonathan Perkins Injury Lawyers is honored to work with damaged clients every day. These accident victims pay us to represent them in court. We then gather proof to back up claims of culpability. We safeguard you against intimidation.
Above all else, we fight for the monetary settlement you require following a vehicle accident. But how does the legal procedure get started following an automobile accident? You can get assistance from our experts while you evaluate the situation and formulate your initial complaint. Speak to one of our attorneys today at (203) 275-0946.
How was our writeup on the potential injuries one can experience in a wrong way collision?? Don’t forget to give the car accident lawyers at Jonathan Perkins Injury Lawyers a call as soon as possible if you’ve been injured in a wrong way accident.