Buffalo Personal Injury Lawyer NewsPassengers Injured In Car Accidents
While the safety features on vehicles advance, most manufacturers have focused on protecting drivers while leaving passenger safety systems deficient. Consequently, passengers often suffer the brunt of injuries. Depending on the circumstances that led to the accident, passengers may be able to hold the drivers of the cars they were in, drivers of other vehicles involved, manufacturers of defective vehicles or parts, and government entities responsible for their injuries.
Common Passenger Injuries
During even minor accidents, passengers’ bodies can be subjected to powerful forces, such as unexpected acceleration, abrupt stopping, and extreme rotation. Depending on where a passenger was sitting, the type of accident, and the speed of the vehicles, the severity of their injuries can vary substantially. For example, passengers seated in the front are more likely to hit their heads on dashboards and suffer traumatic brain injuries (TBIs). The risk of backseat passengers suffering whiplash or spinal injuries is significantly higher, especially during rear-end crashes. In the event of a side-impact collision, passengers sitting on the impacted side of the vehicle are particularly vulnerable. Additionally, passengers can suffer a broad spectrum of other injuries and complications, including:
Car accidents are one of the country’s leading causes of neck injuries. Over 800,000 crashes involving neck injuries are reported throughout the United States each year. Despite being a highly vulnerable part of the body, the neck has minimal protection during a car accident. While wearing a seatbelt can help keep your body in place, your neck and head are left unrestrained. In the event of a car crash, a victim’s neck can quickly jolt back and forth, be violently jerked from one side to another, or even be struck by flying debris. Abrupt, sharp movements are known for causing severe injuries to the cervical spine’s tendons, ligaments, nerves, muscles, and joints. 
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), roughly 6 million car crashes happen throughout the United States every year. Car accident victims often wonder whether or not physical therapy is necessary. Depending on the nature of your injuries, doctors may recommend some rehabilitation. People usually do not realize the gravity of their accident-related injuries until after resuming their everyday daily routines. Physical therapy has helped countless accident victims bounce back from their injuries much faster than those who have chosen to stay in bed. 
Unfortunately, even after an accident victim’s initial pain subsides, they could be left with permanent scarring and other disfigurements. Most scarring is caused by damage to the skin, such as scratches, abrasions, and puncture wounds. Depending upon the severity and location of the scar, it can significantly impact a victim’s ability to work and even perform routine tasks. Besides being a constant reminder of the traumatic injury, even the slightest alterations in a victim’s appearance can bring about overwhelming depression and emotional pain. Victims with scars in prominent places, such as the head, face, neck, or hands often struggle with terrible self-esteem and anxiety. 
Most of us know the frustration of maintaining a busy schedule and rushing to avoid being late for several commitments. However, it is crucial to keep in mind that speed limits are set in place to protect everyone on the road. Driving too fast not only endangers the life of you and your loved ones, but all others in the vicinity, including occupants of other vehicles, cyclists, and pedestrians. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), speeding has played a significant factor in roughly 33 percent of all fatal crashes for the past two decades. In 2019 alone, speeding took the lives of 9,478 victims. In some cases, your safety can be impacted by adhering to the speed limit. This occurs when the posted speed limit is too fast for the given road or conditions, such as during inclement weather, driving after dark, or driving on dilapidated roads. 
In the wake of an accident, it can take victims who have suffered from herniated or bulging discs weeks or even months before these injuries become problematic. Consequently, back and spinal cord injuries are regularly overlooked and undiagnosed. Unfortunately, failure to detect bulging discs can result in long-lasting pain and suffering. A herniated or bulging disc occurs when one of the rubbery cushions positioned in-between the bones that make up the spinal cord is shifted out of alignment. While any region of the spine can endure a herniated disc, this type of injury tends to arise in the lower back.
Approximately 40 million accident victims require medical treatment for an assortment of personal injuries each year. With numerous types of accident-related damages, some have the potential to drastically alter victims’ lives forever. Most personal injuries result from accidents involving another’s negligence. Unfortunately, negligence can cause innocent victims to suffer severe injuries, which lead to costly hospital bills, rehabilitation, pain and suffering, and lost wages from missing work. 
Crowded buses can easily weigh over 60,000 pounds, while the average car is barely 3,000 pounds. A size difference that lends to bus crashes being some of the most devastating accidents that take place on our roads. According to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), bus accidents resulted in over 260 fatalities in a single recent year alone. 
Every driver knows that operating a vehicle while impaired or intoxicated is extremely dangerous and illegal. Driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol is one of the biggest traffic safety problems in the country today. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 29 victims throughout the United States die in collisions involving alcohol-impaired drivers every day. That is equivalent to 1 fatality every 50 minutes! In New York State, over 40 percent of all fatal highway accidents involve impaired driving. These facts and statistics do very little to show all of the debilitating injuries, life-long disfigurements, tens of thousands of innocent lives cut short, and families devastated because of motorists who got behind the wheel after consuming alcohol or drugs. 
A head injury that disrupts the regular functioning of the brain is known as a traumatic brain injury (TBI). Head injuries are a significant cause of disability and death. Approximately 2.9 million victims suffer traumatic brain injuries in the United States each year. Even relatively minor brain injuries can have catastrophic effects on a victim. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) most recent available data, there were nearly 61,000 TBI-related fatalities in 2019 alone. That is roughly 166 deaths per day. While anyone can suffer a head injury, figures suggest that children and elderly adults are at the most significant risk.