When you are involved in a car accident, you may be completely unsure of what to do next. The first step in any car accident is to address any injuries and move the vehicles out of harm’s way (if possible). If the accident appears minor, many people choose to exchange insurance and contact information with the other driver without involving the police. It may seem easier and less stressful to avoid police involvement after a car crash. Doing so, however, can be very risky.

You Cannot Be Certain as to the Extent of the Damage to Your Vehicle

How certain are you of your knowledge of motor vehicles? After an accident, a cursory glance at the vehicles involved may lead you to believe that the damage is minimal. However, even minor fender-benders can cause damage which is not immediately apparent. A jolt to your car or truck may have caused the frame to shift, damaged electronic sensors, or caused other internal damage. These issues can significantly increase the cost of repairing the vehicle. Without a formal police report, it may be difficult to prove that these issues were caused by the accident.

You May Be More Injured Than You Realize

Adrenaline is a hormone released into the bloodstream during a stressful or scary event such as a traffic accident. This hormone results in an increased heart rate and dilated pupils, but it also can reduce the pain that an injured person feels. Many people do not realize how injured they actually are until hours or even days after being involved in a crash. If you do not contact the police after an accident, it might be nearly impossible to prove that any injuries you sustained were a result of the accident. A full police report can dramatically strengthen your claim to cover the costs caused by the accident.

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Ever had a vehicle in front of you kick up a rock or other piece of road debris that hits your car or windshield? It happens to most drivers at least once in their lifetime. The resulting damage to your vehicle is generally minor and covered by your auto insurance if you carry comprehensive coverage. But what if you encounter a much more severe road hazard such as cargo spilled by a commercial truck? If the cargo in a semi-trailer or dump truck is improperly loaded and secured, the load can shift in transit, causing the driver to lose control, tip over, and spill their entire load onto the roadway. If you or a loved one suffers severe injury as a result of a semi-truck accident like this, you may have a cause of action against the truck operator. 

Cargo spills sometimes result from a semi-truck collision with another vehicle. In this situation, other vehicles typically slow to avoid the accident and thereby avoid hitting the spilled goods. However, some cargo spills have tragic consequences.

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Every car accident is different, but as experienced car accident attorneys, we see that our clients often suffer from the same types of injuries. A skilled car accident attorney should be able to assess your injuries and talk to you about the value of your case.

Common Car Accident Injuries

Car accident victims have been known to experience:

• Soft Tissue Injuries. This injury is caused by stretched or torn ligaments, tendons or muscles.
• Broken Bones. This injury can leave a victim with months of healing and rehabilitation work to do.
• Neck and Back Injuries. This type of injury includes conditions such as herniated discs, strains, sprains, and whiplash.
• Head and Brain Injuries. This category of injury includes everything from mild concussions to traumatic brain injuries. It also encompasses lacerations, skull fractures, and internal bleeding.
• Spinal Cord Injuries. These are typically very serious injuries that can result in lower-body or neck-down paralysis and loss of sensation. The severity of the injury depends on where on the spine the injury was inflicted and whether the spinal cord was totally or partially severed.

Severity of Injuries

According to the Center for Disease Control, for every person killed in a motor vehicle accident, eight people are hospitalized and 100 people are treated and released from the emergency room. The CDC also reports that Americans spend one million days in the hospital annual from collisions. These injuries are costly to treat. The CDC states that car accident injuries in 2012 required $18 billion in lifetime medical costs. Over 75 percent of these costs were incurred in the 18 months following the injury. When you are speaking to the insurance company and to your attorney, it is important to keep in mind that any settlement will have to cover all future medical costs. If you settle your claim too quickly, you may not fully comprehend that scale of your injuries and what lifetime treatment costs will be.

Contact a Lake County Auto Collision Lawyer

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"Do as I say, not as I do,” are the results of a new study that examined driver attitudes and rates of risky driving. According to the AAA Foundation’s ninth annual Traffic Safety Culture Index, motor vehicle drivers disapprove of driving behavior such as texting while driving and driving under the influence, yet many drivers admit to the same dangerous habits. These are the dangerous habits that cause motor vehicle accidents and put more cautious drivers at risk of property damage, bodily injury and even death.

Study Reveals Driver Hypocrisy

The study asked drivers about their attitudes and driving patterns in relation to several important safety issues. The study reports that:

• About 70 percent of drivers believe it is completely unacceptable to not wear a seatbelt while driving. However, 16.7 percent of drivers admit to driving without a safety belt in the past month.
• Most drivers say they find texting and emailing while behind the wheel unacceptable, yet almost one in three admit to typing while driving in the past month. Two in five admit to reading a text or email in the same time period.
• Nearly all drivers (96.7 percent) disapprove of drinking and driving. However, one in eight drivers admits to driving at least once in the past year when their BAC was approaching or maybe above the legal limit.
• The vast majority of drivers (95.6 percent) believe that drowsy driving is a serious threat. About three in ten drivers, however, report to have driven when they find it difficult to keep their eyes open due to sleepiness within the past month.

Dangerous Driving Affects Many People

According to the report, nearly one in five drivers has been involved in a car accident that required someone to be treated at the hospital. One in nine drivers reports that they have been seriously injured in a car accident. In addition, about one in three drivers say that a friend or family member has been seriously injured or killed in a car accident.

Contact a Lake County Car Accident Lawyer

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Earlier this year, an investigation by the Chicago-Sun Times found that in the past two years, Chicago Transit Authority buses were involved in more than 500 accidents. More than 1,000 people were injured and five people were killed as a result of the crashes.

The accidents are expensive as well — costing taxpayers a whopping $16 million in the form of lawsuit settlements and legal fees. During 2015 and 2016, there were 380 lawsuits filed against the CTA.

Recently, the CTA admitted fault for a 2015 crash in which a CTA bus ran a red light and hit a pedestrian. The pedestrian died in the accident. Because the CTA admitted fault, the agency will likely have to pay a settlement in the wrongful death case.

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