Car accidents are a thankfully rare occurrence for the individual, with most (un)lucky to experience even one. However, with an average of five deaths per day caused by road traffic accidents over the last 10 years, it is still important to retain awareness of the possibility, the kinds of injuries you could suffer and the steps available to you in the wake of such an accident.
The Five Most Common Car Injuries
Scrapes and Cuts
The majority of car accidents are mere fender-benders, occurring on roads with a 30mph speed limit or lower. Nonetheless, these accidents can create fast-moving hazards in your car, from shattered glass to flying footwell debris. It’s easy for these objects, shards, and shrapnel to cause scratches, as well as the scrapes you can expect from your interior door panels.
Concussion
If your car is bashed from the front at a low speed, your airbag might not deploy and your head runs the risk of hitting the steering wheel. Indeed, in higher-speed accidents, the airbag itself, with its quick pressurized deployment, can cause head injuries. These injuries are most likely to take the form of a concussion, wherein you may feel forgetful and sluggish.
Neck and Back Injuries
Car crashes throw your body around the cockpit of your vehicle, despite the constraints of your seatbelt. The contortions of your body increase the risk of causing serious injury to the spine – be it a slipped disc, a damaged nerve, or even a fracture. These injuries, like head injuries, are to be taken very seriously, as they could lead to long-term conditions.
Whiplash
A little less harmful than neck injury, whiplash occurs when you stretch the muscles and ligaments in your neck, most often a result of your head being snapped backward in a rear-end car collision. Though not life-threatening, the pain and stiffness resulting from whiplash can take weeks to dissipate.
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
The mental injuries incurred from a car accident are all-too-often ignored. The shock of the incident, coupled with high adrenaline and the potential for witnessing some nasty injuries, can cause serious mental anguish in some, which manifests after the fact as a disorder comprising heightened anxiety, panic attacks, phobias, and withdrawal from social interaction.
What To Do In The Event Of Injury In A Car Accident
The most important thing to do in the wake of a car accident is to seek medical advice. Even if you’ve been looked over by a paramedic, or even had a visit to the hospital immediately after your accident, book an appointment with your GP and be sure to get a look-over. You wouldn’t want to miss anything that could cause you further discomfort in the future.
Your next step might be to seek legal advice with regard to making a personal injury claim. If the accident was not your fault, and you’ve suffered losses personally and professionally as a result of the accident and your subsequent injuries, you could be entitled to compensation – to cover the costs of your vehicle’s repair, loss of earnings while you recovered and the mental anguish suffered as a result.
Featured image: Freepik (macrovector).
