Automobiles are heavy, independently-steered metal boxes that operate in large numbers at high speeds on intersecting, curvy, often bumpy roads. Cars, in other words, crash.
And, unfortunately, they often crash because people don't uphold their duties as drivers. From failing to keep a close lookout to speeding to driving while chemically impaired or talking on the cell phone, human negligence is often a factor in automobile accidents.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 37,261 people died in automotive collisions in the United States in 2008.
Roughly an equal number suffered injuries that were medically rated as critical or severe. In the Maximum Abbreviated Injury Scale (MAIS), a standard international system for ranking and tracking traumatic injuries, to be classified “severe” or “critical,” a non-fatal collision must involve something like a severed spinal cord or a head injury with an extended period of unconsciousness and lasting brain damage. In the words of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, “For MAIS 4-5 [i.e. “severe” and “critical” injuries], the predominant [monetary] costs [of the crash] are related to lifetime medical care.”
As the authors of one study explain, “Persons injured in these crashes often suffer physical pain and emotional anguish that is beyond any economic recompense. The permanent disability of spinal cord damage, loss of mobility, loss of eyesight, and serious brain injury can profoundly limit a person’s life, and can result in dependence on others for routine physical care.”
And, of course, the number of smaller but often quite serious and disabling injuries is always many times the number of fatal and severe cases.
We are deeply experienced at trying and settling car crash injury cases at all these levels of severity.