Types of Car Accident Injuries

Car accidents are one of the more common ways that people get seriously injured. They are so common that there is a specific type of insurance that covers only these types of accidents. 

While most people who are involved in a collision won’t be seriously injured, a small subset will. The following are some of the more common types of car accident injuries.

Broken or Cracked Ribs

If you are in a head-on crash, your seat belt and airbag are designed to protect you from serious injury. While they do an excellent job of that, sometimes the airbag or the seat belt can also cause injuries.

The most common injury caused by these safety devices is broken ribs. This injury usually takes a long time to heal and seriously hinders everyday activities, but otherwise isn’t particularly dangerous.

Traumatic Brain Injuries

Some people think that since safety devices can cause injuries, they shouldn’t use them. That is a terrible mistake. If you aren’t wearing a seat belt and disable your airbag, you are likely to be thrown out of the car during a head-on collision, potentially resulting in a traumatic brain injury. It is possible to suffer this type of injury even when protected, but it’s less likely.

Traumatic brain injuries are frightening, usually not for their immediate impact but for their long-term effects. Often, people who suffer these injuries face cognitive issues that worsen as they get older. They may experience difficulty speaking, memory loss, or balance issues. In the worst-case scenarios, they may become permanently disabled.

Lacerations

Modern cars are built to strategically crumple when involved in a serious car accident. This means that parts of the frame give way while maintaining a safe space around the driver and passengers.

While this is an effective way to prevent some of the most severe injuries, it also creates a lot of sharp edges and shattered glass. Thus, it is relatively common for passengers in an automobile accident to suffer lacerations. Sometimes, those lacerations don’t happen during the crash but rather after the accident when the victim is trying to extract themself from the vehicle.

Whiplash

This type of injury is almost exclusively associated with car accidents. It most often occurs during rear-end accidents. Whiplash is a soft tissue injury to the neck and spine that results from the sudden whip-like motion that a person experiences when the vehicle they are in stops without warning.

This is a challenging injury to identify because it often doesn’t show up immediately. You could walk away from a moderately serious accident thinking that you are perfectly fine and not experience any difficulties for a few days. Even when the pain does start, it is usually mild at first, growing with time.

Like traumatic brain injuries, whiplash is an injury that usually has significant long-term consequences, especially if not immediately treated.

Death

The worst injury you can suffer in a car accident is death. This usually only happens in the most serious collisions involving vehicles at high speeds or vehicles of disparate sizes. But it can also be caused by seemingly minor injuries if they aren’t properly treated. For example, what looks like a bruise could be internal bleeding. If not treated promptly, internal bleeding will result in the death of the victim.

Get Medically Evaluated After Any Car Accident

Even if you don’t think you were hurt in a car accident, you shouldn’t take a chance with your life. By getting a medical evaluation, you might discover that a minor injury was a lot more serious than you thought.

Contact Our Car Accident Law Firm in Northwest Florida

If you need legal assistance, contact the Fort Walton Beach car accident lawyers at Brannon & Brannon Personal Injury Attorneys at your nearest location to schedule a free consultation today.

We have two convenient locations in Northwest Florida:

Brannon & Brannon Personal Injury Attorneys – Fort Walton Beach Office
975 Mar Walt Dr
Fort Walton Beach, FL 32547
(850) 863-5297

Brannon & Brannon Personal Injury Attorneys – Destin Office
4507 Furling Ln Suite 214
Destin, FL 32541
(850) 790-0243