Any time you are involved in a motor vehicle accident, your first priority should be getting to safety. Get out of the vehicle and find a safe spot on the side of the road that is far away from the flow of traffic. If you cannot leave the car, call 911 and let them know that you are trapped. They will send the proper equipment and responders right away.

Next, you need to take care of your medical needs. Let the emergency medical personnel on the scene evaluate your injuries and follow any of their recommendations. If you choose not to leave the scene in an ambulance, you should still visit an emergency department or an urgent care facility right away.

Even if you think you are not injured at all, it is always important to follow up with your primary care doctor as soon as possible. Some injuries may not start to show symptoms for days or weeks after an accident occurs. Only a qualified medical provider can determine the extent of your injuries. Whether you think you are injured or not, this documentation will be critical evidence in your personal injury claim.

Once you have addressed your medical needs, it is time to address your legal needs. Find an experienced personal injury attorney as soon as possible. Do not make any statements about the accident to the insurance company until you have retained a lawyer. Once the insurance company is notified of your attorney’s contact information, they can no longer contact you regarding the accident, which will protect you from inadvertently saying something that could be detrimental to your personal injury claim.

If your attorney files a lawsuit on your behalf, there is a chance that you might have to come to court. Before trial, there are status conferences to handle scheduling and other administrative matters. You usually will not have to speak at these conferences. If the attorneys disagree on the evidence that can be used at trial, the court might hold a hearing to determine whether the evidence can be admitted.

While this may sound overwhelming, it is essential to understand that very few personal injury cases ever go to trial. The vast majority of car accident cases in the United States settle outside of court. This fact makes it unlikely that you will have to go to court, but if you do, your attorney will thoroughly prepare you for what to expect and what will happen. 

The law enforcement officers who respond to the scene have the responsibility to file a police report about the incident. This report is a critical piece of evidence. You usually can not get a police report unless the officers respond to the scene. The officers will take your statement about what happened. (While you should not discuss the accident with the other driver or bystanders on the scene, you should give your statement to the officers to be used in their official police report.) 

If you have an auto accident attorney, you will not have to worry about filing a claim. Your attorney will handle the paperwork for you. He or she will also prevent you from saying something to the insurance company that could hurt your claim. If you choose to handle your case without an attorney, you will have to call the insurance company to file your claim. 

The insurance company will rarely make a fair settlement offer on the first try. Instead, they will try to lowball you with an offer that does not fully compensate you for your pain and suffering. These methods are why it is crucial to be represented by an experienced car accident lawyer. A lawyer knows how to respond to lowball offers and then prove what the claim is truly worth. 

If a fair settlement offer cannot be reached in negotiations, your lawyer might want to file a lawsuit on your behalf. In many cases, the mere fact that a lawsuit was filed is enough incentive to get the insurance company to raise its settlement offer. If not, the parties will engage in the discovery process, which involves investigating the case to find evidence that is then exchanged. Evidence found in discovery can also affect the insurance company’s settlement offer. 

Unlike criminal defense or divorce lawyers, who charge an hourly rate, most personal injury lawyers work on contingency. Working on contingency means that they will be paid an agreed-upon percentage of any eventual settlement. If you don’t get paid, the attorney doesn’t get paid. If the attorney must file a lawsuit on your behalf, the work required on your case goes up dramatically. This fact is why most personal injury lawyers often take a higher percentage if a lawsuit is filed on your behalf. There will also be court costs and litigation expenses, so it is important to be clear on who will pay those fees if the case goes to trial. 

The key thing to understand is that you can hire a personal injury lawyer with no upfront fees. Some injury victims do not get representation because they are worried about the cost. Not hiring a lawyer can lead to you hurting your claim. You might say something to the insurance company that leads them to believe you were at fault for the accident. 

Surprisingly, the empty roads are riskier than before the pandemic caused by COVID-19. A news release by NSC shows that despite the decrease in driving and mileage of drivers, there has been an increase seen in a few places. The early data is indicating a 14 percent jump in year-over-year fatality rates per miles that were driven in March, despite an 8 percent drop in the total number of car accident deaths in March of the previous year. 

Generally, big cars are considered safer than small cars. There are several important reasons for this. First, in a larger car versus light car crash, physics favors the more massive vehicle. Momentum is a product of mass and velocity.

Of course, large car versus small car safety is a far more complicated issue than which vehicle has more momentum in a collision. A vehicle's safety also considers its ability to withstand a crash, or even help the driver avoid an accident altogether. The driver's experience and comfort with the vehicle's features are also critical components of the safety equation.

When it comes to car accidents in California, it's almost always a good idea to get a personal injury attorney. It is commonly thought that a lawyer is not needed if the accident is minor and does not cause injury. But even a fender bender that seems insignificant can turn into a major headache without a car accident lawyer.

It is estimated that speeding alone led to over 10 thousand fatalities in the United States in 2016. In 2019, 2 million Americans suffered permanent injuries from a car accident. A California personal injury attorney can help you navigate the legal mess that can be an unavoidable outcome of an accident.

Under California law, a car accident case involving speeding would be an easy case to show where negligence is indicated. California is an at-fault state, meaning whoever is at fault in a car accident bears most of the burden of responsibility, if not all of it. If you don't know this, you may try to negotiate your insurance claims. Doing this can quickly become a nightmare. 

After an accident, you'll have to deal with the police, your insurance company, maybe someone else's insurance company, and the medical field.  Sound daunting? It is! Dealing with these problems is what an experienced accident attorney can do for you.  Contact a California personal injury attorney as soon as you can after a car accident.

You could undoubtedly hire an attorney, but not just any attorney will give you the results that you deserve. It's crucial to the success of your claim to hire someone with experience and knowledge. It should not be difficult to talk to them about the specifics of your case. Look for these requirements when hiring a California car accident lawyer near you:

• Most or nearly all of the clients they represent are personal injury clients, especially car accident clients
• They have a minimum of 10 years' experience in personal injury law
• They offer free consultations at their office or a location that is convenient for you
• They listen to you, recall the details you give them, and pay attention to you when you talk
• They understand the type of injuries you sustained
• They take your case seriously and care about your pain, it is not just about the money for them

In California, the law allows for what is referred to as the medical emergency defense, also known as the sudden emergency defense. This law is only applicable if the individual has an unforeseen and legitimate medical condition, and all of the following terms have been met:

• The driver was not the cause of the emergency.
• Someone was put in danger of injury due to a crisis that occurred.
• The driver acted reasonably.

This means that for the medical emergency defense to be used after an accident, it would need to be proven that the accident was the cause of a sudden health crisis that arose. The driver at fault aced reasonably as anyone else would have done. The driver at fault would have to provide detailed medical evidence that supports their unforeseen medical emergency occurred. Not all states have the same requirements for this law, but a driver that has suffered from a sudden medical emergency will often be burdened by showing proof that the conditions above were met.

Unborn babies are protected by the uterus, amniotic fluid, placenta, and other structures of the mother’s abdominal cavity. These structures are designed to protect the child from minor trauma. In the case of minor car accidents, the unborn child is often protected by the mother entirely and suffers no injuries as a result of the collision. Unfortunately, this is not always the case. In serious car accidents, the mother is subjected to very powerful forces, and the baby cannot always withstand the trauma to which he or she is subjected. Some mothers suffer tragic miscarriages as a result of car accidents.

In this case, the mother has a legal claim for her losses. In these kinds of cases, pain and suffering is a critical component of personal injury compensation. It takes a skilled auto accident lawyer to fight for – and prove – the value of a mother’s suffering after a miscarriage. Insurance claims adjusters are trained to make simple calculations regarding intangible and non-economic losses. When the pain is as personal as a miscarriage, this is simply not good enough, and you need a lawyer who can fight for just compensation for a car accident while pregnant.

The NHTSA advises that car seats be replaced following a moderate or severe crash to assure a continued high level of crash protection for child passengers. Car seats do not automatically need to be replaced following a minor collision. What Defines A "Minor Accident"? A minor crash is one in which all (five) of the following apply:

1. The vehicle was able to be driven away from the crash site.
2. The vehicle door closest to the car seat was not damaged.
3. None of the passengers in the vehicle sustained injuries in the collision.
4. If the car has airbags, the airbags did not deploy during the accident.
5. There is no visible damage to the car seat.

• NEVER use a car seat that was involved in a mild to severe crash.
• ALWAYS follow the manufacturer's instructions.

The new technologies released by the auto industry have helped in reducing the number of car accidents all around the world. Car accidents will likely continue to decrease significantly with all the innovation and future technology available for drivers. Here's a brief list:

1. AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING SYSTEMS — There are two kinds of technologies for brake assistance that fall into the AEB, or automatic emergency braking systems, category.

2. BACKUP CAMERAS — Backup cameras, also known as rearview video systems have been designed to prevent crashes that occur when a driver is backing up.

3. BLIND SPOT DETECTION — Using blind spot detection will help a driver ensure that there are not any vehicles that are in their blind spot if they are changing lanes.

4. LANE DEPARTURE WARNINGS — With the use of cameras, this new safety technology can keep track of the position of the vehicle inside of the lane markings.

5. FORWARD COLLISION SYSTEMS — This technology allows a vehicle to be able to measure the distance between the car itself automatically and the vehicle that is in front of the car and can then minimize the speed of the car and this will minimize a collision’s impact.

6. ADAPTIVE HEADLIGHTS — This is a type of car headlights that will turn on when the steering wheel is turned.

7. ELECTRONIC STABILITY CONTROL — Electronic Stability Control, or ECS for short, is a technology breakthrough that does an excellent job at keeping vehicles from sliding out of control, even in climates that are a bit risky.

8. VEHICLE COMMUNICATION (V2V) — The communication likely would be done through the use of GPS coordinates and other sensors that are new age that might be in development.

9. TRACTION CONTROL SYSTEMS — This technology helps to prevent the vehicle’s wheel from spinning out of control at times of acceleration or when the vehicle is starting, in particular when the roads are wet.

10. AUTO-STEERING — The vehicle will apply the breaks and steer around the potential object or pedestrian in the path of the vehicle; meanwhile, it will stay within the current lane of traffic.

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