Every year tens of thousands of California and Los Angeles vehicle drivers are involved in a car accident resulting in injuries to themselves or others. A high portion of these accidents result in personal injuries. If you have suffered a personal injury you may be entitled to compensation for your injuries. Personal injury cases can become incredibly complex. When should I sue in a car accident?

In all automobile accident cases actions must be taken promptly to preserve evidence, investigate the accident in question, and to enable physicians or other expert witnesses to thoroughly evaluate any injuries. Consequently, is important to choose an experienced personal injury attorney in pursuing a claim to recover for your injuries. Is a car accident settlement taxable income?

Traffic Accidents in Los Angeles and Orange County are the most prevalent types of personal injury cases. Cases involving personal injury resulting from accidents are litigated under the principles of negligence, unless the state has decided to do away with fault as an issue. What is car accident underinsured motorist coverage? The injured plaintiff is required to prove that someone was negligent, that the negligence caused the accident, and that the accident caused the plaintiff's injuries. In some cases your gut feeling may tell you that the other driver, cyclist, or pedestrian acted carelessly, but not what rules they infringed.

Types of Car Accident Injuries

Side-impact injuries

A side-impact injury occurs as a result of another vehicle barreling into you from the side. It is the deadliest form of car accidents leaving 10,000 persons dead every year. In a head-on collision you are protected by several feet of steel, engine, and bumper. A side-impact accident leaves just a few inches of door and some window glass between you and the other vehicle.

Every vehicle on the road is expected to pass the government implemented side-impact standards. Many people feel these standards are antiquated. The government tests have been criticized for failing to test head standards in all vehicles. It uses a dummy representing an average size male that doesn't register head injuries, and its test only looks at what happens when similar size vehicles collide. I was a passenger affected in a car accident and I suffered injuries, can I get recovery for my personal-injury damages?

Passenger Injuries

If you were a passenger in a vehicle involved in an accident, and if you have sustained injury as a result, you are entitled to receive compensation for your injuries. As a passenger, you have a claim against both the driver of the vehicle in which you were riding as well as the drivers of any other vehicles (or any other negligent party) involved in the accident. As a passenger you generally cannot be considered to be at fault or partially at fault for creating an accident unless you do something to cause the accident such as distract the driver.

Paraplegia

Paraplegia is a type of paralysis which affects both the legs and the trunk. Persons affect by paraplegia have no movement in their legs, and are often limited or have no movement in their torso. Paraplegia results from spinal cord injury. Many accident sufferers are paraplegic as a result of unsafe or inadequate vehicles.

Paraplegia interrupts sensory messages to the brain so that the affected individual cannot "feel" their affected body parts, and are generally insensitive to pain or heat. As a result, a victim's health and safety is jeopardized because of this inability to differentiate pain. Some victims have damaged nerves resulting in phantom pain and heat sensations. Paraplegia significantly impacts the patient's quality of life by changing sexual drive, digestive capabilities, bladder control and reduced life expectancy.

Car accidents have often prompted the major trauma that result in paraplegia. Vehicles such as SUV's are prone to roll over and do not have sufficient roof structure. As a result, the roof crushes and caves in causing spinal cord injuries. Fortunately, there are steps to be taken to reduce such injuries including paraplegia. There are step that auto manufacturers should practice to ensure that vehicles are safe and have the most suitable airbags, seat belts to prevent ejection, sound vehicle design and roof durability.