Statistically speaking, people are much more prone to accidents when traveling by car than with any other transportation vehicle such as trains, planes, or boats. Every day, there are more than 15,000 car accidents in the United States and more than 200,000 around the globe. Just imagine how many of those crashes have led to some kind of injury or maybe even death.
In other words, you should be always careful and prepared that anything might happen at any moment while driving. Even the most careful drivers can end up in an accident because of other people’s negligence. You can never be one hundred percent safe in your car.
So, what does this mean? Should you never drive your vehicle ever again? Should you be even more careful? Well, not exactly. You need to consider the fact that at least a hundred million vehicles are active every day in the United States. It is normal that the number of crashes is high throughout the year.
Instead of quitting your daily commuting, you should start learning about all the possible mistakes you and other people might do. You should also be aware of the possible injuries that might happen after those mistakes. Preparing yourself for the most common vehicle accident injuries will help you stay safer even during a crash. Here are some of those injuries.
Injuring your head
This might be one of the common problems after a traffic accident. This usually happens either because the victim was not wearing the safety belt. If the victim is not strapped into their seat, they might hit their head on the dashboard, windshield, or most commonly, the steering wheel. This can lead to serious damage to the brain which could leave permanent damage. The damage might not be obvious at first, but some brain functions can slow down after some time.
The best way you can prevent this from ever happening is to make sure that your safety belt works properly and that you strap yourself the right way. You should also ensure that the airbags work too because they can cushion the movement of your head.
Healing serious damage to the brain after a vehicle crash can be very costly, especially if you do not have any kind of health insurance. If you feel like you are the victim of the accident, you should consider hiring a car accident lawyer. You should check out McNicholas & McNicholas where you can find all of the information about what you should do after an accident.
Whiplash
This is another very common injury after a vehicle crash. This usually happens at the moment the vehicle enters the collision. The sudden stop or deceleration of the vehicle causes a huge strain on a person’s head and neck. This distortion of the neck can lead to a lot of pain in the future that may never be fixed because our medicine still doesn’t know how to deal with it. Of course, not every whiplash will lead to the same neck problems, but you shouldn’t risk it.
There is no exact way to avoid whiplash other than not getting into an accident. Airbags may sometimes help your head with the deceleration, reducing the huge amount of strain on your neck.
If you or a loved one have suffered whiplash due to someone else’s negligence, don’t hesitate to reach out to the skilled team at Chris Hudson Law Group for compassionate and effective legal representation.
Breaking your ribs
The sudden decrease of speed and the collision itself can put a lot of stress on other parts of your body and not just your neck. You might hit yourself from the steering wheel, the door on your side, or the co-driver next to you. All of this happens so fast that you won’t even notice at first that anything is wrong with you. But, after the adrenaline passes, you might start feeling pain in your chest while breathing. This is usually an indicator that you have broken a rib.
Don’t worry, it may seem like a very serious injury at first, but if you go to the hospital right away, you will be fine. The best way to prevent your ribs from breaking is by making sure that the safety belt is properly aligned on your body. Unfortunately, the same belt that you wear from protection has been the cause of broken ribs a lot of times too. We can’t really say that there is a way to protect your ribs from breaking. The ribs are there to protect your organs from being damaged. In other words, they are just doing their job.
Leg injury
During a collision, the part where the pedals are located is made to crumble to absorb the power of the impact. Assuming that a crash is powerful enough, if your legs are on the pedals, they might get pinned down and hurt pretty badly. Your knees might also hit on the steering wheel or on the underside of the dashboard.
To prevent this, you will need to retract your legs as fast as possible just before you crash. Keep in mind, you should never take the feet off your pedals because you might still have time to break or to accelerate away from danger. Take your feet off your pedals only if you are sure that there is nothing you can do.
PTSD
Believe it or not, but even the smallest car accident can lead to serious psychological problems. The fear of getting into a vehicle might stay with you for days, months, or even years after a crash. Some people have avoided vehicles their entire life because of a traumatic car crash experience.
There isn’t really a way to control what you think and feel about these kinds of things, so you can’t avoid it. However, you can consider visiting a therapist that might help you and deal with this issue. PTSD is a mental health condition that needs to be addressed.
Scrapes and bruises
Most of the time, even the slightest traffic collision will usually end up with scrapes and bruises. These kinds of injuries will not require a trip to the hospital, but make sure that you disinfect them when you have the chance.
These were some of the most common injuries that might happen during a traffic accident. We hope that this information will help you avoid them.
