Common Injuries in Car Accidents

Car accidents are a major cause of serious injuries each year in Upstate New York. The resulting injuries can vary dramatically from person to person and from accident to accident. The speed of the vehicles at the time of the accident and the position of the collision, as well as the individual characteristics of the accident victim, can affect the nature and extent of the injuries. Each car accident has unique factors, but there are certain common injuries in car accidents of which we are aware. At DeFrancisco & Falgiatano, our Syracuse car accident lawyers may be able to help you recover damages following a rear-end collision, a side-impact accident, or another type of crash.

Common injuries in car accidents include head injuries, back injuries, neck and chest injuries, and injuries to the limbs. Head injuries can arise from a driver or passenger flying forward and hitting their head against a dashboard, steering wheel, or window. Head injuries can be catastrophic, ranging from a mild concussion to a coma and skull fractures or even lasting cognitive difficulties. Sometimes head injuries can result in vision or hearing problems. It may be necessary for an accident victim with a head injury to receive long-term medical treatment or even lifelong caregiving for serious brain damage.

Another common serious injury is a back injury. These also can vary significantly, ranging from soft tissue injuries or disc herniation to spinal cord damage and paralysis. Any of these can produce significant problems with movement and in some cases, such as with a disc herniation, significant pain. Spinal cord damage can result in weakened sensation or control over limbs. Sometimes accident victims experience muscle weakness and tingling.

Neck and chest pain can also have serious consequences for an accident victim's daily life. Whiplash arising out of a sudden movement forward and back can be extremely painful. Sometimes vocal cords are damaged. A blunt force chest trauma can result in collapsed lungs and a set of broken ribs. Sometimes it results in cardiac arrest or internal bleeding.

Even more common is harm to the limbs or hands and feet. Sometimes there is ligament damage or broken bones. Also, on the more serious end of the spectrum, there may be amputations and severed limbs.

Most of the time, common injuries in car accidents are results of negligence. If you need to prove negligence against another driver due to suffering these types of injuries, your attorney will need to show that it is more likely than not that the defendant owed a duty of reasonable care, there was a breach of the duty of reasonable care, and actual and proximate causation led to your damages, which are reasonably quantifiable. A breach of duty that can result in a crash may be a failure to obey traffic signals, tailgating, speeding, weaving, drunk driving, texting while driving, or any number of other actions or omissions that fall below the standard of care.

The damages that your lawyer may be able to recover if they establish liability for a car accident depend on the nature and extent of your injuries. You may be able to recover both economic and noneconomic damages for injuries arising in car accidents. The economic damages may include medical expenses, lost income, replacement services, and out-of-pocket costs. These vary depending on how serious your injuries are and which kinds of medical treatment become necessary. Noneconomic damages may include pain and suffering, mental anguish, loss of consortium, and loss of enjoyment of life. Noneconomic damages are awarded based on the losses that the jury believes would naturally flow from the types of injuries that you suffered. While a single broken bone may not result in significant pain and suffering, a catastrophic injury such as paralysis probably would.

If you suffered serious injuries in a collision caused by another driver in Upstate New York, our law firm may be able to help you recover damages from the responsible parties. DeFrancisco & Falgiatano represents victims in communities such as Syracuse, Rochester, Lyons, Ithaca, Cooperstown, Oswego, Canandaigua, Utica, Wampsville, Oneida, Lowville, Watertown, Herkimer, Delhi, Cortland, Norwich, Elmira, Auburn, and Binghamton. Call us at 833-200-2000 or contact us via our online form.