According to the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety, 26% of all accidents are considered to be high-speed. (Insurance Institute of Highway Safety). This article will discuss how a skilled Denver Car Accident Lawyer can handle your case and win you the maximum compensation for such a devastating and traumatic experience.
What Factors Make a High-Speed Collision More Likely to Occur in Denver
There are countless factors that cause car accidents. It could be a distracted driver on their phone or an angry driver with a case of road rage. Whatever the case, high-speed accidents have the potential to end in deadly disaster. Here are some of the leading causes of accidents we commonly see occur at high-speeds:
- Not wearing a seatbelt, which can greatly increase your odds of getting thrown out of the car and flying through the windshield, hitting the pavement. At a high speed, this can kill you.
- When you’re driving faster, you have less time to react and need more time to stop. Imagine driving at 75 mph and slamming on your brakes. The driver behind will in turn need to slam their brakes suddenly and can potentially cause a chain-reaction or pile-up car accident.
- It’s much easier to lose control of the wheel at 85mph versus at 25 mph. At slower speeds you can cruise, make easy turns, and come to a smooth stop. But at high speeds, you don’t have the same time or lackadaisical driving environment and need to be more alert as the slightest mistake can end up causing a severely dangerous crash.
- Physics. Higher speed means a harder collision force, which means more damage.
Are Certain People More Vulnerable to Get Into High-Speed Motor Vehicle Collisions?
Statistics related to high-speed crashes show that theses types of collisions are associated with certain risk groups with higher likelihood of being involved in a high-speed collision:
- Male drivers between the ages of 16-19 are at highest risk of causing or being involved in a high-speed motor vehicle collision
- Drivers over 3 have about three times less likelihood of receiving a speeding violation than drivers under the age of 19.
- About 20% of fatalities in traffic accidents were male drivers (in a recent study by SaferAmerica,) as opposed to only 12% being females.
Here’s the key takeaway: younger male drivers between the ages of 16-19 are the highest risk group for being high-speed crash victims.
Injuries You Could Sustain In a High-Speed Car Crash
Several types of injuries often present when involved in a high-speed car collision. Below find some of the most common car accident injuries from high-speed car accidents:
Airbag and Seatbelt Trauma
Airbags and seat belts are double-edged swords when it comes to high-impact collisions. While they can save your life, they can also cause substantial injuries. The faster you’re traveling when the car crash occurs, the more severe the impact of the airbag or bruising and constriction of the seatbelt will be.
Airbags and seatbelts can cause bruises, cuts, broken bones, facial fractures, whiplash, and in extreme cases decapitation. Since the airbag deploys in front of the face, it can break your facial bones and cause eye or even brain injuries. All in all, the safety benefits of seatbelts and airbags outweigh the risks of not having them. According to the CDC, the mere act of wearing your seatbelt can reduce the risk of death in a crash by 50%, and adding an airbag reduces that chance by 60%.
Broken, Fractured, or Dislocated Bones
Broken bones are very common in high-speed crashes, with the most frequent types being:
- Facial bone fractures
- Broken wrists
- Broken hip or tailbones
- Fractured skull
- Spinal bone fractures
- Broken leg bones
- Broken arms
- Fractured ribs and chest bones
Breaking bones very severely or several bones can lead to life-changing disability and permanent injury or even death. In any case, broken bones take a long time to heal and cause a lot of discomfort to the injured person.
Traumatic Brain Injury and Head Trauma
Head trauma is an insidious yet very dangerous injury. A seemingly simple concussion while playing football can cause long-term brain damage, so imagine the effects of a high-speed crash collision if a person gets a head injury.
The most common ways people hit their heads is on the roof, from flying debris, or getting ejected from the car (while not wearing a seatbelt). They could hit their head on the windshield or fly through it and hit their head on the concrete. Such a violent jolt and blow to the head will most likely result in a fatality or permanent brain injury.
One note to highlight about brain injuries is that they are not always immediately obvious or show covert symptoms. They sometimes have a delayed onset of symptoms and side effects, so it’s really crucial to get medical testing and care right away.
You may have a traumatic brain injury if you experience persistent and severe headaches, confusion, memory issues, eye pain, speech difficulties, trouble with motor coordination or control such as walking or using certain limbs, and more. The sooner you get treatment for a brain injury, the better prognosis you have for a full medical recovery. You might be letting your injury worsen without even knowing it and end up permanently disabled or dying.
Bottom line, if you think you’ve suffered any type or degree of head injury, don’t wait to get medical attention.
Whiplash
Whiplash can result from an accident even at low speeds but at higher speeds will cause very severe Whiplash. Whiplash and other soft tissue injuries can often be masked by the initial adrenaline and shock you experience after a crash. So you don’t even feel the pain of your injuries because you’re so worked up with stress and shock. This is another reason why you need to get checked by a doctor right away after a high-speed crash. In many cases following a crash on the highway or interstate at high speeds, an ambulance will be called to the scene because someone has life-threatening injuries that require immediate medical intervention.
Internal Injuries and Organ Damage
Just as seatbelts and airbags can break your facial bones and cause bruises, they can put so much pressure on you from the deployment and restraint that they wound internal organs. You could experience a punctured or collapsed lung due to blunt trauma or from the seatbelt constraining you so tightly that your internal organs get crushed. Many victims who experience severe organ damage end up dying. If your loved one died due to organ damage or as the result of a high speed car accident, contact our Denver personal injury lawyers today.
What Should I Do After Getting Into a High-Speed Crash in Denver?
Call 911 or get to a hospital as soon as possible. Even if you think you aren’t hurt that badly or you can heal at home, you need to get checked out. The first reason is that injuries often don’t feel as bad as they really are right after the crash. As we discussed earlier, you are in shock after a crash and your adrenaline is pumping. This can cover up your perception of pain and give you a false sense of wellness when in reality you need medical attention.
You also need to create proof that you went to get medical care immediately after the crash. This will show insurance companies that your injuries are in fact as serious as you claim and that you took them seriously enough to get help as soon as you could.
Also, be sure to get contact information from all parties involved in the crash and any witnesses who saw the accident. There are sometimes people standing around the scene who saw the incident and can give valuable testimony as to what they saw.
The Road to Recovery Following a Catastrophic Injury
Recovering from catastrophic injuries (which is often the result of high-speed motor vehicle collisions) is costly and takes a toll on you in other ways – physically, emotionally, mentally, and financially.
If you were injured by a negligent driver who was speeding or reckless driving, you have a right to hold them accountable and pursue compensation. It’s not just limited to speeding, but a driver who didn’t use good judgment or adjust their speed to the given conditions (such as inclement weather or other dangerous conditions) can be considered negligent and be held legally responsible for their wrongdoing. Contact an attorney to help you establish fault and build a strong case to win your claim and get the money you need to make a full recovery and get back on your feet.
Contact the Best Denver Car Accident Lawyers Now
We understand how life-changing a car accident can be. If you or someone you love was injured in a dangerous or high-speed car accident, call us for help – we will review your case for free and explain all of your legal rights and options.
