The most serious car accident injuries are those that are fatal or extremely disabling. These injuries can also lead to the biggest settlement values for the victims or their loved ones. Those settlements amounts aim to reflect how much you have lost from the accident. Typically, the more severe the injury, the higher the settlement.
The most serious types of car accident injuries
The most serious types of injuries that you can suffer in a car accident are the ones that alter your life the most. Therefore, the worst injuries that you can suffer are either:
- fatal, or
- extremely disabling.
The car accident lawyers at our law firm have found that the most disabling tend to be:
- traumatic brain injuries (TBIs),
- dismemberments,
- back or spinal cord injuries,
- severe soft tissue injuries, and
- internal injuries.
These are especially common in high-speed accidents.
Fatal injuries
For obvious reasons, the most severe injury that you can suffer is a fatal one. This includes fatal injuries that:
- are immediately fatal, and
- prove to be fatal in the days or weeks after the accident.
The good news is that fatal car accidents have become quite rare, thanks in part to improved vehicle safety equipment. According to the National Safety Council:
The odds that you die in a motor vehicle crash are 1 in 93. This is less common than dying by suicide (1 in 87) and much less common than dying from cancer (1 in 7).[1]
After a fatal car accident, the loved ones of the deceased accident victim can file a wrongful death claim against the at-fault driver.
Traumatic brain injuries (TBIs)
For non-fatal injuries, traumatic brain injuries are often the worst. TBIs can happen if:
- the brain hits the inside of your skull, also known as a concussion,
- there is a skull fracture,
- bleeding happens in the brain, or
- something pierces through the skull, also known as a penetrating injury.
The symptoms of TBIs vary widely depending on the precise nature of the head injury. Some severe symptoms include:
- a coma,
- memory loss,
- brain damage,
- nausea,
- headaches,
- mood swings, and
- decreased mental capabilities.
TBIs often come with neck injuries, as well.
These head injuries can drastically reduce your quality of life. They can also lower your ability to earn an income. They often lead to huge medical expenses.
Dismemberment
A limb dismemberment or amputation is another severe car accident injury. These are especially severe when the lost limb is an arm or a leg. If you lose a limb, you can also experience:
- severe emotional distress from the disfigurement,
- posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD),
- nerve damage, and
- phantom pain.
Blood loss from a dismemberment can be life-threatening at the scene of the accident.
After you have received the medical care that you need for the dismemberment, you may lose income due to your permanent disability.
Spinal cord injuries and other back injuries
After a car accident, back and spinal cord injuries can be extremely serious. Damage to the spinal cord can cause a variety of debilitating symptoms, including:
- paralysis,
- muscle weakness,
- lost range of motion,
- chronic pain, and
- nerve damage.
Even a herniated disc can lead to severe and painful symptoms.
Like with other severe car accident injuries, back or spinal cord injuries can leave you disabled. This can make it very difficult for you to earn a living.
Severe soft tissue injuries
Car accidents can also cause severe soft tissue damage. Some examples of serious soft tissue injuries are:
- torn muscles,
- torn tendons or ligaments, and
- whiplash.
The seriousness of the symptoms for these injuries can vary widely. For example, some cases of whiplash clear up within a month. Others, however, are extremely debilitating and long-lasting.
Internal injuries
Car accidents can also cause serious internal injuries. These can include things like:
- broken ribs,
- internal organ damage, and
- internal bleeding.
These chest injuries can be caused by the force of the impact or even the restraint of the seatbelt. In many cases, they are not discovered until after you have reached the hospital, meaning the injury would not have gotten immediate medical attention.
The most common injuries in a car crash
The most common types of injuries that you can suffer in a crash will depend on the nature of the motor vehicle accident.
For example, if you were in the leading vehicle of a rear-end collision, it is extremely common for you to suffer at least some whiplash. If you were riding a motorcycle and got hit in a T-bone accident, you are very likely to suffer leg or knee injuries from the side impact.
Overall, though, some of the most common car accident injuries are:
- broken bones,
- lacerations,
- scrapes,
- bruises,
- contusions,
- whiplash,
- back pain,
- neck pain,
- muscle and tendon sprains,
- broken hands and fingers from contact with the steering wheel or dashboard, and
- a broken nose from the impact of the airbag.
While these may not be serious injuries, they can still require extensive medical treatment.
How to estimate a fair settlement amount
In the aftermath of the accident, an adjuster for the insurance company will examine the evidence of the crash and your injuries. They are likely to make an initial settlement offer. It is designed to seem like a good one, but it is almost always a lowball offer.
Knowing the value of your case is extremely important.
The auto accident settlement formula that our personal injury attorneys typically use is the multiplier method. This formula has 4 steps:
- add up all of your economic losses, like your medical bills, lost wages and income, and property damage,
- choose a number between 1 and 5, based on how much the accident has impacted your life, with 5 being for the most severe and debilitating injuries,
- multiply your economic damages by that number to estimate your noneconomic damages, like your pain and suffering, and
- add your economic losses to your noneconomic losses.
This can give you a sense of how much you would be entitled to receive in a fair settlement. However, this number can get reduced if:
- you were partially responsible for the car crash, and/or
- there is not enough insurance coverage to pay the total amount.
Citations:
[1] National Safety Council, “Odds of Dying.”
