A motor vehicle accident involving a pedestrian is likely to be much more serious than one involving two cars. This is because pedestrians do not have anything protecting them from the full impact of getting hit by a vehicle, while a driver is in the relative safety of a car, many of which are designed with safety in mind. If you were to get by a car while going about your day, you can get seriously hurt and end up with significant medical expenses.
Our lawyers are here to help. We have represented numerous plaintiffs in car accident lawsuits and are prepared to lend our legal skills to assist you in any way we can. We are able to collect evidence, talk to witnesses and adverse parties, and fight for the best legal outcome for your case throughout the entire legal process.
Get in touch with our car accident lawyers from Legal Care New Jersey at (732) 838-9769 for an initial free case review.
Causes of Car Accidents in Clifton, NJ
No two car accidents will mirror each other exactly. Even two pedestrians stuck by similar vehicles moving at similar speeds under similar circumstances could end up with wildly different injuries. While this might not seem like an important detail in the grand scheme of things, the cause of your car accident can actually be incredibly helpful to our car accident lawyers when they analyze your case. You can only recover damages from parties that caused your injuries, so you need to know what the cause of your specific accident was in order to be successful in court.
One of the primary causes of car accidents around Clifton, NJ, is negligent drivers. In law, a driver is negligent when they do something careless, and their carelessness leads to your injuries. One of the things you need to prove in a lawsuit to establish that a party was negligent is that they did not act as a “reasonable person” would under the circumstances. For example, a reasonable driver would never text, use their phone, or otherwise get distracted while driving, so if the driver that hit you was texting, they were negligent.
Alternatively, a driver can be negligent because they did not follow traffic law. In these instances, drivers are negligent not because they are not acting as a reasonable person should act but because they violated the law. For example, if a driver ignores speed limits or runs a red light, they are negligent because there are laws that say you are supposed to follow the speed limit and stop at red lights.
Sometimes, the driver is not to blame for a car hitting a pedestrian. If a car hits you because of an internal problem, you could be able to sue the manufacturer for the defects. Manufacturing defects occur when something goes wrong during the construction or maintenance process of the vehicle. Common examples of manufacturing defects include the use of substandard materials, improperly sized parts, or incorrectly installed airbags.
Injuries From Clifton, NJ Pedestrian Accidents
As previously stated, pedestrians have a higher probability of getting seriously injured in a motor vehicle accident because there is nothing to protect them from the full force of getting hit by a car. The injuries a pedestrian receives will likely require expert medical care to treat and, in some cases, could be permanent. Some injuries from car accidents might not be readily apparent right after an accident. For example, whiplash could not develop until several days after a car accident. It is important to get medical attention if you are hit by a car, regardless of how seriously injured you believe yourself to be.
Broken Bones
Broken bones are a likely injury for pedestrians hit by motor vehicles because of the impact forces involved, even with a car traveling at low speed. Some of the most common bones to break in car accidents are the ribs, collarbone, forearms, and lower legs. This is because when a car strikes a pedestrian, they are likely to hit them in the waist area of the body where those bones are located. The pelvis and femur are also frequently broken in car accidents because of the high-impact forces involved. The pelvic bones in particular are especially vulnerable to break in older pedestrians.
Serious compound fractures could require surgery to heal fully, and even minor fractures will require prolonged use of a cast or braces to recover fully. In addition, patients with broken bones often report atrophied strength in the limb that was broken, so you will likely have to work to build strength back up to normal in a broken limb after it heals.
Bruises
Bruises are caused when blood vessels under the skin get crushed. The result is pain, soreness, and outward discoloration around the bruised area. Minor bruises tend to heal on their own, but this process can take several weeks. More serious bruises and hematomas over a large area can be an indication of much more serious injuries, like organ damage or internal bleeding.
Traumatic Brain Injuries
Traumatic brain injuries (TBI) are caused by hard blows to the head that impact the brain or puncture the skull. Even a mild TBI, such as a concussion, can have serious consequences, such as headaches, difficulty concentrating, and sensitivity to light and sound. To make matters worse, prior concussions can compound the effects of earlier ones, so the effects of the second concussion will be worse than the first, and so on.
More severe TBIs can have life-altering effects. A Traumatic Brain Injury can result in the losing the ability to do simple things like walking or talking as well as permanent cognitive deficiencies.
Call Our Clifton, NJ Pedestrian Accident Lawyers for Legal Assistance
Our pedestrian accident lawyers at Legal Care New Jersey are ready to go over your case when you call (732) 838-9769.
