After a “Minor” Accident, Chronic Pain May Pop Up

If you were the victim of a minor accident, you probably weren’t as distraught as you would be if it was a major wreck.  Of course, by minor we mean no serious injuries like bone fractures, loss of limbs, severe lacerations, and all of that.  It’s one where it was relatively low speed, the car is messed up, but no obvious injuries that look like they’re going to disable you or require massive hospital bills.

These so-called minor collisions, however, can result in major problems.  Soft tissue injuries, nerve damage, trauma, and delayed onset pain are just a few that are mostly “invisible” but can lead to long-term problems.  Let’s see how the Car Crash Captain, your car wreck lawyer in Richardson, Texas, explains the situation.

How Chronic Pain Develops After a Wreck

No matter how minor the wreck seems, the body gets bounced around a bit.  Those low-speed collisions can end up causing whiplash, spinal jarring, joint issues, inflammation, stretched ligaments, and even minor fractures.  Most of these injuries aren’t visible, and often they don’t even cause immediate pain (sometimes due to adrenaline that’s causing your brain to ignore the pain).  But that pain will come later.

One of the issues, though, is that it’s not always pain the way we think of pain – that sharp sting or dull ache.  Instead, this pain can show up as stiffness, decreased range of motion, fatigue, and of course, those common aches we refer to as pain.  If they’re left untreated, they can take months or years to go away; often they just keep getting worse.

And the big issues start to compound as your quality of life diminished, your ability to work is affected, and your sleep is upset.  Ultimately, these “invisible” injuries can cause severe problems later on.

Why Insurance Companies Push Back on These Claims

If you get in a wreck and your bumper really just barely touches the other car’s bumper, and you don’t see any physical damage, would you panic?  Often people don’t even worry about it, shake hands, call it good.  But internally, the vehicle could have suffered from issues.

When it looks minor, it’s assumed you need minimal treatment, and you must be fine.  When an insurance adjuster sees you, and you’re minimally affected (at least externally) by the wreck, they believe you are probably fine.  That’s especially true when the pain doesn’t show up right away.  If you’ve already settled, and now that chronic pain is popping up, there’s not much recourse.

Just know that if the adjusters are pushing for a quick settlement, demanding recorded statements, and minimize your need for follow up care or ongoing treatment, your red flag indicator should be sounding the alarm.

How to Protect Your Rights as a Victim

Fortunately, you have rights as the victim, and there are methods to ensure you receive the justice that you deserve.

• Make sure you’re working with a qualified car wreck lawyer.  Qualified, in this sense, means one that has the experience and not only the credentials.
• Always document your injury progress.  This written record of how you’re feeling, what’s going on, and the treatment you’re receiving is vital to prove your claim.
• Don’t skip your appointments.  Even if you happen to feel good that day, keep the appointment and have it all documented with official medical records.
• Avoid social media for a while.  Anything you post can be used against you, and when faced with big payouts, the insurance companies are going to use anything they can against you.

Let Herbert Law Group do the Hard Work

Herbert Law Group has worked with thousands of clients in the Dallas area, and we know how to fight for your compensation.  When the insurance companies push back, we know how to push back harder.

Those minor car wrecks can lead to chronic pain.  So, if you’ve been injured, we need to talk before you speak to the insurance adjusters.  And all of that starts with a simple phone call so we can know just how to help.

Call our offices at 214-414-3808, or fill out the contact form on our site, and we’ll reach out to you for your free initial consultation.

Why is Texas Deadlier than Other States?

Hopping on your motorcycle and feeling the wind in your air… that’s why people ride.  It’s invigorating, freeing, and many bikes get much better gas mileage than their four wheel counterparts.

But that excitement doesn’t come without its risks.  We don’t have to tell you that riding a motorcycle is more dangerous than driving a car.  Besides the obvious (the lack of protection from the car body) what leads to the higher number of fatal motorcycle accidents in Texas?

Contributing Factors to Fatal Motorcycle Accidents

According to the 2017 data from the NHTSA Texas had a total of 490 fatal motorcycle accidents that year.  That’s around 9.4% of the total deaths for the entire US (which, if you compare population for Texas vs. the USA, Texas has about 8.8% of the population).

So, what contributed to those fatal accidents?  There are a few categories we should look at.

Speed – They say that speed kills.  When you’re in the open air, it happens more often.  Among fatal car crashes, 18% were caused by excessive speed (nationwide).  But when you look at fatal motorcycle accidents, speed was a factor in 32% of those wrecks.

Alcohol – Alcohol use while driving has gone down in recent years, but it’s still a significant factor.  35% of fatal motorcycle accidents were discovered to have at least some alcohol in their system (with 28% of that 35% being over the legal limit).

Helmet Usage – If you’re over the age of 21, you aren’t required to wear a helmet when riding in Texas (with proper certification).  But, it seems that most people do.  Roughly half of the fatal motorcycle accidents occurred when the rider was wearing a helmet.  Compare that to states where no helmet laws are in place, and the un-helmeted fatalities are closer to 70% of the total.

Population – Higher population states naturally have a higher number of fatal motorcycle accidents.  But that’s not always a factor.  If you look at Florida (population 21.5 million), they had the majority of the fatal motorcycle accidents despite a lower population than many other states.

Texas has a large population.  So, the number of fatal wrecks is going to be higher.  But if everyone that rides practiced safer riding (and wear a helmet), and all other vehicles do their diligence to watch out for those on bikes, that number can continue to go down.

Herbert & Eberstein Help with your Texas Motorcycle Accidents

Until we live in a perfect world, there will always be accidents.  Some of them will result in injury, and some will be fatal.  Compound the matter with insurance companies that want to pay you a tiny settlement that doesn’t compensate you, and these things are tough to recover from.

That’s where Zach Herbert and Brian Eberstein come into play.  With plenty of experience and deep knowledge of Texas motorcycle law, you can focus on healing or grieving, and we will handle the insurance companies.

Fill out the contact form, or give us a call at 214-414-3808, and let’s have a conversation about what happened to see if we’re able to help with your case.