Rear-End Collision Injuries and How You Can Recover
In just a split second, a rear-end accident can alter the course of your entire life. That’s because recovering from a rear-end crash doesn’t just mean going through the recovery process to heal your rear-end collision injuries. It also involves recuperating financially.
Without monetary support, you could be in dire straits for the rest of your life, even if you return to full health. Fortunately, there are legal options available to you in this scenario.
What Is a “Rear-End Collision?”
Before discussing ways to recover from rear-end collisions, it’s vital to first answer the question, “What does ‘rear-ended’ mean?”
A rear-end car crash is one in which two cars in the same lane are traveling forward, and one strikes the back end of the other. The result is damage to both the back of the rear-ended car and the front of the other car, as well as potential injuries to the drivers and passengers in both vehicles.
What To Expect After Being Rear-Ended
Typically, the immediate consequences of a rear-end collision are identical to those of any other car accident.
According to Texas law, you are required to immediately stop your vehicle in a safe location as close to the scene of the accident as possible. You should then report the accident to the authorities, share your contact and insurance information with the other driver, and seek medical attention, even if you don’t think you were injured.
Rear-ended injuries may not be immediately apparent, especially if you are experiencing an adrenaline rush. But catastrophic injuries may not be immediately evident for the same reason. As such, an evaluation by a medical professional protects you both physically and legally.
What Happens To Your Body in a Rear-End Collision?
In a rear-end collision, the head is accelerated forward at a rapid speed. However, it can’t continue moving in that direction indefinitely, and the neck can only stretch so far. In a typical rear-end collision, the victim’s head will then whip back at a similarly rapid pace.
That whip-cracking-like action is what often results in the aptly named condition, whiplash, which damages the soft tissue of the neck and back. It can also cause a traumatic brain injury (TBI) as the brain strikes the front and back of the skull during the violent whipping motion.
Recovering From Whiplash
Whiplash is a difficult injury to detect. Often, the damage to the soft tissue does not become apparent for days or even weeks after an injury, meaning you must exercise extreme caution after getting rear-ended.
Even if medical personnel initially cleared you, you should still seek a second evaluation about a week after the accident (sooner if you start to feel pain in your shoulders, neck, or back). This doesn’t mean the medical personnel who evaluated you weren’t competent. It just means there was nothing to find at first glance.
Regardless, once you know that you are suffering from whiplash, you should pursue treatment as quickly as possible. The soft-tissue damage from whiplash can worsen and become permanent if left untreated. But with the right (and immediate) treatment, you’ll have a chance at recovery.
However, you must be aware that recovery may take months or even years of therapy. And if you aren’t diligent about getting that therapy, it is effectively the same as not getting any treatment at all.
Recovering From Traumatic Brain Injuries
Unfortunately, TBIs (such as concussions) are much more difficult to recover from than whiplash. These injuries usually result in lifelong consequences, and there is often little that doctors can do to heal them. Instead, recovery usually involves decades of therapy and learning techniques to adapt to life with your injury.
Nevertheless, the sooner you start treatment, the better. TBIs are such injuries wherein the long-term consequences will be comparatively better if you seek immediate medical attention.
Recovering Financially
As mentioned, recovering from either of these injuries requires a significant amount of therapy, possibly a lifetime worth in certain cases. And that isn’t cheap. One could easily spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on such intensive treatment.
Additionally, the initial recovery period and future therapy sessions will probably result in an abundance of missed work time. Even a day of missed work will cost most people a few hundred dollars, though. If you miss months or weeks of work, that could cost tens of thousands.
You may not know how to (or whether you even can) recover from such a monetary loss. There are two ways in which a victim’s financial recovery can go:
Insurance
Texas is an at-fault insurance state, and given that the driver of the rear vehicle is almost always at fault in a rear-end accident, their insurance company should be responsible for all your medical bills, lost wages, and other expenses resulting from the accident.
Unfortunately, insurance companies aren’t in the business of generosity. They make money by undervaluing claims and outright denying them. And that means you may need to be a little more forceful to get the money you need to recover.
Hire an Accident Lawyer
The best way to recover financially after a rear-end car crash is to hire an experienced car accident lawyer. They will be able to accurately determine the value of your claim, even if you still require years of therapy, and they won’t let the insurance company pay you less than you deserve.
Additionally, regardless of whether your attorney reaches a settlement with the insurance company or takes your claim to court, they will take charge of your case, allowing you to focus your energy on your physical recovery.
Act Quickly To Recover After a Rear-End Accident
You cannot afford to wait after getting rear-ended and subsequently injured. Most injuries require immediate medical attention, and your finances can be drained swiftly by medical bills and lost wages. Consult with appropriate legal and medical professionals quickly to work toward the best recovery.
