If you or a loved one has been involved in a car accident, calling a Mechanicsville, VA car accident attorney is the single best thing you can do. Having an attorney by your side means you are no longer facing the accident aftermath alone. You can have the time you need to heal, while your attorney handles the insurance company negotiations and all other legal aspects of your car accident. A car accident attorney from Tronfeld, West & Durrett can also help you obtain the medical treatments you need to begin getting back to your former life. We will always work hard for you, just as we do with each and every client.
Where Do Most Mechanicsville, VA Car Accidents Happen?
The majority of car collisions occur close to home, with only about one out of every one hundred accidents happening more than fifty miles away from home. Of course, this statistic makes more sense when you remember that most of our driving takes place close to our homes. We go to work, we take our children to school, we go to the grocery store, to church, to the movies, and to visit our friends, and all of these driving trips are generally within a few miles of our home. This means that of the over six million car accidents which occur every year in the United States, less than 60,000 of those happen more than fifty miles from home.
According to an NBC 12 report, the nine most dangerous intersections in Hanover County include:
- Mechanicsville Turnpike & Bell Creek South
- Mechanicsville Turnpike & Lee Davis Road
- Chamberlayne Avenue & Atlee Station Road
- Mechanicsville Turnpike & Old Hickory Drive
- Mechanicsville Turnpike & Elm Drive
- Lee Davis Road and Cold Harbor Road
- Pole Green Road & Bell Creek Road
- Mechanicsville Turnpike & Creighton Parkway
- Mechanicsville Turnpike & Wynbrook Lane
The vast majority of car accidents could be avoided if the drivers behaved in a more responsible manner. Drinking and driving, driving while distracted, and driving while overly fatigued are primary causes of car accidents. Exceeding the speed limit is a form of reckless or aggressive driving that also contributes to many car accidents.
Residential neighborhoods tend to be an area where a significant number of auto accidents occur. Although you might assume a residential neighborhood would be quiet with few problems, drivers must be alert and aware that there are reduced speed limits as well as children playing in the streets. Parked cars can be a hazard to drivers as well as pedestrians who might come out of nowhere.
Parking lots are another common place for accidents to occur. It’s easy to get distracted when backing out of a parking space and find yourself colliding with a vehicle that could be traveling much too fast for the situation. You must pay extra attention to pedestrians and parked cars in order to avoid a potentially serious accident. Many accidents occur in construction zones, especially when drivers do not pay heed to reduced speed limits.
As far as time of the year, August appears to win the prize for being the month with the most automobile accidents, for reasons no one can clearly define. It is possible that many families are taking their final trip of the summer before school starts for the year, and because there are so many more travelers on the highways, the accident risk increases.
For answers to your questions with a car accident serving Mechanicsville, call:
804-358-6555
What are Legal Damages in a Mechanicsville, VA Car Accident?
Your exact damages will depend entirely on the facts surrounding your Mechanicsville, VA car accident and the extent of your injuries. You will almost certainly be entitled to receive compensation for repairing your vehicle, reimbursement for your medical expenses, and any lost wages for work missed due to your injuries. You may also qualify for pain and suffering, future lost earnings, emotional trauma, and, in some cases, punitive damages. Punitive damages are usually only awarded when the other driver acted deliberately or maliciously.
What Should You Do Immediately Following a Car Accident?
There are certain things you can do to ensure your rights and future are properly protected following a car accident such as:
- You will always want to attend to the medical needs of all those involved in the accident. Call for medical help and understand that even those who feel relatively “okay” following the accident could actually be severely injured. When an accident occurs, adrenaline floods the body, masking symptoms of the injury.
- If there are no grave injuries, move the cars involved in the crash safely out of the way of other vehicles to avoid causing another accident. If the car cannot be moved from the street, all those involved should stay in their cars with the hazard lights on until the police arrive.
- Exchange information with the driver of the other vehicle if you are both able, including name, address, insurance company, phone number, driver’s license number, and the license plate number on the vehicle involved in the accident. Note whether the other driver’s name is different from that on the policy and ask for clarification. Be polite and concerned with the other drivers but never take responsibility for the accident until you have talked with an attorney.
- If you are able, take some pictures of the damage with your cell phone to fully document the accident. You may need to later show what the weather conditions were like, the traffic or the surroundings in order to prove your case should the other driver dispute your version. Once you get home take the time to sit down and record every detail you can remember regarding the accident.
- Make sure you get a police report. In some cases, police officers may not respond to accidents without injuries, in which case you should file a state vehicle accident report available from most MVD websites. A police report will almost always speed up the insurance claim process.
- Make sure you are familiar with your insurance policy. If you are up to speed on what your insurance will cover and what it will not, you will save yourself many headaches. For instance, does your insurance policy cover the cost of towing? Those charges can be astronomical, particularly if the vehicle remains in the tow yard for any length of time.
- Call your insurance company when you get home. Give them the facts about the accident without adding more information than you are asked.
Finally, once you have taken care of all the immediate details, call a personal injury attorney. You may think there will be no repercussions from the accident, your injuries and damages will be taken care of, and life will go on as normal, but many people have found it seldom works that way. Make sure your future is protected by contacting an experienced Mechanicsville, VA car accident attorney.
Whiplash—One of the Most Common Injuries Following a Car Accident
Unfortunately, there tends to be a stigma surrounding whiplash accidents as some believe claims of whiplash are merely to receive an insurance settlement. Much of the information which is out there about whiplash injuries is simply incorrect. Whiplash is a very real injury with very real consequences. In order to ensure your claim is taken seriously, it will be necessary to have an experienced Mechanicsville, VA car accident attorney in your corner who can overcome these false ideas about whiplash injuries.
Whiplash injuries usually occur in an automobile accident, most particularly when the car was struck from behind (although it can occur from any angle). When a vehicle is violently and unexpectedly struck by another vehicle the neck receives a sudden jolt which results in a strain or sprain which can range from relatively minor to very serious. The seriousness of the accident often has virtually nothing to do with the seriousness of the whiplash injury.
Most of us have heard that if we look in our rearview mirror, see a car coming right at us and tense up, that the resulting whiplash injuries will be much more severe. Experts in the field say that in fact that involuntary tensing up of the neck muscles might actually prevent the victim from sustaining such a serious whiplash injury.
Others believe that if the vehicle does not show significant damage, then a serious whiplash injury is impossible. Again, this is not true as any sudden impact to your vehicle could leave you with a potentially grave whiplash injury. Even if X-rays or MRI scans show no trauma to the neck, this does not mean that whiplash doesn’t exist.
In the days following the accident, the victim of whiplash may experience tightness and stiffness in the neck area, dizziness, chronic headaches, dull aching pains in the neck, balance and coordination issues, ringing in the ears, numbness in the arms, sleep disturbances, back pain, memory loss, concentration difficulties, and nausea. Even the most minor cases of whiplash will typically need up to eight weeks to recover and more serious cases can take months.
How Can a Mechanicsville Car Accident Attorney from Tronfeld, West & Durrett Help?
Tronfeld, West & Durrett Mechanicsville, VA car accident attorneys Jay Tronfeld and David Durrett have helped many, many people in the same situation as you. We understand that you may be feeling anxious about your future, stressed about your finances, and even angry about the negligent behavior of the other driver. Dive deep into informative content on automobile collisions. We will take the burden from your shoulders, negotiating a fair settlement with the insurance company while you take the time you need to heal. Contact Tronfeld, West & Durrett today!
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