Are Head On Collisions the Most Dangerous Kind of Car Accident?

Traveling by car is much safer than it used to be.  Since seatbelts and airbags are ubiquitous in cars, the risk of serious injury in most collisions is much less than it used to be.  Laws against drunk driving have reduced the incidence of extraordinarily dangerous driving behaviors.  Vehicles of recent model years even alert you when there are obstacles in your path or when you are getting too close to another car, so that you can avoid a collision.  Despite this, some types of collisions are still very dangerous, especially collisions that involve very high speeds and those where the vehicles collide head on.  No matter how the accident happened or what kinds of injuries you suffered, the first step to recovering damages for your accident-related medical expenses is to contact a Jacksonville car accident lawyer.

Which Angle of Collision Carries the Highest Risk of Serious Injury?

These are some car accident scenarios and the injury risks associated with each one:

• Head on collisions – Also known as frontal impact collisions, these occur when the front of one car strikes the front of another. Although head on collisions account for only three percent of collisions nationwide, they cause a much larger share of traffic fatalities.  This is because they usually involve egregious driver error; if you are too drunk or distracted to notice that you are driving the wrong way in a traffic line, you probably will not notice that you are going much faster than the speed limit.  Even at relatively low speeds and with seatbelts and airbags, front seat passengers are still at high risk of severe injury in a head on collision.
• T-bone collisions – Also known as side impact collisions, these occur when the front of one car strikes the side of another. These accidents are very dangerous for the occupants of the struck vehicle, because the side of a car offers little barrier between the striking vehicle and the struck occupants, but seatbelts and airbags reduce the severity of injuries.
• Rollover crashes – These occur when a vehicle flips over onto its roof or its side. They tend to affect SUVs, vans, and pickup trucks, since these vehicles have a high center of gravity.  These collisions are dangerous because they carry a high risk of driver ejection, and because the roof of a vehicle can easily collapse.
• Rear end collisions – These collisions occur when the front of one car strikes the back of another. They do not usually result in a serious injury, because they usually happen in city traffic, where the vehicles involved are usually not traveling very fast.  Likewise, the back bumper and trunk of the vehicle absorb much of the impact.

Many factors affect the severity of an accident, and a car accident lawyer can help you if you are struggling with accident-related medical expenses.

Contact Douglas & Douglas About Car Accident Cases

A North Florida personal injury lawyer can help you collect damages for your accident-related injuries if you were injured in a car accident.  Contact Douglas & Douglas in Jacksonville, Florida for a free consultation.

Source:

hg.org/legal-articles/head-on-collisions-the-most-dangerous-type-of-car-accident-29016