What to do after a head-on car accident and when should you hire a car accident attorney? what is the difference between a personal injury lawyer and a car accident lawyer? Do you need to call the police or your car insurance, or 911? which one thing should you do first? What is the average settlement for car accident injury cases? Wanna know the answers? this is the article you need now.
There are many things you should do after a head-on car accident and these include: Calling 911 if there are people injured, Calling and reporting to traffic officers, and informing your car insurance to kick start claim settlement processes.
After any car accident, deciding to let your car accident or personal injury lawyer know is paramount. This is a decision you should make at an early stage other than later when you already complicated the case. Hiring an attorney saves you the task of dealing with the insurance company at the same time receiving medical treatment for your injuries.
This article is a bit lengthy and you may not need everything covered. Go through the article contents below and look at only sections you may be interested in. Here you go!
Page Contents
What can a car accident attorney do for you?
It is not a must that you must hire a car accident attorney after every car accident. But, consulting one is definitely recommended! You don’t want to mess up the case and then think of hiring an attorney later. This won’t turn things in your favor.
You should hire a personal injury lawyer if:
- You had a major accident and you expect a significant high settlement.
- If the defendant (or car insurance) offers you disappointingly less settlement.
- Sometimes the insurance commits acts of bad faith like unnecessary delays, a low offer, denying you a settlement with no sound reasons, and so many others.
- You want or decided to file a lawsuit.
- You are wrongfully labeled the at-fault driver.
5 Questions to ask your car accident attorney?
Hiring an attorney costs money in form of legal fees and other costs involved in handling your case. You do not want to gamble on any lawyer who will waste your time, and not win you any settlement. For instance, not every lawyer handles personal injury cases!
Here are 5 Questions You Need to Ask Before Hiring an Injury Lawyer:
1. Percentage of cases referred from fellow lawyers. If you want a good doctor, ask doctors, and if you want the best technician to fix your TV ask other technicians. The fact is, people working in the same field know officers who are the best, and those who are mediocre.
For instance, your physician is the best person to recommend you a good surgeon if you need one. If the most handled cases come from fellow lawyers, that is an indicator that you have gotten your hands on the best lawyer for your case.
2. Do they send solicitation letters to car accident victims?
There is a bad vice cropping up in many ‘fake’ law firms. These law firms usually hire gophers to sneak car accident police reports from traffic offices. After getting their hands on the names and addresses of car accident victims, they usually send one or several letters informing you how they are ready to represent you.
Such firms either have many cases they are handling or have the least referrals from fellow lawyers or poor past client reviews. Clients who accept invitations from such firms usually end up unsatisfied because they did not make enough research before choosing such attorneys.
3. Legal fees and other costs.
This is very important and every potential client should never walk away from the attorney’s office with no clear understanding of the terms and conditions of payments. There are 2 expenses you will most likely meet when you hire a lawyer. These are; lawyer fees and costs involved in handling your case.
Most personal injury lawyers will tell you that you only pay them when they have won you a settlement. This is called a contingent fee basis. But what about the costs? some lawyers will ask you to pay this upfront or pay it when the need arises during case handling. You should understand payment systems because believe it or not, your client-attorney conflicts will most likely stem from this.
4. Category of cases handled by the lawyer/law firm.
You do not want to hire a generalist lawyer who takes on every case thrown at them. Instead, hiring a lawyer who specializes in personal injury cases puts you at a greater chance of winning the case.
A generalist attorney will have no chance if he comes against experienced personal injury specialists, especially those hired by defendants (car insurance companies).
5. How often does the personal injury lawyer go to court?
Do all soldiers enjoy going to war? the answer is definitely a no! some soldiers are cowards and so are some personal injury lawyers. Most car accident attorneys who brag about being ‘trial lawyers’ are actually not telling the truth and insurance companies and other defense lawyers know them.
Once a serious claim comes to the insurance offices, the first question the claims adjuster ask is, which lawyer is representing them? Claim adjusters or insurance companies won’t be moved if they know you hired a dumb lawyer. If you hired an attorney who does not fancy going to trial and is well known for that, be prepared to receive a low settlement.
Car accident concussion symptoms
One of the most injuries people suffer as a result of a head-on collision is a concussion. A concussion is a brain injury that occurs when an object directly hits your head, or if there is violently shaking of your body or the head.
Car accident concussion symptoms include the following:
- The victim usually gets a headache and a feeling of ‘pressure’ in the head.
- Vomiting or nausea following a car accident.
- Blurred vision, drowsy, and balance problems.
- Problems with concentration, and other memory problems.
- Feeling of faintness or dizziness.
According to CDC, there are about 1.72 to 3 million concussion injuries yearly in the united states. Most concussion cases are due to sports and recreation-related events. The average settlement for concussion head injuries is between $20,000 and $80,500.
Car accident head injury symptoms
Besides a concussion, many kinds of head injuries are caused by car accidents. Some of the car accident injuries include the following:
- Skull fracture – broken bones that protect the brain.
- Hematoma- a collection of clotted blood outside the blood vessels.
- Diffuse axonal injury- brain cells are damaged, but no bleeding.
- Edema or swelling – swelling of the brain tissue and surrounding areas.
Here are some of the car accident head injury symptoms:
- Headache
- Head spinning sensation
- Light head
- Buzzing or ringing ears
- Confusion
- Nausea and vomiting.
Head hit windshield in car accident
A windshield is a front window in the passenger compartment of the vehicle., whereas a windscreen is a glass screen at the front of a vehicle.
A head injury will almost be inevitable if a person hits his head against a windshield during a car accident. This means you must see a doctor immediately even though you seem fine. Some head injuries appear days or weeks later after a car accident. My surgeon once told me that it’s possible for a head injury victim who initially appeared ok to lose consciousness weeks later.
You may hit your head against an object resulting in brain injury leaving your head bones (skull) intact. Such injuries are referred to as closed TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURIES (TBI). These head injuries are very common when you hit your head against the car windshield.
What is a concussion headache like?
The location of a headache due to a concussion depends on the side of the head injured. The pain usually appears on the side injured. For instance, headaches appear on the front head, or side of the head if the same parts are injured.
Concussion headache is throbbing or pounding in nature and is associated with symptoms like nausea or vomiting, lightheadedness, and sensitivity to light or noise.
Head injury from car accident settlement
Head injuries are some of the personal injuries that usually settle for large amounts of money. This is because these injuries are more likely to be life-threatening, and even if the person recovers, he/she will most likely suffer some disabilities or permanent effects of the car accident.
According to this site, the average settlement amount for head injury from a car accident is somewhere between $21,000 to $82,000. Recently, I heard about a guy who settled for $125,000 after a head injury with complications.
What to do after hitting your head?
It is not a must that hitting your head will make you end up in the hospital. Every day, people hit their heads but only suffer minor pains that do not require seeing medical work. Some simple headaches can be treated locally at home using locally made-remedies.
If you hit your head during a car crash, do not take it lightly though it may not be serious. You should nevertheless be on the lookout for symptoms of internal head injuries. I have a friend who seemed fine till after 2 weeks when he was found with a brain clot due to a recent car accident.
Problems that could be associated with hitting your head include:
- Double or blurry vision
- Sensitivity to light and or noise
- Concentration and memory problems
- Confusion
- Dizziness and balance problems
- Headache
- stiff neck and many others.
The decision you could make after hitting your head include; seeing a doctor for scans and other tests to make sure you are fine, trying home remedies like ice parks and other muscle-relaxing homemade remedies, etc. The most important factor is safety while other things are secondary.
What happens if you hit your head in a car accident?
With exception of sports cars, almost all of us wear no head helmets while driving our cars. This means that hitting our heads or violently forward-backward movement of our heads is possible in any car accident.
According to CDC, globally 300,000 car accidents account for 1.7 million yearly traumatic brain injuries. The 5 most common types of head injuries are traumatic brain injuries (TBI) which include injuries like concussion, contusion, skull fractures, cerebral hemorrhage, and other intracranial hematomas.
Car accident head injury symptoms
A good GP or neurosurgeon will tell you that some head injury symptoms can manifest days, weeks, or months after the accident. This means you are not yet safe not until you have thoroughly been assessed and cleared by your doctor.
I actually contacted this local neurosurgeon who told me that he has so far treated more than 20 cases whose head injury symptoms showed up after 21 days post-car accident. Do not be surprised if you lost consciousness 1-2 months after the car accident yet you initially felt fine.
Also, the adrenalin rush soon after the accident could suppress your pain for many hours, so do not be surprised if your pain shows up many hours after that car crash.
Some Car accident head injury symptoms take longer to show up because brain clots progressively get bigger. To some, it could take weeks or months for the blood clot’s size to grow bigger enough to cause symptoms. Some internal head injuries that once started healing could all of sudden be aggravated, and sometimes this occurs days, weeks, or months after the day of the accident.
How long does your head hurt after a car accident?
There is no time frame when your head will hurt after a car accident. Some head injury symptoms become obvious right on the accident scene while others as I already explained show up later after the accident. This will depend on the type of head injury sustained, your levels of adrenalin rush, and the location of the injuries.
Should I go to ER for headache after car accident?
Yes, you should do it if the situation of injuries warrants so. Personal injury lawyers, or car accident attorneys usually use this argument to demean your settlement claim or lawsuit case later.
The defendant’s lawyer will ask why you did not go to the hospital immediately by ambulance, and why you did not receive ER services yet you claim your damages are worth a huge claim settlement.
Symptoms like bleeding from the nose, and ears, conjunctival hemorrhage, confusion, and balance issues all require you to go to the hospital immediately and preferably be treated in ER. Physical fractures of the skull imply an emergency case.
In conclusion, the answer to the question, ‘What to do after a head-on car accident?’ is that it all depends on the severity of your injuries and other financial losses like property damages. Depending on many circumstances, you could decide to hire a car accident attorney or handle your claim through the insurance company.
