Car Accident Injury Attorney in Southaven, Mississippi

If you have been involved in a Southaven, MS auto accident, there are many considerations and many details you are likely to have to deal with. Having a Southaven, MS auto accident attorney by your side can significantly increase your chances of a more positive outcome following your accident. You can help your Southaven, MS attorney do his or her job even better, if you have a clearer understanding of auto accidents.

Where are You Most Likely to Have an Auto Accident

The majority of car collisions occur close to home, with only approximately one percent happening more than fifty miles 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, take the children to school, 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 approximately 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.

Driver Behaviors Responsible for Accidents

Most accidents could be avoided if the drivers behaved in a more responsible manner. In the last few years, distracted driving has overtaken all other causes of auto accidents. Even when distracted driving was not the primary cause of the auto accident, it was likely a contributing factor. Aside from distracted driving, auto accidents are typically caused by impaired driving, exceeding the speed limit, and driving recklessly.  Even with all the information on seat belt safety as well as the current seat belt laws, almost half of the persons who are killed in car accidents were not wearing their safety belt at the time of the accident.

Accidents Caused by Distracted Drivers

While cell phone use can quadruple your risk of being involved in an auto accident other behaviors such as eating, smoking, playing with the radio or turning around to scold your children are just as dangerous as talking on your cell phone. In fact, having children in your car is considered to be four times as distracting as driving with adults, and an infant is as much as eight times as distracting. Even though the majority of adults agree that texting or e-mailing while driving is unacceptable, still a full one-third of them engage in this behavior.

What About Road Rage?

An Atlantic Monthly article stated that 218 auto accident deaths out of 290,000 were a direct result of road rage, and it is believed there are as many as two million episodes of overly-aggressive driving each year. Occurrences of road rage are increasing steadily, leaving anyone traveling America’s roadways at risk. Road rage encompasses a wide range of behaviors, from the rather mild end of displaying an obscene gesture all the way to intentionally colliding with another vehicle—and everything in between.

Aggressively honking the horn and shouting at another driver in the midst of rush hour traffic is considered road rage, as is pursuing or tracking down another driver who you feel “wronged” you in some way such as cutting you off or tailgating you. Many who engage in road rage go so far as to verbally threaten another driver or even wave a firearm around in their rage. Others have been known to block the path of another vehicle or even throw objects at the other vehicle or its driver.

Injuries Associated with Your Southaven, MS Auto Accident

Depending on the circumstances surrounding your automobile collision and the severity of the impact, you can suffer a wide variety of injuries to your body which range from minor to severe and life-threatening. Injuries to the neck—the most common auto injury—can be seen in auto accidents which took place at speeds as low as five miles per hour, and often manifest days or even weeks following the accident. A significant number of those involved in auto accidents will suffer symptoms for as long as six months following the crash and as many as ten percent will end up either partially or permanently disabled. The most common auto accident injuries include:

• Whiplash is by far the most common injury sustained in an auto collision and can range from mildly painful to more severe. Women, seniors and those who suffer from chronic or degenerative conditions are at a higher risk of receiving a whiplash injury than the rest of the population. Although many people tend to discount the severity of a whiplash injury, such injuries to the neck can result in cognitive problems, including an inability to concentrate and serious memory loss.
• Brain and head injuries can happen in a car accident even when there are no overt signs of a cut or bruise. The brain can end up being slammed into the hard bone of the skull, resulting in a closed head injury ranging in severity from a mild concussion to traumatic brain injury. Brain injuries can be more difficult to diagnose due to the lack of visible injury.
• Car collisions are often responsible for causing sprains, strains, fractures, disc injuries and lumbar spinal injuries as well as paralysis. These type of back injuries result from the impact of the accident and the resulting torque on the body of the driver or passenger. Just like neck injuries, back injuries can manifest hours, days or weeks following the accident and can cause such severe and chronic pain that the victim is unable to work or return to their normal life.
• Sudden contact with a steering wheel, dashboard, airbag, windshield, side window or shattered glass can lead to facial trauma including scrapes, bruises, lacerations and fractures. Not only can such facial injuries cause significant pain and suffering, but can also lead to psychological issues—after all, our face is what we present to the world.

Getting the Legal Help You Need Following Your Southaven, MS Auto Accident

If you are the victim of an auto accident caused by the negligence of another, and are dealing with serious injuries, call Stroud, Flechas & Dalton. We want to be your advocate for continued medical treatment as well as to ensure you are properly compensated for your injuries. Dealing with insurance companies, medical expenses and the inability to work are all issues we can help you with. We can truly make a difference in the outcome of your Southaven, MS auto accident. Call Stroud, Flechas & Dalton today at (662) 536-5656.