Finding Legal Help After a Car Accident
The United States is a car-loving nation, and over 200 million Americans have a legal driver’s license. Roads and highways are all over the nation, and Americans are driving cars, pickup trucks, SUVs, and more every day. The bad news is that these roads and not always safe, and impaired or distracted drivers may be out there. Drunk, distracted, or otherwise impaired drivers are liable to cause accidents, and a car accident may cause serious injury to the victim. Drunk drivers may hit other cars or strike pedestrians, and often run red lights or stop signs at the very least. If a car accident takes place, the injured victim may seek compensation through litigation, but this is rarely done alone. A car accident attorney can help, and local law firms may offer injury lawyers who specialize in car wreck cases. A car accident attorney will have the expertise and skills to handle such a case. What might a car accident attorney do for their client, and what is there to know about car accidents and injury today?
Rates of Car Accidents
Many millions of Americans are driving on the roads today, but sometimes they will get into a car accident and suffer injuries or even fatality. The U.S. Department of Justice has released data showing that car accidents cause the most personal injuries among Americans, at 52% of of all injury cases with medical malpractice and product liability being other common causes. Around 60,000 car accidents take place per year, and 30,000 or so result in injuries. In fact, sometimes Americans are killed in these collisions, and in 2017 alone, 40,100 people were killed in traffic accidents (according to the National Safety Council). Often, when someone is injured like this, they will seek out a car accident attorney from local law firms to build a legal case during litigation.
Why do car accidents happen? Many drivers on the road are drunk, and a BAC, or blood alcohol content of 0.08% or higher legally constitutes drunk driving (even if there’s no collision). A drunk driver will have impaired reflexes, coordination, and judgment, and this makes the likely to hit other vehicles, property, or pedestrians. Police officers do their best to pull over drunk drivers, but there are many drunk driving cases per year and only a fraction of them result in arrests. Meanwhile, distracted drivers, those preoccupied with a handheld electronic device, are also dangers on the road. These drivers aren’t watching where they’re going, and they’re likely to run red lights or stop signs and hit oncoming traffic or pedestrians. For this reason, using cell phones while driving is often illegal, and it often causes accidents as well as drunk driving.
Finding a Car Accident Attorney
After a car accident, a victim will want to seek compensation, and this may call for legal aid. For one thing, a victim will be in a highly subjective and emotionally charged state, but a lawyer will have the clarity of mind and objective view needed to pursue the case effectively. What is more, if the victim’s injuries will prevent them from doing paying work in the future, this complex financial impact can be calculated by a lawyer and used in the case. And during litigation, a lawyer will use his or her skills and expertise to demand settlement money from the at-fault party’s insurance company. This attorney will likely know how to handle complications in the litigation process or court, such as if the insurance company is refusing to cooperate. And if there are multiple parties involved in the case, assigning blame and distributing settlement money can be tricky, but a lawyer may handle it.
Once a car accident victim is able to, he or she may look up local personal injury law firms, and they may find car accident law firms in particular for their case. Since car accidents are so common, some law firms specialize in this narrow but rich field. the client may visit the law firm and get a consultation from the lawyers who work there (this may or may not incur a fee) and find one who is to their liking. Together, they can build their case and pursue litigation against the at-fault party.
