California has over 396,000 miles of roads within its borders. Anything can happen. Trucks crash into cars. Cars crash into bicyclists. Bicyclists even hit pedestrians (yes, this happens). Cars can crash into livestock, such as loose cows. Our roads can feel like a Wild West and are full of risk. The chance of being in a vehicle accident on any given day is reassuringly low: about 1/366 for every 1,000 miles driven. But the average person will experience 3 or 4 traffic accidents in their lifetime, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Visit our FAQs to read about what to do after you’re in an accident. You can read here about whether you need to hire an attorney. Our attorneys have negotiated successful settlements in various odd and unusual traffic cases. We also see similar challenges come up over and over again. Below are just a few examples of the different types of issues that arise when our clients suffer injuries in a traffic accident:
In cases on backcountry or residential roads, collisions can often be a case of one person’s word versus another. For example, two cars could crash at a four-way stop without witnesses or cameras. The case would turn on which driver a jury believed. We must protect our client’s credibility and the accuracy of their story from day one.
When pedestrians are struck by vehicles, they often suffer sickening injuries, including head trauma. We face cases where our client has amnesia and can’t remember how they got hurt. If there are no witnesses or cameras, a driver can evade responsibility and make up a story about how the pedestrian was at fault. Our personal injury attorneys can aggressively cross-examine the driver to show they are lying.
We’ve seen cases where police officers, investigators, and insurance companies quickly blame motorcycle drivers. This is unfair, but a reality that can occur. We must be ready to defend our clients’ actions and right to the road so that we get maximum compensation for their injuries.
Cases involving semi-trucks involve complex data. Big rig drivers will often claim that they stopped their vehicle as quickly as they reasonably could given its size, or that the size of their rig made it impossible to avoid hitting a car. But the trucks themselves can tell us the truth through EDR or “black box” data, physics, and more. Huge corporations push truckers to drive faster and longer, increasing the danger on our roads. When our clients get hurt as a result, we put on our superhero capes to fight those corporations.
Our client may be rear-ended, and the cars involved have only minor dents. The at-fault driver’s insurance company denies that our client is injured due to the slow speed and minor damage. But our client feels pain and needs medical treatment. We use our medical knowledge to show the insurance company that our client’s body was whiplashed and that preexisting arthritis made our client more likely to get hurt. This gets our client a successful settlement.
If you’re injured, be sure to speak to a qualified personal injury attorney. You may think you have no case, but might be surprised. We love it when the unlikely, uphill battle cases succeed, and we get to tell our clients we’ve won the money they need. Call us at 888-311-4050.