Motor Vehicle Accident Cases, Insurance, Lawyers & Compensations

Motor Vehicle Accident Cases

The Statistics Behind US Motor Vehicle Accident cases and Worldwide:

Motor Vehicle Accident Cases are one of the leading causes of death in the modern world. The United States is one of the leading countries in the list of contemporary and high-income countries. According to the NHTSA, and CDC more than 38,800 fatalities occurred in the year 2019 in the US.

The number of people who died in the year 2019 is a 2% reduction from the previous year. In the year 2018, there were a total of 39,888 motor vehicle accident cases. The deadliest 3 hour span of time was on Saturdays between 12am to 3am in the year 2016.

About 58% of these fatal car accidents involve only one vehicle. Fatal car accidents including two or more vehicles are 38% of 38,800. A collision of two or more vehicles was most likely to occur at an intersection or a turn. 40% of these fatal car accidents occurred due to a collision with a fixed object.

Saturday is the day that most the motor vehicle accident cases occurred. 48% of the accidents occurred at night. Out of those, 41% occurred at night but in conditions of full light. In the year 2018, trucks, pickups, vans, or SUVs accounted for 95% of all fatal car accidents in the US. In the year 2016 a fatal accident was also a rollover 17.9% of the time.

For every fatality in the US, at least 8 people are hospitalized. According to the information on all of these government websites. More than half of the accidents involve individuals between the ages of 15-44. Car accidents are the main cause of death of individuals between the ages of 15-29. Car accidents are the 9th leading cause of deaths worldwide.

It is alarming that 50% of US drivers in a fatal speeding accident, did not have their seat belts on. Alcohol accounts for 37% of the fatal speeding accidents. The Western states are more likely to have passengers wearing seat belts in comparison to the Southern, Northeastern or Midwestern states.

Car Accidents & the Significance of Driver’s or Car Insurance

Drivers must carry motor vehicle insurance or driver’s license insurance because an accident can occur at any time. You must carry and maintain a mandatory minimum level of car insurance to be able to drive legally. If you fail to carry the mandatory minimum level of car insurance you could be in violation of the law.

Insurance ensures that you can take financial responsibility for any losses incurred to anybody’s personal property or any physical injuries in the case of an accident. A couple of states do not require a driver to carry car insurance, but instead provide proof of financial responsibility. A surety bond or a certificate of self-insurance are valid proofs of financial responsibility in these states.

Insurance policy required minimum amounts are expressed in the format: 25/50/20 ($25,000/$50,000/$20,000). The three numbers correspond to the following values:

  1. Personal Injury
  2. All-inclusive personal injury compensation for one particular accident
  3. All-inclusive property damages for one particular accident

The following chart provides state-by-state requirements of the minimum insurance coverage a driver needs to carry. The chart also provides the type of liability insurance a driver must carry in that particular state. Keep in mind, the values given here are only minimum mandatory insurance requirements. A driver may wish to carry additional coverage or different insurance clauses based on their personal requirements.

A word of advice, state laws can change if a new legislation is enacted. They can also change through court resolutions and other methods. Contact www.salvilaw.com/car-accident-lawyer/ to understand the intricacies of the law.

What To Do Immediately After a Car Accident?

Immediately after a car accident has occurred there are a lot of things going on in a person’s mind. It is a hectic task trying to figure out what to do first. You might have sustained critical injuries. You might have passengers who are critically injured.

The other driver could be driving under intoxication. Accidents often occur during inclement weather. The accident could be a consequence of the weather. It might be raining or extremely cold to stand outside being injured. An accident could potentially result in a traffic jam.

The first thing you need to do as you witness a car accident is contact emergency services. Make sure your vehicle is completely off the road when you arrive at the scene of an accident to help. The scene of the accident needs to be clearly visible to emergency personnel as they arrive.

Call 9-1-1. If you are calling 9-1-1 be prepared to provide facts and information about the accident. Inform the emergency services if there are victims who have sustained injuries. Let them know how many people need medical assistance by trying to describe their injuries.

Do not end the call until the emergency representative on the phone hangs up. Do not move any injured victim, unless it is absolutely necessary. Trying to move an injured person at the scene of an accident can aggravate the injury.

Help if the vehicle is burning or the person is in a prone position in front of oncoming traffic. If the ignition is still on in the destroyed car, switch it off. Try to find the owner of the other car, if you have hit a parked vehicle.

Exchange contact information with the owner of the other vehicle. Try to exchange contact information, name and number, with all the people directly involved in the accident. This could include witnesses, passengers, pedestrians, and or business owners in the area.

The contact information of all of these people will be extremely valuable when you file a claim with your insurance company. Make sure you note down the make, model and license registration of all the other vehicles involved in the accident.

If possible take pictures if you are physically able to do so. Try to look for witnesses who can corroborate your side of the story. A witness could possibly provide information which completely changes the sequence of events.

Don’t move your vehicle if it was your vehicle that was directly involved in an accident. Do not leave the scene of the accident unless and until the police arrive at the location. Leaving the scene of an accident can be considered as indirect evidence against you.

Do not discuss whose fault it was with anyone at the scene of the accident. Do not apologize to anyone for anything if you are one of the victims of an accident. Both of these actions could be considered as circumstantial evidence incriminating you in a future lawsuit.

Do not make any informal agreements with the other party if both of you have not sustained any injuries after the accident. People do this so that neither of you reports the incident to the authorities.

Making informal agreements not to contact the authorities incriminates you, if the other person contacts the authorities first. They just have to say that you agreed not to contact the authorities because you knew it was your mistake.

Do not try to be the first one to speak to the officers when they arrive. Try to speak to different officers if more than one officer is present at the scene. If there is only one officer, don’t rush to be the first one to speak to the officer.

Do not discard any items which could be considered evidence. Some items that can be considered as evidence are bloodstained garments, faulty products, or parts of the car. Do not disclose any piece of evidence in your possession to anybody at the scene of the accident. Disclosing

How to File an Insurance Claim After a motor vehicle accident cases:

Liability car insurance is a mandatory requirement in 49 states out of 50. Almost $242 billion is financially lost annually in the US due to car accidents. The psychological and social damages are even greater than this fiscal loss.

You could be responsible for paying the expenses to repair or replace damages to property. In addition to property damage, you might also be responsible to pay for the medical treatment to the other party. Your own car will also need repairs.

You need to consider other costs as well. For example, you might need a car rental for the time your car is in the workshop. So, how do you file a car insurance claim after an accident? Let’s look at a few pointers on motor vehicle accident cases.

1.    Collecting Information From the Day of the Accident

Filing a claim with your insurance company becomes easier with the information from the day of the accident. You might not have exchanged the name of insurance provider’s, being seriously injured on the day of the accident. The police can help you connect the dots.

If you have pictures from the day of the accident, they can come in handy to help speed up the process. The list of names and numbers of the witnesses can also speed things up to process the claim.

Try to notice if there are other surveillance cameras in the neighborhood which could have recorded your accident. Information coming from these sources can favor your testimony.

2.    Filing a Claim With Your Insurance Company

There are certain pieces of information which you should have before you can officially file a claim. The first thing which you need to have is your insurance policy number. There are several different ways of filing claims. For example, you can file a claim by contacting your insurance company over the phone or online.

File a claim online if you have multimedia files you want to share with your company. Your insurance company might have an online form to file a claim. You might be asked for the following information when filing a claim.

i.)            Your policy number

ii.)           Time & location of the accident

iii.)          Injuries sustained by the policyholder

iv.)          Case number with the police

v.)           Names of the officers

vi.)          Was your car towed? (If yes, where to?)

vii.)         Name of the other party

viii.)        Make and model of the other car

ix.)          License registration of the other car

x.)           Insurance provider of the other party

xi.)          Witnesses of the accident

The following are some good practices for filing a claim, after an accident has taken place. Call your agent even before getting any medical treatment. Whether it was your fault or not, discuss coverage options with your agent for both circumstances. Try to get a copy of your policy and read the “Exclusion” and “Coverage” options in detail.

Transcribe notes of all the conversations you have with insurance company representatives. These notes should include the name, designation, phone numbers, and the names of the supervisors of the people you speak with.

3.    Collaborate With Your Claims Adjuster

Don’t hesitate to open up with your insurance provider. It is better that your insurance provider knows all the facts to better help you in your particular situation. Remember you have a contract with your insurer. But your insurance company can only help if you cooperate with the claims adjuster.

In most cases, you will only speak to your claims adjuster over the phone. A claims adjuster is a person assigned by the insurance company to investigate your claim and accident. Think of the claims adjuster as a detective assigned by the insurance company. This is because the claims adjuster can only rely on valid proof and witness testimony to investigate the claim.

Cooperate with your claims adjuster, if your claims adjuster needs any information or supporting documentation of an event at any time. It may seem like the adjuster is there to help you. But the loyalty of the claims adjuster is with the insurance company. Claims adjusters are assigned a period of time to process a claim.

The claims adjuster will try to minimize expenses on the insurance company. This is why you need to be very specific when dealing with your claims adjuster, especially when monetary amounts are concerned. Otherwise you might not be satisfied with the final claim reimbursement that you get.

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