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Why Is It Important to Report a Wreck to the Highway Patrol or Local Police?

Motor Vehicle Law & Statistics , , , ,

First and foremost for accountability when it comes time to be reimbursed for your property damage or personal injuries.  Yes, this essentially equates to insurance purposes. The person that causes the collision may be apologetic and a “really nice person” at the scene but a couple days later have a change of heart and not be so forthcoming with their admission of liability.   Therefore the primary reason is to ensure that the at fault, or sole contributor, that admits to being inattentive or distracted is memorialized by the reporting South Carolina Highway Patrol or local authorities. The primary goal of any insurance company is to protect their insured and if their insured said it was not their fault, the property damage on your car or medical treatment you incurred is not going to be reimbursed anytime soon, if at all.

Secondly, if this is a serious offense and someone is driving on the roadways under the influence of drugs or alcohol, they need to be stopped! Hopefully, no one is seriously injured and by helping this person realize the gravity of their actions, you may save lives down the road.

Thirdly, you have no idea the true impact this collision will have on any property damage to your car or any personal injuries to your person. (no pun intended). Your adrenaline is pumping, so you feel no pain initially. Or the frame of your car is bent but you don’t realize that until you pull off and the vehicle drives crooked. Too late. You let that “nice person” go with a handshake and a smile. That’s okay, I am sure you have a couple thousand dollars lying around to repair your car and medical expenses.

A few tips if you are in an accident, from both a personal injury lawyer and person that has been in two accidents (neither of which were his fault):

  • Call 911 or *HP immediately, regardless of severity. If not life threatening tell the operator and explain the details. Those calls are recorded by the way;
  • Take pictures of the property damage with your fancy phone or at the very least make a mental note;
  • Make sure to get any contact information from any witnesses, especially if they do not have time to stick around for the reporting officer. They can still be helpful but not if you don’t know how to get in touch with them. It would be better if they could stick around and talk to the officer;
  • If the other party tries to leave the scenemake every effort to get their license tag, vehicle description and/or notify the 911 operator. License tags are usually only 6 characters. You can remember that;
  • If you feel any pain at all, notify the reporting officer and go get checked out when the ambulance, or EMS comes out. Otherwise, you know what the insurance company for the at fault driver will say?  “Obviously you were not hurt because you did not seek immediate medical attention.”
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Size Does Matter: Motor Vehicle Impact Results

Motor Vehicle Law & Statistics , , , , , , , , ,

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (“IIHS“) is an independent, nonprofit, scientific, and educational organization dedicated to reducing the losses — deaths, injuries, and property damage — from crashes on the nation’s highways. ** ...wholly supported by auto insurers.

The IIHS’ reported in their Special Issue on Car Size, Weight, and Safety:

  • “Reflecting Newton’s laws of motion, the results confirm the lesson that bigger, heavier cars are safer.”
  • SIZE-“When a car crashes into a solid barrier, the outcome depends in part on the size of the front end.  If one car’s front end is long enough to crush twice as much as another car’s in a barrier crash at the same speed, its restrained occupants will experience half as much force as the people in the smaller car because it takes them twice as long to stop.“
  • WEIGHT- “When two cars going the same speed crash front to front, the outcome depends in part on the cars’ relative weights. The heavier car will push the lighter car backward during the impact, which means the velocity change of the heavier car will be much less than that of the lighter car.  If the lighter car weighs half as much as the heavier car, the forces on its occupants will be twice as great.”
  • PHYSICS-“Dictate crash outcomes.” The poor performance of all three micro and mincars in frontal impacts with midsize cars isn’t surprising. It reflects the laws of the physical universe, specifically principles related to force and distance.”
  • “The greater the change in velocity, the greater the forces on the people inside and the higher the risk of injury.”

It amazes me when I talk to insurance adjusters and they do not reference the research they pay for. I know the title and article imply common sense but that is not what insurance companies use in negotiating claims.  They like to talk about property damage as a direct correlation to injuries.  Obviously their own research proves them wrong. Imagine that!

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What Can I Do About Property Damage to my Car After a Wreck?

Automobile Insurance, Motor Vehicle Law & Statistics , , , ,

Don’t panic. You have just been in a wreck and your vehicle was totaled or determined to be undriveable. The other driver was put at fault by the investigating officer. What do you do now?

  1. Take note of which towing service takes your vehicle. This is after you take tons of pictures to the damage on your vehicle and the other vehicles.
  2. Contact the at fault driver’s insurance information that is located on the FR-10, or green incident report, completed by the officer.
  3. Report the wreck to the at fault driver’s insurance company but do not agree to a recorded statement or further inquiry on the phone.
  4. Identify to the at fault driver’s insurance company that your vehicle was damaged and you need a rental.
  5. If the at fault driver disputes the officer’s determination of liability (that they were indeed at fault) then the at fault driver’s insurance company will dispute paying for your vehicle and giving you a rental.
  6. Order the more detailed FR-50, two page accident report, from the South Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles.  (You will have to send in $6.00 so click on the hyperlink for the address).
  7. Demand a rental car of like kind. They will say no, but ask and plead anyway.
  8. If your car is determined to be “totaled”, then you will need to determine the value of your car based upon its mileage, year, overall condition, and essentially what it would take to replace exactly what you had before the wreck.
  9. Go to com, Edmonds.com, NADAguides.com, or KBB.comand try and find a vehicle just like yours within a 50 mile radius of where you live to get an idea of what your vehicle is worth. Send those examples to the adjuster if you do not like the number they offer.
  10. Two (2) claimsarise out of the majority of wrecks: a property damage claim and a personal injury claim.  Make sure if you settle your property damage claim that you ONLY settle your property damage claim and not your personal injury claim. Yes, insurance companies trick people all the time by having them sign away both claims.
  11. If the at fault driver’s insurance company is taking an inordinate amount of time and you have coverage on your insurance, then file your property claim with your insurance company. Yes, the otherside was at fault but this will get the problem solved and you will be reimbursed your deductible when the at fault driver’s insurance company finally pays.
  12. If you are not provided a rental vehicle immediately after the wreckand you are without your vehicle for a period of time before you are offered a settlement on your property damage. You are entitled to “loss of use” for the time you are without your vehicle. The owner may recover the value of the automobile’s use during the time in which he was necessarily deprived of its use. Adams v. Orr, 260 S.C. 92, 98 (S.C. 1973).

My clients are most frustrated with property damage. I am most interested in your personal injury claim. That is why I provide you with this very comprehensive guideline when dealing with insurance companies over property claims.

If you have questions about your insurance policy, read my “Full Coverage” article.

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Insurance Companies And Whiplash Injuries

Automobile Insurance, Motor Vehicle Law & Statistics , , , ,

Insurance Companies Admit Whiplash Injuries Occur in Minor, or Low, Impact Wrecks! The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety is an organization dedicated to reducing the losses — deaths, injuries, and property damage — from crashes on the nation’s highways and is wholly supported by auto insurers (read insurance companies).

In a news release dated December 17, 2008, the IIHS reports (important parts underlined):

Rear crashworthiness needs improving:  Many automakers haven’t paid as much attention to protection in rear crashes, compared with front and side, Nolan points out. Good seat/head restraints are key to preventing whiplash injuries. Neck sprain or strain is the most frequently reported crash injury in US insurance claims. When a vehicle is struck in the rear and driven forward, its seats accelerate occupants’ torsos forward. Unsupported, the head will lag behind the forward torso movement, and the differential motion causes the neck to bend and stretch. The higher the torso acceleration, the more sudden the motion, the higher the forces on the neck, and the more likely a neck injury is to occur. Keeping the head and torso moving together is crucial to reducing whiplash injury risk. To accomplish this, the geometry of a head restraint has to be adequate — high enough to be near the back of the head. Then the seat structure and stiffness characteristics must be designed to work in concert with the head restraint to support an occupant’s neck and head, accelerating them with the torso as the vehicle is pushed forward.

“In stop and go commuter traffic, you’re more likely to get in a rear-end collision than any other kind of crash,” Nolan says. “It’s not a major engineering feat to design seats and head restraints that afford good protection in these common crashes.”

In these whiplash tests and throughout the article no mention was given to the amount of property damage done to the car. Can you believe that? This was testing done by insurance companies and they didn’t mention a single word about the amount of property damage done to the rear of the vehicle as an indicator of personal injury.  This article mentioned “acceleration”, “sudden motion”, and “higher forces to the neck.”  Well surely these vehicle tested impact at a high speed?

Rear crash protection is rated according to a two-step procedure. Starting points for the ratings are measurements of head restraint geometry — the height of a restraint and its horizontal distance behind the back of the head of an average-size man. Seat/ head restraints with good or acceptable geometry are tested dynamically using a dummy that measures forces on the neck. This test simulates a collision in which a stationary vehicle is struck in the rear at 20 mph. Seats without good or acceptable geometry are rated poor overall because they can’t be positioned to protect many people.

If you are currently dealing with an insurance adjuster or company on a wreck claim, print this article out from IIHS’ website and send it to them.  Make sure you highlight the portions above if you have been in a rear end collision. It may not matter because they only do what their computer tells them but it will make you feel better.