Safety Trends and Personal Injury Cases

Vehicle safety features can figure prominently into personal injury cases.  On the one hand, automobiles now have a wide variety of safety features meant to protect their occupants from injury in an accident.  On the other, there are some times where these features fail to do their job properly.

First, let’s review some of the car safety features that are designed to keep people safe in the event of an accident:

• Antilock brakes prevent cars from spinning out on slippery surfaces during hard braking.
• Traction control improves vehicle operations in wet or icy conditions.
• Seatbelts help to hold occupants in place during an accident.
• Tire pressure monitors help the driver to know when tires need to be inflated, thus avoiding a blowout on the road.
• Front driver and passenger airbags, as well as side impact and side curtain airbags, are designed to protect the head, neck, and torso both from shock and from impact with hard surfaces in the event of a collision.
• Rear parking sensors and cameras help drivers of larger vehicles avoid hitting objects in their blind spots.
• Cargo nets and cages keep objects in the vehicle from becoming projectiles that can injure the occupants in the event of an accident.

Unfortunately, sometimes safety features can fail during a collision.  Seatbelts are a prime example of this.  First, they can restrict too much in an accident, causing damage to a person’s sternum.  Next, if a seatbelt does not give way properly during an accident, the wearer can experience an abdominal injury.  Finally, when worn by pregnant women, seatbelts have unfortunately been found to cause an injury to the unborn child in accident situations.

If you have been involved in an automobile accident, you do not have to deal with the aftermath alone.  Please contact Injury Law on Call at 757-486-7055 for assistance.