A dangerous car accident nowadays is a rollover accident, which involves many of the cars, SUVs, and pick-ups available on the market. As a consumer, it is essential that you know the advantages and disadvantages of the vehicle you are choosing and how different maneuvers may lead to severe injuries and a significant financial burden.
A crash is classified as a rollover if the vehicle tips onto its side or roof at any time during the crash. Rollover accidents may happen on highways or roads where vehicles tend to follow high speeds, any fixed object on the road or the impact from another vehicle most likely will make the driver suddenly swerve and could leave the driver without control of the vehicle.
On many occasions, when a rollover accident happens, the vehicle leaves the roadway, and occupants may get ejected from their cars, and that for sure will increase the likelihood of fatalities.
When you are involved in a car accident like this, you should contact a rollover accident lawyer in New York, who will assist you on all the legal matters you will have to face as a victim of this potentially catastrophic accident.
Common Injuries from Rollover Accidents
Injuries sustained in a rollover accident will vary depending on the speed at which the accident happened and if the vehicle performed multiple rolls before finally stopping. The most common injuries that a person may get after a rollover accident are:
Spinal Cord Injuries
This serious spinal injury could leave people with paralysis, extreme pain, and other consequences that may last until the last day of their lives. Prompting them to learn how to live with pain and limitations.
They can lead people to develop other health complications and economic and social consequences. They could become dependent on other people, causing a financial impact because they need to hire caregivers and pay for assistive technology to facilitate mobility and communication.
Neck Injuries
The neck is another delicate part of the human body, and an injury to it is very dangerous. If the force of the impact does not surpass the body limits, avoiding sudden death, the injured person may result in injuries in the soft tissue of the neck, known as whiplash.
Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)
A rollover accident is known for multiple points of impact to the ground, if the vehicle performed multiple rollovers there is just more probability for a person to hit their head with a solid object, causing traumatic brain injury. A life-risky injury that can leave a person with irreversible damage.
Broken Bones
The multiple impacts when a car is rolling over may cause its users to suffer from numerous broken bones. Arms, legs, skulls, ribs, and spinal cord discs could be broken after a rollover accident.
Bruises
If the vehicle rolled over once and was not too destructive, its users may still have suffered bruises all over their bodies. Strikes of this traumatic event will be visible for days, so taking pictures to document these injuries for future use is essential.
Causes of Rollover Car Accidents
Plenty of causes may be the reason for a vehicle to have a rollover accident. Among them stand out the following:
Reckless Driving
Driving a motor vehicle is a huge responsibility. When drivers do it in a way that endangers others on a public highway, they are acting against the law. This action may lead to serious consequences for them and other innocent people traveling to their destinations.
Excessive speeding, aggressive maneuvers, street racing, driving under the influence, and ignoring traffic control devices are just a few examples of reckless driving. If you ever get involved in an accident and see that the other driver executed any of those examples, you may be entitled to file a lawsuit to earn compensation. In such cases, you will need help from an experienced rollover car accident lawyer.
Reckless driving took the lives of 12,330 people in 2021, it is penalized to over 180 days in jail, and if the crash involved wrongful death, an at-fault driver could face several years in jail.
Vehicle Malfunctions:
Sometimes, the design of a vehicle does not take into account the safety of its users. If a rollover accident was due to a poor design from the manufacturer or a malfunction on one of its pieces, they can be liable for an accident.
Obstructions
A driver needs to be focused on the road. Sometimes, some obstacles or objects may be dangerous and cause a rollover accident. Sometimes, other vehicles carry heavy objects that may fall onto the highway. These hard objects could cause a car to trip and rollover.
A loose tire in front of another vehicle has caused accidents, causing it to jump through the air and roll over. This is very unpredictable but likely to happen. We never know when we will be involved, but it is essential to know about it.
Who is Responsible for a Rollover Car Crash?
Depending on the circumstances of the accident, there may be a responsible person, or more than one person may be found accountable. Sometimes, even the victims may have a grade of responsibility for the accident. In those cases, experts will need to investigate and argue about the facts and evidence to determine the liability percentage.
There is something called the comparative negligence rule. The defendant uses this rule to reduce the amount of money they will have to pay. It is a strategy that must be approached professionally. A rollover accident lawyer can help you find the right answers and represent you in the best way possible.
Remember that New York is a no-fault state and that all injury-related expenses will need to be covered by the PIP. A lawyer will help you get the most from it since the insurance company will always try to boycott the facts to reduce the amount of money given to you.
Suppose the amount of money you received is insufficient, and you sustained a severe injury. In that case, you can file a personal injury lawsuit against the party that caused the accident. This lawsuit may cover extra medical expenses, property damage, and non-economic damages.
You can count on an NYC rollover accident lawyer to get the best outcome from a personal injury lawsuit.
Rollover Accident Statistics
There were a total of 7,170 rollover accidents back in 2017, killing over 23 thousand people. These alarming numbers show us that drivers must be even more cautious when they start driving.
In 2021, 7640 passenger vehicle occupants died in rollover crashes. Although most rollovers (76 percent) were associated with a pre-rollover impact, a substantial proportion (24 percent) rolled over without having impacted anything beforehand.
It is curious how the numbers have remained consistent over the years, so there are still a lot of people getting hurt every year who require justice and a friendly hand to support them in a moment of difficulty.
What Vehicles Have the Highest Rollover Risk?
Multiple SUVs, cars, and even pick-ups were classified as dangerous for their propensity to roll over. Here you have a list of these vehicles:
- The 2017 Cadillac Escalade
- The 2016 Chevrolet Tahoe
- The 2016 Jeep Renegade
- The 2017 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited
- The 2017 Toyota 4Runner
- The 2016 GMC Yukon
- The 2013 Hyundai Accent
- The 2012 Dodge Nitro
- The 2011 Honda Element
- The 2017 Nissan Nv3500
Next time you purchase a car, you may want to look at the safety devices that the vehicle has, how robust its structure is, and if it is worth driving with one of those, regardless of how pretty it looks.
You must understand that SUVs and Pickups are more prone to rollovers than other types of vehicles. This is indeed related to their higher center of gravity.
SUVs and pickups typically have higher ground clearance and taller body designs, which raise their center of gravity. This higher center of gravity makes them more susceptible to tipping or rolling over, especially during sudden maneuvers, sharp turns, or curves at high speeds.
Every year, automobile manufacturers work to create safer vehicles. They might indeed be found liable for accidents, but will you wait until an accident like this and risk your family’s lives for the possibility they will pay for damages? Even if that is a possibility, it is also odd that they are not found liable.
That is why it is recommended that all future vehicle owners investigate this issue. Drivers of these vehicles must be cautious and mindful of their higher center of gravity to minimize the risk of rollover accidents.
Contact a New York Rollover Accident Lawyer for Help
At The Ward Law Group, you will find the finest and most experienced car accident lawyers who will take over your case and bring justice to you and your family members. With over 25 years of experience, we are committed to assisting the community, even in their mother language.
You can now rely on our expertise to gather and present all the documentation and evidence required to prove that you need fair compensation to cover your losses. Contact one of our lawyers using our number 855-DOLOR-55 for a FREE consultation of your case.