Side impact collisions are commonly seen in urban areas, especially near or in intersections. Although modern vehicles come with reinforced bodies and often come fitted with impact-absorbing side beams, the sheer force of a vehicle accident – even a side impact accident – can still lead to serious injury and even death.
If you have been hit in a side impact collision, or if you accidentally struck another vehicle in a side impact crash, call us for guidance on what to do, how to file a claim, how to limit your personal liability, and to evaluate and assess your damages so that you can submit as thorough a claim to the insurance companies involved for a fair and fast settlement.
Side impact collisions are common at busy intersections, at traffic stops, and in or around heavily populated areas. Depending on the nature of the road (local neighborhood vs. busy downtown intersection), the vehicles involved (small hatchbacks vs. large SUVs or trucks), the speed at which the accident occurred, and the weather conditions at the time of the accident, side impact accidents can result in anything from minor injuries to long-term disability, permanent scarring, and even death.
Side impact collisions generally occur because of the following:
Alongside rear-end accidents, side impact collisions are perhaps the most unexpected of all accident types for the driver and passengers of the vehicle that is struck. Furthermore, although modern cars come with safety features throughout the vehicle, most of a car’s safety features are geared toward protecting passengers from front-end accidents. Seatbelts and airbags are two obvious safety features that are designed to prevent bodily harm when the body abruptly moves forward in a head-on collision.
For a side impact collision, however, despite the presence of side beams, the nature of the blow can be devastating. Every year, hundreds of people are killed in road accidents, and thousands more sustain serious injury via accidents that occur in every conceivable road condition: light conditions, in bad weather, and on bad road surfaces.
Such accidents can lead to all of the following:
If you have been struck in a side impact collision, don’t face the uphill task of getting your life back on track alone. We are here to help. Call us to learn about your rights, how to file a claim, how claims are evaluated, what the expected payout or settlement is for cases similar to yours, and who can and should be held liable for the accident.
We will help you in gathering the evidence needed to support your claim, filing the right paperwork with the right agencies at the right time, and speaking with insurance adjusters, law enforcement agencies, and healthcare professionals so that you are covered from all angles and are free from the stress of having to get things done on your own and trying to win the settlement you deserve without the requisite experience needed to do so.
Depending on the nature of the accident, any of the following may be held at least partially liable for a side impact collision:
Other factors can also come into play with side impact collisions, such as the weather, the nature of the road (straight roads vs. circuitous roads), the legal speed limit in that given driving zone, and the time of the day. Speak with a lawyer to understand how these different conditions can affect your case and to understand who is to be held liable for the accident you were involved in.
We pride ourselves on providing timely, fair, understanding, and compassionate legal services to victims of road accidents. If you or someone you know has been involved in a side impact collision, we are here to help. Call us today at (713) 677-2159 for a free, no-obligation discussion of the strengths and weaknesses of your case and to learn about all of your filing options. Call now.