The roads of the United States are heavily trafficked every single day, but the bad news is that these roads are not always safe, due to inclement weather or impaired drivers. Whenever an car crash occurs due to drunk or distracted drivers, someone may become injured in the resulting crash, either another car driver or a pedestrian (or even a bicycle rider), and this injured victim will want compensation. After such a car accident, a car accident lawyer should be contacted, and these lawyers can use their legal expertise and experience with the law to help their client find the settlement money that they want from the at-fault party’s insurance company. Finding a car accident attorney at a specialized law firm is a major step to take after an accident has occurred, and a car accident lawyer will be ready to help build an effective case in court. How often, then, do people drive while impaired, and how many people become injured due to this behavior?
Rates of Injury
A car accident lawyer will have plenty of potential clients from the accidents that happen every year in the United States. Across the U.S., about six million car accidents take place every year, and as a result of all those incidents, about three million people become injured every year, and those people will want to get compensation. Often, even pedestrians (such as in urban areas), motorcycle riders, and bicyclists may get hit too, especially at night. What can make a driver so impaired? Having a blood alcohol content of 0.08% or above is often the legal minimum for a DUI charge, since someone with this BAC is sufficiently impaired to be a major danger on the road. (DUI is a criminal charge on its own, even if no accident takes place.) A drunk driver will not have the coordination or the reflexes needed to drive safely, and will be much more likely to hit someone or fail to avoid oncoming cars or trucks. On top of that, distracted drivers are a hazard too, since they are preoccupied with handheld electronic items (like smart phones) or using the car’s dashboard, and they are not watching where they are going. And finally, bad weather such as heavy rain or snow can limit visibility and make the roads slick, and this can result in car crashes even if no one involved was intoxicated or distracted. After a wreck, what comes next?
Hiring A Car Accident Lawyer
Right after a car crash, the victim will be injured and will need medical attention, and this person will also have medical bills to think about. Pursuing a case in court alone can be difficult for a number of reasons, however, and hiring a car accident lawyer is nearly always the right step to take. For one thing, the victim of a crash is probably in a subjective, emotionally charged mental state, and they may have difficulty forming a coherent case on their own or taking an objective view on things. However, a car accident lawyer will have the detached, objective mental process needed to form a solid case, not to mention the legal skills to build that case.
A victim’s required compensation money may be difficult to calculate, especially if they have suffered injuries that will prevent them from carrying out meaningful, paying work in the future, and factoring this into a case can be a real challenge for a victim. However, a lawyer will know how to handle this, and can incorporate it into the case to make it stronger.
During litigation (not many cases actually go to trial), a car accident lawyer can overcome a number of hurdles and challenges, such as if the at-fault party’s insurance company refuses to provide all of the demanded settlement money, and such a lawyer can also use their skills in a complicated case involving multiple parties.
Finding a car accident lawyer means looking for specialized law firms in one’s area and getting consultations with the attorneys working there (which may or may not incur a fee) and finding one whose skills, experience, personality, and educational background are to the client’s liking. The two of them can then work as a team to build their case and pursue litigation.