All car accidents have the potential to be catastrophic. However, some are more severe than others, even without different factors that make all car accidents fatal. Understanding what accidents are dangerous can help you seek fair compensation based on the severity of the injuries and damages incurred. At the Las Vegas Personal Injury Attorney Law Firm, we are committed to seeking the proper compensation for our clients involved in catastrophic accidents. In this article, you learn the types of California accidents that are considered fatal.
Types of Catastrophic Accidents
Based on the factors described above, specific accidents are more severe than others. Below is a breakdown of these types of accidents:
Head-on Collision
You probably think that the safety features like crumple zones, seatbelts, and airbags that come with modern vehicles would likely ensure that a victim walks away from a head-on collision unscathed. That's not necessarily wrong since some of these safety features are effective sometimes, but they don't usually do much in most cases.
However, a head-on collision usually happens near average driving speed for at least one of the two vehicles involved in this accident. The exert energy on the vehicle and passengers inside the vehicle work perfectly in this situation. However, one of the two vehicles decelerates instantly from its speed to zero and likely results in a momentary acceleration.
The violent instantaneous deceleration can significantly affect the driver and passenger's body. It's also rare for a head-on collision to be a perfectly head-on phenomenon. The possibility of an angular force can also cause severe injuries to the occupants.
A head-on collision linked with driver impairment and speeding can also make a crash more severe. Drunk drivers usually fail to adhere to posted speed limits or move along the wrong way. In that situation, they will possibly end up causing a catastrophic accident.
To put this in a better perspective, the severity of an accident causes in every ten miles per hour of a car movement above the 50mph limit. This is because driving at high speed reduces the time a driver would react to a dangerous situation and increases the impact energy; hence, causing a severe accident.
Please note that two vehicles involved in a mirror-image head-on collision moving at an equivalent speed equal the severity of a car that hits an immovable barrier twice that speed. In addition, the law of physics states that the collision force is divided between both vehicles, meaning that the force involved is still potentially catastrophic.
Pile-Up Collision
A pile-up collision generally occurs in low-visibility conditions while drivers are on freeways and can sometimes catch out drivers driving too closely to the vehicle in front. It also happens when drivers cannot adjust to other lanes due to road conditions. Chain-reaction crashes can also occur with good visibility, but unexpected ice and bad weather can make a vehicle fall over a cliff or an overpass.
Another possibility of a pile-up collision is when a third vehicle follows too closely to the initial crash to avoid hitting one or both cars. For instance, when a car comes to a sudden halt, cars on the rear cannot stop on time and may hit it from behind. In addition, considering that freeways have high traffic volumes, more vehicles would make sudden brakes and probably skid, darting to the oncoming traffic. As a result, more cars will be involved creating a chain reaction effect.
Multiple-vehicle collisions are particularly deadly as the mass of crumpled vehicles makes it challenging for survivors to escape. Even if survivors can exit their cars, other cars might strike them. Individual vehicles in a multiple-vehicle collision are usually hit multiple times by vehicles at high speed, increasing the risk of injury to the passengers who might have survived the first impact. Collisions after the initial one can also occur from the side of the vehicle, where the passengers are more vulnerable to sustaining severe injuries.
A multiple collision becomes more dangerous when there is fire on one part of the collision, spreading all over the entire crash area via the spilled gasoline. In addition, this kind of collision makes it overwhelming for firefighters, ambulances, and police to make speedy rescues. Therefore, there are chances of increased severity of the injuries sustained in the collision.
A multiple collision can also destroy roadways, mainly when it melts and burns the concrete surface's spalling or asphalt. The heat can also weaken the structures of an overpass or a bridge.
A fiery pile-up in a tunnel is the most severe type of multiple vehicle collision. There are few means to escape from the poisonous fumes, and the confined heat can also damage the tunnel's structural support, making the carnage more severe.
A multiple collision becomes fatal when a large-scale collision closes crucial highway routes for a few days or longer if the highway support structures are damaged.
Roll-Over Collision
Particular instances can make one or several vehicles roll over. This can happen when the impact angle turns the car too hard or when a driver entirely loses control of a vehicle. In most cases, rollover occurs when drivers attempt to avoid a collision, flipping over a car with their evasive attempt. This is more likely when large trucks and SUVs are involved in an accident.
Rollovers are particularly dangerous when abandoning the vehicle becomes much more difficult. Apart from that, the rolling can cause significant injury when the occupants are not wearing seatbelts. A rollover accident distributes injuries on five main areas: The upper and lower limb, head and neck, and abdomen.
Injuries sustained throughout the head and neck regions are usually severe since they are the most vulnerable areas. That's why most victims in rollovers sustain severe injuries like traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury, and broken bones. These injuries are caused by constant slamming into various vehicle parts or obstacles, impact from unsecured cargo, contact with torn metal or broken glass, or when you're ejected out of the car.
Injuries sustained from a rollover accident can cause long-term effects like critical impairment on your memory, speech, vision, and emotional control. It can also cause partial blindness, loss of hearing, emotional control, amputation, and various damages to the internal organs, nerves, and veins.
Side-Impact Collision
According to the National Safety Council, a side-impact collision is ranked as the second deadliest form of motor vehicle accident after a head-on collision. Side-impact collision includes any form of a crash where one vehicle hits the other on its side. It consists of a side-swipe or a lateral impact. T-bone crashes, also referred to as broadside collisions, can result from a vehicle facing head-on colliding with another somewhere on its side panel.
The deadliness of a T-bone accident results from the passenger vehicle's design. The side of a passenger vehicle is usually the weakest part of a car in terms of the ability to absorb impact. Passenger doors are made light enough for the passenger to open easily. They also include windows, making them less capable of absorbing impact.
This type of accident can be dangerous when there is a height disparity between the two vehicles involved. For example, when an SUV or truck impacts a low-riding sedan, the grill of the SUV or truck becomes more likely to collide directly with the sedan's window rather than its door, which does little to reduce the impact on the occupant.
Underride Collision
An underride accident is a crash that involves a car that crashes under the side or back of a tractor-trailer. 18-wheelers or large trucks are higher than passenger vehicles to the extent of slipping under the trailer. In an accident, they can sometimes shear off the entire top of a car, leading to devastating injuries or death.
These accidents can either be side underrides or rear underrides. Side underrides occur when a vehicle sleeps at the tractor-trailer side, destroying the entire top part of a car. This type of accident usually occurs in a low-light situation, especially when the truck is turning or at an intersection.
A rear underride accident is characterized by a passenger vehicle slipping under the rear part of a truck. It usually occurs when a trailer makes a sudden stop or slows down while the other car is following it too closely or its driver isn't paying attention. It's common when trucks are parked on the shoulder of a poorly marked freeway or when there is low light.
The core issue of an underride accident is that they have a direct impact on the passenger cabin. Small vehicles use their bumper to absorb the force of a crash, but the bumper hits nothing but underneath a truck's trailer in an underride. Therefore, the first point of impact is the front of the passenger cabin which only has the flimsy frame around the windshield as the barrier between the trailer's structure and the passengers. As a result, the cabin will inevitably crash alongside the driver and the passenger sitting in the front passenger seat, causing severe injuries or death.
Run-off the Road Collision
A run-off-road collision, also known as a roadway departure, is one of the deadliest types of accident in the United States. It's a single-vehicle accident where the vehicle leaves the roadway and strikes a fixed object like a light pole or a concrete barrier. In rare cases, cars can run off a highway and fall off a cliff.
Run-off road collisions usually result from bad weather and road conditions, distracted driving, drunk driving, and drowsy driving. When a vehicle hits on a stationary object, the level of impact is usually relatively high. Therefore, it might cause severe injuries to the driver and the passenger sitting on the front seat.
A run-off-road collision becomes more severe when a vehicle rolls off the road into a cliff or an overpass. Vehicle occupants crash onto the car's inner structure as it moves over the ridge, leading to severe injuries and even death.
Rear-End Truck Accidents
Rear-end accidents are catastrophic if a truck is on the rear of a passenger or a smaller vehicle. Trucks are generally much bigger than average vehicles, and it's no brainer that they can cause the worst damages. Most 18-wheeler semi-trucks weigh over 80,000 pounds than the average 4,000 approximate weight of most vehicles. That's why rear-end truck accidents are much more dangerous when a regular car is involved.
Factors that Make an Accident Catastrophic
Before you learn about the type of catastrophic accident, it's recommendable to learn about the factors that make a specific type of accident severe. These factors apply across different vehicles and types of accidents. These factors are as follows:
The Size and Type of Vehicles Involved in the Accident
Despite the level of safety features and careful drivers on the road, you can't fight physics. This means that a massive vehicle like an 18-wheeler or commercial truck would naturally fare better than a smaller vehicle while both are involved in an accident. Apart from that, the size and style of the car involved also make a big difference.
For instance, a pickup truck fares better than a small car due to its larger size and high hoods. Full-size cars like SUVs also typically have better incompatibility than small and midsize vehicles. However, you should note that regardless of SUVs being larger vehicles, they're prone to rolling over and causing severe injuries to their occupants. Even so, automakers have improved this danger, making it more common with people with older SUVs models.
The Speed of Impact
The speed of impact is another case of a physics phenomenon that you can't fight in a car accident. A big rig truck traveling at high speed has extra force than a vehicle moving at a slow sleep. Additionally, when your vehicle is moving at high speed, it's more likely to lose control and spin out or crash onto someone or something, making the accident catastrophic.
High speed also contributes to an accident based on insufficient time to prevent an accident whenever there is an imminent car crash. High speed also makes it difficult to stop in dangerous road conditions or bad weather.
The Size of the Cargo Being Carried by Truck
In most cases, the cargo on an 18-wheeler is the ultimate factor that brings the most harm in an accident. For instance, a flatbed hauling heavy pipes and large equipment might break loose and end up falling on other vehicles on the road once they crush on other cars. However, chemicals like gases, flammable gas, or toxic substances can also cause catastrophic accidents. In some cases, the presence of these dangerous substances could prevent emergency responders from rescuing victims successfully.
The Presence of Safety Devices
There are reasons why seatbelts and airbags are mandatory in all vehicles. These safety devices help in minimizing the harm and injury that occur after an accident. In addition, many vehicles are specifically engineered to crumple in specific areas and remain firm in other places, distributing the accident forces and minimizing the accident’s severity. Therefore, if a vehicle has defective safety devices, there are possibilities of a severe accident.
The Local Environment
Being hit by a big rig is a dangerous phenomenon by itself. However, if it pushes your vehicle down an overpass, a bridge, or down a steep embankment, it will result in a severe accident. Dangerous weather conditions can also delay rescue workers and ambulances, increasing the severity of the car accident. Apart from that, when a trauma center or hospital is far away from the accident scene, there are chances of suffering long-term damage or, in worst cases, survival.
Human Factors
Human factors can also play a significant role in exacerbating an accident. For instance, when a trucker fails to apply brakes before a collision, it will cause a severe accident. This is because truckers cannot effectively steer the vehicle away from the oncoming vehicle when they fail to apply the brakes on time. Some of the factors that can make a driverless vigilant before a carnage include fatigue, use of alcohol, and lack of experience.
Location of the Impact
When a vehicle is struck on its side, front, or rear, it makes a significant difference in the accident's severity. Your sitting location can also affect the severity of the injuries.
Find a Reputable Car Accident Attorney Near Me
You need the help of a car accident attorney, especially if you are involved in a catastrophic accident. A car accident attorney will help navigate the complex jurisdiction system to ensure that you're well compensated for the injuries and damages sustained from a catastrophic accident. Our team at the Las Vegas Personal Injury Attorney Law firm is here to help you in times of your legal needs. With our years of experience, we have what it takes to ensure that you're fairly compensated. Don't hesitate to call our offices today at 702-996-1224 for a free case evaluation.
