Expect that the moments immediately following a car wreck will be chaotic as you struggle to understand the situation and your injuries. First, you should consider the nature of any injuries you have sustained and decide what medical evaluation and treatment is appropriate. If you are seriously injured, experience pain when attempting to move, cannot feel your limbs, believe you may have struck your head, or are unsure how serious your injuries are, then you should call emergency medical assistance and ask to be taken to a hospital as quickly as possible. If you do not believe your injuries are severe or life-threatening, make arrangements to seek medical evaluation and treatment as soon as possible.

As time and your abilities permit, at the scene of the crash you should attempt to:

• Move yourself and your vehicle out of the way of other traffic if you can do so safely and without causing further injury;
• Obtain the name and contact information from witnesses who are present at the scene of the crash and who indicate that they saw the crash occur or have information about the crash;
• Refrain from admitting liability or saying you are sorry for the accident to any witness (such statements can be used against you to reduce your compensation award and/or preclude you from recovering any compensation at all;
• Write down a detailed account of what happened immediately before and after the crash, and keep this statement in a safe place so you can refer to it later when giving statements to the insurance company and/or your attorney; and
• Take photographs of the scene of the accident, including damage to the vehicles, the location of the accident, and your injuries,

The force generated by a car accident can cause significant physical injuries. Many of our clients are laid up in bed for months after an accident, struggling to recover from the pain and inconvenience caused by the crash. Some of the injuries our clients have suffered include:

• Bruises
• Cuts or abrasions
• Scarring
• Burns
• Nerve damage
• Dislocated joints
• Whiplash
• Strains
• Sprains
• Broken bones, including compound fractures
• Traumatic brain injuries, including concussions
• Spinal cord injuries

Each of these injuries is sufficiently serious to warrant immediate medical treatment, which will allow you to make the best recovery possible. Although some injuries will clear up with sufficient rest, others will require extensive (and expensive) rehabilitation.

To receive compensation for a car accident, you typically need to show that another driver was careless and that this carelessness caused your injuries. In legal terms, this is called bringing a suit for “negligence.” There are many different types of negligence, including:

• Distracted driving
• Texting while driving
• Drunk driving
• Driving while under the influence of drugs
• Failing to obey traffic signs
• Moving violations
• Traveling too fast for conditions
• Failure to maintain your vehicle in a safe condition
• Aggressive driving, such as tailgating and illegal passing
• Drowsy driving

There are four elements of a negligence suit:

• Duty. You must show that the driver who struck you owed you a duty of care. This is typically easy, since motorists owe pedestrians and other drivers a duty to operate their vehicles safely.
• Breach. You must point to some act that exhibits a lack of care, like any of those listed above.
• Damages. You must suffer a legally-recognizable injury. In the vast majority of cases, you will suffer a bodily injury.
• Causation. The driver’s breach must have caused your injuries. If not, they are not responsible.

Your Toledo car accident lawyer will help you review the circumstances and identify you have sufficient evidence to support a negligence claim against another driver.

Car accidents often involve negotiations with the at-fault driver’s insurance company. Many injured motorists make key errors, which an attorney could have helped them avoid. For example,

• You should not give a recorded statement to the insurance adjuster without first speaking to a lawyer. Anything you say to the adjuster could come back to bite you later, especially if you say anything someone could interpret as accepting responsibility for the accident.
• You should not go to be checked out by a physician the insurance agent selects.
• You should not sign anything an insurance agent gives you without first showing it to a lawyer.
• You should not try to settle your claim until you fully understand how much your injuries might be worth. Many people accept settlements that are too low because they don’t understand what other injured motorists have received for similar injuries.

Instead of going into negotiations blind, you can have an experienced Toledo car accident attorney by your side the entire time.

A car accident can happen anywhere—on the highway, a side road, or in a parking lot. Some of the more common car collisions include:

• Head-on collisions. Often, a drunk or tired driver will veer into oncoming traffic, leading to a head-on collision. The force generated can cause significant injuries, including death.
• Side-impact collisions. In this accident, the front of one car strikes another car’s side, forming a “T.” Side-impact collisions are deadly because the side of a car does not provide as much protection as the front or rear fender.
• Sideswipes. Two vehicles strike each other each on the side. Often, the vehicles are travelling in the same direction. Although not as dangerous as side-impact collisions, sideswipes can cause drivers to lose control of their vehicles and run off the road, where they hit poles, trees, or other objects.
• Rear-end collisions. A vehicle strikes the vehicle in front of it, often because it is travelling too closely and the driver has inadequate amount of time to brake. Rear-end collisions are primarily responsible for whiplash injuries.
• Rollovers. A vehicle can roll over when trying to turn while going uphill or downhill. Vehicles also roll over if they lose traction in dirt or ride up an incline. Rollover accidents are very deadly, as occupants can be thrown around or crushed when the roof collapses.
• Pileups. Multi-car pileups often occur in poor weather. After the initial collision, other vehicles swerve to avoid the crash, and these cars then pinball off each other, leading to more collisions.

Regardless of how the accident unfolded, you will need experienced legal representation to help you receive the compensation you deserve.

Majority of the time pedestrians have the right away and the fault of an accident lands on the driver. However, there are some circumstances where the pedestrian is at fault.

The term jaywalking is when people walk or cross a road with traffic outside of designated crossing zones such as cross walks. Notice the deer crossing signs on the highway. Those are put in place to warn drivers to be on alert in case of deer crossing the road at any given point and time. You’ve never seen a sign designated for random crossing of pedestrians. Crosswalks have been put in specific places to ensure safety for both the drivers and pedestrians.

If you have been injured while jaywalking, odds are you will be charged at fault and owe damages to the parties involved.

Depending on the details of the accident, you may be entitled to claim loss of income even when self-employed. It is also possible that you may be entitled to hire additional aid/a temporary employee to perform tasks necessary to maintaining your business while you are unable to work, at no cost to you.

This case generally is more complicated depending on the individual details which is exactly why you need legal advice, especially if your losses are substantial. When seeking aid for income lost as a business owner you can also discuss the loss of earning capacity including opportunities, profits, ability to grow the company during your recovery and more.