The citizens of Chesterfield, Missouri pride themselves of their successful commercial district, education systems, and charming neighborhoods. St. Louis County residents take to Chesterfield for their every day needs, whether it’s for shopping at one of the malls, dining at a local restaurant, or exploring art.
It’s easy to travel throughout Chesterfield with the four lane streets, well-equipped traffic lights, and easy access to Interstate 64 and U.S. Highway 40. However, the hustle and bustle of everyday life can swiftly change after a car accident injures you or a loved one.
When a car accident strikes, your entire family will be affected. Instead of going to work in the morning, you may be going to a physical therapy appointment. When your children should be focusing on doing their homework, they may be tending to the household chores that you are unable to do. Doing everyday activities can be slow, painful, and a rite of passage after glacially recovering.
In the most recent statistic, over 50,000 Missouri residents were injured in car accidents and over 750 Missouri residents were killed. Truck accidents caused over 3,000 injuries and 100 deaths.
After a car accident, you may have time to ponder on what had happened. What would have happened if you left on time? Were you at any fault for the accident? What really did happen? In most cases, a negligent driver was a fault, and they deserve to be held accountable for their actions.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recently published their 2013 Traffic Safety Facts, adding another year of research on traffic patterns, crash statistics, and a total account for the accidents that happened throughout the year.
Imagine driving on Interstate 64 and watching the car next to you slide into your lane. Did you ever wonder about the safety of the stop sign in Faust Park? Over half of the car accidents within 2013 resulted in a suburban or rural area compared to urban streets. While traffic is most commonly the problem with car accidents, there are other serious ways that car accidents occur.
Roadway Departure
Roadway departure car accidents killed 18,257 residents last year and injured thousands more. Roadway departure is defined by the NHTSA as a crash that involves a vehicle that passes over an edge line, centerline, or leaves the traveled way. This includes running of a road, going airborne, or hitting a fixed object.
When another car crosses into another lane or mistakes a construction road for an exit, there is typically a negligent reason behind it. The three most common reasons for roadway departure are drunk driving, drowsy driving, and distracted driving.
Drunk driving accounted for over 200 fatalities in Missouri in 2013. When a driver gets behind the wheel while intoxicated, their inhibitions are low. They may believe they are going the speed limit when realistically they are going 20 mph over. They also may believe that your car is just another object in their way on the drive home, and try to pass you with no looking back… or forward… or in the lane next to you. In the blink of an eye, a drunk driver can swerve into your lane and create a devastating mess for you and your loved ones to clean up.
Drowsy driving has the same effects as drunk driving. If a person has little to no sleep, it is proven the effects are extremely similar to drunk driving. Inhibitions are low, their eyelids may barely be open, and before you know it, a sleeping driver has pushed your vehicle into a ditch. Whiplash, head and neck injuries are just the start of common car crash injuries. If only that negligent driver had decided to stay home and sleep instead of running errands, you would have the healthy physicality you previously had in Chesterfield.
Distracted driving has become one of the worst trending habits this decade. Talking on the phone, texting and driving, and plugging IPods into the audio cord can damage another person’s entire lifestyle. If a driver wasn’t texting on their phone on Clarkson Road, they may have seen that they had slowly crept into the next lane. When they tried to correct their misjudgment, they overcorrected and hit your car in the lane over.
Roadway departure car accidents can result in neck and back pain, bruises and broken bones, and much worse. Every situation is unique, and every recovery has its own path. Finney Law Office, LLC has worked with injured Chesterfield neighbors to claim their car accident and to receive what they deserve. Medical bills and lost wages should be the least of your worry while you are trying to heal—our car accident attorneys will take care of it.
Intersection Car Accidents
Although intersection car accidents are less fatal than road departure car accidents, they are more common for car accident injuries. In 2010, almost 800,000 Americans were involved in intersection car accidents alone. That means that in one single day, 2,000 Americans are being injured by intersection accidents. Out of those 2,000 people per day, one of them may be you in Chesterfield, Missouri.
Over 75 percent of intersection car accidents are caused by recognition or decision error, according to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Recognition error accounts for over half of intersection accidents. Inadequate surveillance—not properly looking at all of the surroundings before moving forward—is the top cause of recognition error. Drivers may think they have the right away or believes another car is turning and instead, crash into your car and leave you with serious injuries.
Decision error is the second common reason why intersection car accidents occur. Drivers simply believe that they can make it through the red light or turn before traffic gets too busy. Instead, there is a tragic accident, an urgent trip to the emergency room, and a hefty amount of medical bills.
Intersection car accidents can be scary because they can lead to serious collision injuries. Whiplash is almost in every scenario as well as concussions, lacerations, and deep tissue bruising. When an intersection car accident leaves you unable to work in Chesterfield, it can be a life-changing family affair. When you are ready to receive the benefits you deserve, contact an experienced car accident attorney today.
Consult with a Car Accident Attorney
In the NHSTA’s Traffic Fact Sheet, you may seem like a statistic. But in Finney Law Office, LLC, you are a Chesterfield neighbor, a family member, and a client that deserves to be represented in your car accident case.
Car accident attorneys have seen the toll that accidents can take on hundreds of families. It can leave the family unbalanced, insecure, and lead them down a troubled and hard path. Our car accident attorneys at Finney Law Office, LLC are here to make sure that you are quickly on your way to recovery and with the compensation that you deserve.
Bad things happen to good people. That doesn’t mean that good things don’t happen to good people, too. Work with a car accident attorney today to receive compensation that takes the burden off of medical bills, rehabilitation, lost wages or salary, and more.
Contact Finney Law Office, LLC today if you’ve been injured in a car accident in Chesterfield, Missouri.