Bucks County Car Accident Attorney
If you routinely drive in Bucks County, you never expect to get into a serious auto accident. However, crashes occur much more often than you might expect.
As a report from the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (Penn DOT) explains, there are almost 120,000 miles of roads and highways in the state. In a single recent year, more than 128,000 traffic crashes occurred. In total, these accidents resulted in nearly 1,200 fatalities and over 80,000 personal injuries.
Many traffic collisions in Bucks County occur because another driver was negligent or reckless behind the wheel. If you got hurt in a serious car accident caused by another driver’s careless behavior, it is crucial to learn more about filing a claim for compensation.
An aggressive auto accident attorney in Feasterville can get to work on your case today. Contact The Levin Firm Personal Injury Lawyers today to learn more about how we can help.
How a Bucks County Car Accident Lawyer Can Help You
After being in a car accident in Feasterville or elsewhere in Bucks County, you may face the difficult prospect of trying to obtain compensation for your personal injuries and property damage. Our Bucks County car accident attorneys can help you through the process of pursuing a claim for compensation so you can focus on healing.
An attorney can help you:
- Thoroughly investigate the accident.
- Obtain the evidence necessary to show which drivers were responsible for the accident and their respective share of fault.
- Contact the responsible drivers and their insurance companies to pursue what you deserve from insurance coverage.
- Negotiate for a swift but fair and full settlement of your claim, so you can get back to your recovery.
- Stand up for you in the civil court system if a settlement cannot be reached.
- Ensure your lawsuit is properly and timely filed in court and that all court deadlines and filing requirements are met.
- If a trial is necessary, persuasively and vigorously advocate on your behalf to the judge and jury to seek a verdict and judgment in your favor.
Types of Compensation Available After a Car Accident
When you’ve suffered property damage and serious personal injuries in a crash, you might be entitled to various kinds of compensation. Compensation for injuries typically falls into two categories: economic damages and non-economic damages.
Financial compensation is meant to provide an injured person with money to cover specific financial losses, which can usually be determined from bills, invoices, paystubs, and other financial documents.
Examples of economic compensation include:
- Past and future medical expenses, including hospital stays, doctor’s office visits, surgeries, prescription medication, and physical and occupational therapy – both costs already incurred and those expected to be incurred in the future.
- Past and future lost income, such as wages lost due to work missed because of your injuries, and any difference between your pre-accident and post-accident income or earning potential caused by your injuries.
Non-economic compensation provides recovery to an injured party for more subjective kinds of losses that cannot be directly calculated from financial records.
Examples of non-economic compensation include:
- Pain and suffering, which represents the physical and mental anguish caused by your injuries.
- Loss of quality of life, which represents the inability to perform daily tasks or to participate in activities you enjoyed before your accident.
- Loss of consortium, which compensates your spouse and your immediate family for the loss of your companionship and services to the household.
You might also be entitled to compensation for property damage you’ve suffered. For example, you might be compensated for the cost to repair damage to your vehicle or for the cash value of your vehicle if it was totaled in the accident. You might also receive compensation to repair or replace other contents of your vehicle that were damaged or destroyed in the crash.
What to Do If You’ve Been in a Motor Vehicle Accident
If you’ve been involved in a car crash in Feasterville or elsewhere in Bucks County, there are steps you should take to protect your legal rights and to make sure that you are in a good position to seek compensation for your damages and injuries.
- Call the police to come to the scene. The police will investigate the accident and collect the contact information and insurance information of all the drivers involved in the accident. If there were any eyewitnesses to the accident, the police may also take statements from those eyewitnesses and collect their contact information. The police will produce an accident report, in which the investigating officer may assign fault for the accident and charge a driver with breaking traffic laws. This report might be critical in a later lawsuit to prove liability for your accident, though it’s important to remember that the police do not have final say on civil liability for a crash.
- If possible, take your own photos at the accident scene. Try to capture images of the vehicles, their positions after the collision, and any damage. Try to also take pictures of details of the accident scene, such as skid marks on the road, traffic controls (signs, traffic lights, road lines, etc.), defects in the road surface, and the lighting and weather conditions at the time of the accident. These images might also be critical to establishing who was at fault for the accident.
- Seek medical attention as soon as possible after the accident, even if you do not feel at first like you were seriously injured. It can take hours, days, or even weeks for injuries suffered in an accident to show symptoms. A thorough medical exam could reveal serious injuries that could be life-threatening if not treated.
- Speak with an experienced car accident attorney as soon as possible after the accident to understand your rights and options for pursuing compensation.
How Long Do I Have to File My Car Accident Lawsuit?
In Bucks County, plaintiffs who file car accident lawsuits must adhere to the “statute of limitations.” This term refers to the amount of time the law gives you to submit your claim.
Under Pennsylvania law, there is a two-year statute of limitations for car accident lawsuits. This means you must file your auto accident lawsuit within two years from the date of the accident.
If you do not file your lawsuit within two years, you will likely lose your right to seek compensation. Given the two-year statute of limitations, it is essential to discuss your case with an auto accident attorney as soon as possible. At The Levin Firm Personal Injury Lawyers, we can analyze your case and can speak with you about your options.
Getting the Facts About Pennsylvania Car Accidents
Do all car accidents result in severe and debilitating injuries? And are some types of motor vehicle crashes more common than others? The latest Penn DOT report cites some of the following statistics concerning motor vehicle collisions in Bucks County and throughout Pennsylvania:
- There were 128,188 reported motor vehicle crashes in Pennsylvania in a single recent year.
- These crashes resulted in 80,612 total injuries, 4,227 of which were suspected to be serious injuries.
- Motor vehicle accidents in Pennsylvania resulted in 1,137 total fatalities.
- Of the motor vehicle crash fatalities, 293 deaths were determined to have been the result of alcohol-related crashes, and 304 fatalities were determined to have been the result of speed-related collisions.
- Reported motor vehicle crashes in Pennsylvania resulted in a total loss of $18,110,235,775. This amounts to an economic loss of $1,414 for every individual in Pennsylvania.
- Passenger vehicles were involved in motor vehicle crashes more than every other type of vehicle combined. Passenger vehicles involved in motor vehicle accidents amounted to 117,614 cars and 81,716 light trucks, vans, and SUVs, along with 471 occupant deaths from cars and 253 fatalities from light trucks, vans, and SUVs.
- Striking a fixed object was the most common type of motor vehicle accident in Pennsylvania in 2017, with 37,825 crashes involving striking a fixed object.
- Most vehicle-on-vehicle crashes involved angled or rear-end impacts, amounting to 34,823 crashes and 28,786 crashes, respectively.
Learning More About Injuries in Auto Accidents
Sometimes injuries in auto accidents are minor, but car crashes often result in serious and life-threatening injuries.
What are some of the most common types of car accident injuries? The Mayo Clinic discusses the prevalence of whiplash after motor vehicle collisions. It explains that whiplash is neck injury that is caused by “forceful, rapid back-and-forth movement of the neck, like the cracking of a whip.” Whiplash injuries occur most frequently in rear-end car accidents. Signs and symptoms include neck pain, neck stiffness, and headaches.
In addition to whiplash, other common car accident injuries include:
- Traumatic brain injuries (TBIs)
- Other forms of head trauma
- Spinal cord injuries (SCIs)
- Other types of neck and back injuries
- Broken bones
- Scarring and disfigurement
- Burns
- Joint damage
- Internal injuries
- Psychological or emotional injuries
Sometimes signs serious injuries do not appear for hours or more after a crash. It is vital to seek medical attention when you are involved in a collision. You may have serious injuries that require treatment.
Common Causes of Bucks County Motor Vehicle Crashes
What causes the most car accidents in Bucks County? A report from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) suggests that there are numerous causes for motor vehicle crashes. Most often, the causes fit into the following categories:
- Aggressive driving – Aggressive driving can take many different forms, including speeding, running traffic lights or stop signs, following too closely or tailgating, weaving between traffic on the highway, and cutting off other vehicles. Aggressive driving is considered negligent, or careless, behavior.
- Distracted driving – Like aggressive driving, distracted driving can take many different forms. Most often, we think about distracted driving as something that is caused by cell phone use behind the wheel (including talking, texting, composing or reading emails, and using the Internet). Distracted driving can also occur without new technology, however. For instance, a driver can become distracted simply by taking their mind off the task of driving or by eating or grooming behind the wheel.
- Drowsy driving – If a driver does not get enough sleep before getting on the road, fatigued driving can result in a serious accident. Driver fatigue is particularly a problem for truckers and other professional drivers.
- Impaired driving – Driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol can lead to a serious crash. When a driver gets behind the wheel after drinking alcohol, for instance, an impaired driving crash can occur.
Contact a Bucks County Car Accident Attorney
If you were hurt in a car crash, our experienced Bucks County car accident attorneys want to assist you. Contact The Levin Firm Personal Injury Lawyers today to learn more about how we can help you seek the justice and compensation you need and deserve.