Oceanside Personal Injury Attorney - Car Accident Lawyer
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Oceanside gives surfers some of the most consistent waves in California. After a day at the beach, surfers head downtown to visit the California Surf Museum or Sunset Market. Families from all over the world come to Oceanside to participate in the PMCU O'side Turkey Trot or to watch the Beach Soccer Championships. Visitors also stroll through the historic district of Mount Ecclesia or just hang out with the crowd at Oceanside Pier.
With so many people finding a reason to visit Oceanside, in addition to all the city residents who commute to work, traffic accidents are inevitable. More than 1,000 people were injured or killed in Oceanside traffic accidents during the most recent year for which statistics are available.
According to the Office of Traffic Statistics, Oceanside stands out for having more motorcycle accidents than any other California city of comparable size, after the statistics are adjusted for population and miles traveled. More than 10% of the city's collisions that caused an injury or death involved motorcycles.
Oceanside residents and visitors need an effective car accident lawyer when they are injured, or when a loved one is killed, in a collision. Oceanside Personal Injury Michael Rehm helps accident victims in Oceanside and surrounding communities recover compensation for their losses.
Oceanside Motorcycle Accident Injuries
Motorcycle accidents are more likely to be fatal than collisions between two cars. Per mile traveled, traffic accidents result in motorcycle fatalities 28 times more often than they result in passenger car fatalities. Occupants of a car are protected by the car's metal frame, as well as airbags, seatbelts, and crumple zones. Motorcycle riders have only a helmet and their clothing for protection.
When motorcyclists survive a traffic accident, they often have catastrophic injuries, including:
- Traumatic brain injuries
- Paralysis
- Organ damage
- Amputated limbs
Even when injuries are not catastrophic, they can cause short-term or lasting disabilities, as well as intense pain. Common motorcycle accident injuries include:
- Road rash (caused by skin sliding across pavement)
- Burns (caused by the body resting against a hot engine or exhaust)
- Crush injuries (caused by a motorcycle falling on its rider)
- Groin injuries (caused by the rider's forward momentum during a crash)
- Broken bones
- Broken teeth
- Eye injuries
- Scars and disfigurement
- Wrist and elbow injuries
- Knee and ankle injuries
- Infections caused by cuts and puncture wounds
- Back injuries
- Nerve damage
- Torn muscles, ligaments, and tendons
Emotional injuries, anxiety, depression, and sleep disturbances are also frequent outcomes of motorcycle accidents.
Causes of Oceanside Motorcycle Accidents
In Oceanside, a driver who makes an expected left turn in front of an oncoming motorcycle is the most frequent cause of motorcycle crashes. Drivers misjudge the speed of oncoming motorcycles or simply don't see them.
Other causes of Oceanside motorcycle accidents include:
- Tailgating a motorcyclist
- Making a lane change without checking blind spots
- Running red lights or stop signs
- Failing to yield to motorcycles when exiting from a parking lot or driveway
- Passing a car when a motorcycle is approaching from the other direction
- Backing into a motorcyclist
- Drunk driving
Drivers can be held responsible for any negligent act of driving that contributes to a motorcycle accident. Drivers in California are responsible even if the motorcyclist shares responsibility for the collision.
Oceanside Intersection Accidents
Many serious traffic accidents occur in Oceanside intersections. Most of those involve side-impact collisions, also known as T-bone crashes. A high-speed T-bone collision can produce a deadly rollover, but collisions are slower speeds can cause broken bones and other serious injuries when vehicle occupants are not protected by side-impact airbags.
One study suggests that the intersection of El Camino Real and Oceanside Drive is the most accident-prone intersection for drivers in Oceanside. However, a distracted driver who fails to stop for a red light or to yield the right-of-way to other vehicles can cause a collision at any intersection.
Pedestrians and bicyclists are also vulnerable to distracted drivers when they cross the street at an intersection. Drivers who are reading a text instead of watching the road are responsible for too many Oceanside pedestrian and bicycle accidents.
Oceanside Rear-End Collisions
Rear-end collisions occur more than any other car crash in Oceanside. They usually occur because a driver is distracted. Instead of watching the road, drivers are looking at cellphones, unwrapping cheeseburgers, or putting on lipstick in the rearview mirror. They do not notice when the car they are following stops.
Even low speed rear-end collisions can cause serious neck injuries. The insurance industry has campaigned to make “whiplash” a dirty word, but recent studies in the field of biomechanics explain why neck injuries are common in rear-end collisions. In fact, the forces that produce whiplash injuries are unavoidable in a rear-end crash. Larger vehicles and higher speeds produce greater force, but one car hitting another of the same size at 10 mph can generate the shear forces that cause whiplash injuries.
Symptoms of a whiplash injury are often delayed by 12 to 72 hours. Longer delays before the onset of significant pain are possible. It is important to get treatment at the first sign of pain, both to minimize recovery time and to create a medical record so that insurance adjusters cannot claim that the whiplash injury was fabricated.
Compensation for Oceanside Car Accidents
Every auto accident injury involves pain and suffering. Injury victims are entitled to compensation for their physical pain as well as their emotional distress, anxiety, and loss of enjoyment of life that results from a traffic accident. Nagging injuries can make it impossible to lift a child, to engage in recreational activities, or to sleep well at night. Depression and irritability are common after a traffic accident injury.
Compensation for pain and suffering cannot be calculated by a formula. Car accident lawyers examine many factors to place a settlement value on pain and suffering, including the verdicts that San Diego County juries have awarded for comparable injuries in the past.
In addition to pain and suffering, injury compensation should include:
- Medical and chiropractic expenses
- Prescription costs
- Future medical treatment, injury rehabilitation, and medical appliances
- Wage loss
- Loss of future earning capacity
- Other financial losses caused by the accident
- Vocational rehabilitation if an injury is disabling
- Other costs of coping with a disability, such as a wheelchair-accessible van
- Costs of coping with catastrophic injuries, such as caretaker expenses
When a traffic accident causes a fatal injury, California law allows certain family members to recover wrongful death compensation. Oceanside Car Accident Attorney Michael Rehm can identify family members who are entitled to compensation and can help determine the compensation they should receive.
Oceanside Personal Injury Lawyer
Car Accident Lawyer Michael Rehm can help Oceanside accident victims and their families recover the compensation they deserve. Attorney Rehm helps victims of car accidents, motorcycle accidents, bicycle accidents, and pedestrian accidents.
We deal with insurance adjusters to maximize settlements so that accident victims can concentrate on healing. Most cases settle, but when adjusters are unreasonable, we use our skills as aggressive trial advocates to pursue favorable verdicts for our clients. To learn how we can help you, call Oceanside Personal Injury Attorney Michael Rehm at (619) 787-3456 for a free consultation.
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