So we as expert personal injury lawyers end up taking on a lot of claims for compensation caused by motorway accidents. The absolute classic one is the situation when traffic slows down quickly. Apparently the car behind always ends up braking just that little bit harder than the one in front; so you end up with a line of cars all braking more than each other until the vehicles further at the back are slamming on to the extent that one of them may fail to stop.
In a rear end collision, it’s generally accepted that the driver who goes in to the back of another driver is 100% at fault. Using the excuse that “traffic slowed down too quickly and I didn’t get a chance to stop” is not a viable defence. There are rules when it comes to the distance you should leave between you and the vehicle in front. If someone crashes in to the back of you, they have not left enough of a gap or they were not concentrating properly on the road ahead.
So if you are rear ended on a motorway, you have an almost guaranteed compensation claim if you are injured. Things can get a little more complicated if you are then shunted in to the vehicle in front – known as a concertina collision. Unlike a ‘pile up’ where one vehicle hits another, and the one behind that hits the second car, and so on, a concertina collision is caused by the force of a vehicle being pushed in to the one in front. If you were stationary and hit in the back with such force that your vehicle is then shunted in to the one in front, you are not at fault; the driver that caused the impact in the first place is still to blame.
Being hit on a motorway usually means you have been hit at speed – so the effects of a whiplash injury can be much worse and you may be suffering for a number of months. At The Injury Lawyers, we can access private medical care as a standard for your claim, and we will organise the other side to fund it so you don’t have to pay anything up front for it or lose any of you compensation to pay for it. Normally insurers will pay for private care as we can use the reasoning that it’s more efficient than the NHS, where there are often lengthy waiting times. You need treatment early on when it’s needed the most – so we can access it for you.
For help and advice about making a claim for compensation, call our expert claims team on 0800 634 75 75.