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I don’t think I am making any ground shaking revelations when I tell you that Christmas is quite possibly the most stressful period of the year. There just doesn’t seem to be enough hours in the day! We appear to spend most of our time between work and trawling through endless shops looking for gifts for our family members and friends. With the weather worsening over the colder seasons, road accidents increase; and with the increase in road accidents comes the increase in people needing to make claims for whiplash over the festive period. Suffering from whiplash is a further stress during this busy time!

So, what is it that causes whiplash?

Whiplash occurs as a result of being jolted forward from the impact; however as you are wearing your seatbelt, the jolt from the impact in most circumstances is on the neck. The full extent of your whiplash injuries does often not become apparent until sometime after the accident.
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Research studies have shown that in the UK alone approximately 1000 deaths occur as a result of falling down a flight of stairs. This is a scary statistic! In light of this it will come as no surprise then that, as an injury on stairs is worryingly easy and common to do, the legal responsibilities are quite rightly significant to ensure that any person or company that is responsible for maintaining a stairway must do so to a high standard to ensure no one is ever hurt through the use of stairs.

It is important to realise that those who fit or manufacture stairways are under a legal obligation to ensure that their stairs are free from any defect or hazard that could cause a person an injury; say, a bump, or a protrusion. As well as preventing defects, they must ensure that each step is of the correct height and width for its intended use. Handrails and appropriate support must be in place for the obvious reasons.

In addition to designers and manufacturers, it is similarly important to understand that employers are under a legal obligation to ensure that the working environment is safe for their employees, keeping accidents on and around a staircase to a minimum at all times.
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Let’s be honest, we’ve all been there – going to sit down at a family event or a public function only to completely miss the target, landing in what can only be described as an embarrassed lump on the floor. However, what is more embarrassing is being the victim in this situation when you were not to blame at all.

It is not uncommon when a situation such as this occurs for people to be too embarrassed to even contemplate what legal action may be open to them in seeking a claim for compensation.

It is therefore our responsibility to advise you of your rights, away from the  hoards of laughter from your supposed loved ones and colleagues at falling to the ground, and advise you in situations where you may have a very good claim for compensation for any injuries you have suffered from.
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As we are all manically dashing around trying to finish off our Christmas shopping, we sometimes can forget about where we are walking – I’m not talking about carelessly bumping into people in a mad rush to get the last item on the shelf; I’m talking about not watching what we are walking on. As winter brings the wet and cold weather, it can cause the floor to become a lot more dangerous than we anticipate, and can sometimes cause some people serious injuries in the event of accidents.

Slipping due to the floor being wet is one of the most common claims for compensation we see here at The Injury Lawyers.

We advise and assist numerous clients and aim to get the maximum compensation that they deserve. After all, slipping due to the negligence of whoever is responsible for the premises you are is not your fault. Failing to maintain the floor to a safe standard is not something you can control, and you should be compensated for any injuries you end up with.
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At The Injury Lawyers we only deal with personal injury law; as such we have become experts in our field having dedicated all our time and attention to personal injury claims.  One of the most common accident types are road traffic accidents.  This is hardly surprising giving the number of cars on our roads and given that there is always going to be human error in play.  Fortunately, in a lot of road traffic accidents, people are able to get out injury free; but where they have been injured, if the accident was not their fault, they could obtain compensation for these injuries.  In this blog I am going to focus on rear end shunt road traffic accidents.

Rear end shunts are one of the most frequent road traffic accidents.  This is where a vehicle collides with the back of your vehicle and shunts you forward.  For example, you may be stationary at a set of traffic lights and a negligent third party driver fails to heed the presence of your vehicle and slow down in time, and instead goes in to the back of your vehicle.  Alternatively, a rear end shunt accident may occur where the vehicle behind you is stationary too but a vehicle collides with the rear of that vehicle and shunts it into your vehicle and causes you injury; this is called a concertina collision.

A typical injury arising from a rear end shunt accident is whiplash.  This is a soft tissue injury that occurs when your neck is suddenly and forcefully jerked out of position.  If someone collides with the rear of your vehicle, you will likely be jolted forward and your seatbelt will kick in, bringing you back.  This sudden jerking movement is what will cause you your whiplash injury.
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Whiplash injuries are the most common type of injury you can get as a result of a road traffic accident; and its one of the most frequent types of injuries we deal with here at The Injury Lawyers.  But what exactly is whiplash? What are the symptoms of whiplash? How can you recover from it?

As we are specialists in personal injury law, we know a lot about whiplash injuries. Here is a quick guide of the ins and outs of whiplash:

What is Whiplash – The Definition
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If you have been involved and injured in a road traffic accident which occurred after the 30^th April 2010, and you wish to seek compensation for the injuries you sustained, the good news is that the claims process is very straightforward and quick, meaning you can be compensated fast! 

Prior to the 30^th April 2010, claiming for compensation for injuries resulting from a road traffic accident could get a little tedious; especially given that the majority of cases were straightforward.  The reason I say this is because it could take up to 4 months for the other side to simply admit liability, and that meant your claim could take over a year to settle. Even in the easiest of cases, insurers would take their time to accept liability for the accident. However, the process has had a radical overhaul which now means that you should receive an admission or denial of liability within just a couple of weeks, and your claim could be settled in just a couple of months!

Under the new system, the Claimant, i.e. the person making the claim for compensation, must submit a Claim Notification Form online via the Ministry of Justice portal.  Don’t worry if you are unsure what this is – with an expert injury lawyer on your side, they will go through this with you and make sure everything is fine and that it can be submitted to the Defendant.  The Claim Notification Form outlines your accident and details those involved.  It provides the Defendant with notification that you wish to obtain compensation for your injuries.  Once this is admitted, the Defendant has 1 business day to acknowledge the Claim Notification Form and a further 2 weeks to admit or deny liability.  Whereas previously it could take 4 months for the Defendant to admit liability, it now takes 2 weeks!
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Road traffic accidents do not just involve those in motor vehicles; they can also involve innocent pedestrians who are struck by those driving motor vehicles.  At The Injury Lawyers we are only too aware of the number of pedestrians who have been involved in road traffic accidents, have dealt with numerous pedestrian accident claims.  Although there have been plenty of vigorous safety campaigns, it would appear that some motorists neglect to consider the harm their actions may have on pedestrians. 

Despite pedestrians having their own routes, normally paths and crossings, they can still be caught up in collisions with motor vehicles.  This blog focuses on accidents at zebra crossings.

Too many accidents occur on zebra crossings.  It would seem that some motorists do not heed the presence of a zebra crossing nor take into account the likelihood that a pedestrian will be using that zebra crossing to get from one side of the road to the other and end up hitting the pedestrian, causing them injury.  It may be that one of the reasons there are accidents at zebra crossings is because there are no traffic lights and the pedestrian is relying on the fact that a motorist should give way to them.  Either way, motorists have a duty to slow when approaching a zebra crossing to ensure that they are able to give way to any pedestrian waiting to cross, and that they are not to proceed until the pedestrian has fully reached the other side of the road.
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What’s the amount you get for a whiplash injury?

This is one of the most common questions I am asked when I am advising people about what they can expect from a Whiplash Claim with a firm of specialist injury lawyers like us. It’s a question that almost all whiplash sufferers want the answer to.

Unfortunately, there is no way I can tell you personally as a reader of this blog how much your whiplash claim is worth. There’s too much I don’t know about you that needs to be taken in to account. I can however guide you as to what you could expect based on statistics, averages, and official guidelines we here use to value Whiplash Claims.
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• What’s going on?
• Who do you turn to?
• What will eventually happen?

Whiplash Claims Today

The process and understanding of whiplash claims has changed so much over recent years. Whiplash claims are naturally one of the most common personal injury claims as it’s the standard injury you end up with in the vast majority of road accidents. The motion of your neck being jerked thanks to a collision or a sudden stop damages the muscles and tendons in the neck, shoulders, and back area, causing this extremely common injury.
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