Being involved in a road traffic accident that was not your fault can be a frustration in itself – but being involved in an accident with a negligent driver who informs you he has no insurance, or who flees the scene, not even stopping to check if you are ok, can be a point of not only of frustration, but also of anger to the victims.

On approaching us at The Injury Lawyers, many of these road accident victims display little hope of having a  claim for their injuries; we however are able to offer them some light at the end of the tunnel, and explain how that may not be the case. Claims such as those against uninsured drivers or drivers from whom you were unable to get details, can be run through the Motor Insurers Bureau, or the MIB for short. The MIB was founded in 1949 and is funded by motor insurance companies; they are ultimately funded by us and our premium payments. It has been calculated that between £15 – £30 from everyone’s payments goes to funding the MIB.

The MIB will not only handle your claim for compensation, but also claims for vehicle repairs. The MIB also arrange for you to be medically examined as part of your claim in order that it can be properly valued.
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I am all too aware of the dangers of the motorway, due to driving almost 70 miles a day to and from work! It is on these journeys that I have witnessed the aftermath of many accidents, and so come to write this blog today. Being such a frequent user of the motorway, I know that most of the time motorway journeys are uneventful and safe; however, with my experience of working in a personal injury law firm, I know that there are a small minority of drivers where this has not been the case.

Accidents can occur on motorways for many reasons – I have listed some of these reasons below:

• Driving too closely to the car in front and not taking heed of the traffic slowing down ahead.
• Not realising their junction is coming up soon and so cutting across a multitude of lanes to exit the motorway.
• Merging lanes without completing the proper checks, and so colliding with another vehicle.
• Undertaking – i.e. overtaking cars in a faster lane

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If you are looking at this blog you may be considering making an accident at work claim. At The Injury Lawyers, we know making a claim against your employer can be a challenging task to perform; however, our advice is that you can instruct lawyers to fight your corner and act on your behalf. Employers should also have insurance in place to deal with these types of situations – the insurers will investigate and come to a conclusion whether your employer was at fault – and if so, how much you should be fairly recompensed for that failure.

There are a number of areas of safety which your employer should consider:

Personal Protective Equipment
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It is an unfortunate fact that the number of road traffic accidents are increasing.  A major reason for this may be that there is an increased amount of traffic on the roads, together with people having busier lives – being in a rush and not taking the necessary care and attention when it comes to driving safely.

After suffering a road accident, you may think that it is too much hassle and bother to begin a claim for personal injury. However, this simply does not have to be the case, and there can be many reasons why bringing a claim for your road accident is beneficial:

A new, faster system
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If you have been injured due to a faulty product or a dodgy service, you may be entitled to make a claim for compensation.

We have something called the Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982 that is designed to ensure that any good or service you receive is fit and safe for use / purpose. Nowadays, all products must undergo rigorous testing and checking to ensure there is no way anyone can be injured. When it comes to services, those providing them should be fully qualified and trained, with a good knowledge of health and safety to ensure no rule or regulation is ever broken.

The main problem is that we all tend to implicitly trust a product we buy or a service we use. When you tuck in to that sandwich from your local supermarket, how do you know that it wasn’t accidentally dropped on the floor before being packaged? How do you know that the builder who has just completed your new garage extension has built it properly? How do you know that the shop who have just returned your laptop from repair put the wires back in properly?
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Personal Protective Equipment, or PPE as it is more informally known, is equipment which can be used or worn to protect you against risks to your health and safety. PPE is something which you should not pay for – your employer should not even ask you for a contribution. They are solely responsible for supplying it to you.

It should be of note that PPE should only be used as a last port of call where no other methods act just as well, or better, at protecting you from risks to your health and safety at work. So, if your employer is giving you PPE in order to save money as a better method of protection is more costly, this is wrong.

Your employer has a duty to protect you as much as possible from risks to your health and safety. By simply providing you with the PPE, this is not fully completing their duty – they must also train their employees in how to use it and ensure it is maintained regularly and stored correctly.  Employers must also consider whether the PPE causes a danger in itself – by this I mean if there a chance of overheating whilst wearing or using PPE, or if your PPE could get caught up in machinery.
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A Repetitive Strain Injury, or RSI as it is informally known, is an umbrella term which can cover a whole host of injuries. The injuries it covers are those which are caused by the repetitive use of parts of the body.

It is an extremely prevalent disorder affecting as many as 1 in 50 workers. This comes as no surprise, as not only can it affect manual workers, but also those desk workers who are typing away all day long.

The Types of RSI
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The Telegraph has recently reported that a study by The Association of British Insurers has shown that 1,200 claims for whiplash are made every day, which equates to three-quarters of personal injury claims in the United Kingdom, and is six times as many claims as those for accidents at work. 

In fact, it is the United Kingdom which sees the largest volume of whiplash claims within Europe.  As a result, the Telegraph writes that the NHS spends approximately £8million a year helping people with whiplash injuries, and insurances companies are paying out an estimated £2billion a year in compensation for these whiplash injuries.

So – what is whiplash? Whiplash is normally a neck, back, and shoulder injury caused by the soft tissue in the spine being forcefully jerked – e.g. from the impact of being hit behind by another person’s motor vehicle.  So, how do I know if you have whiplash?  Here are the common symptoms:
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Can a child bring a claim for compensation? On their own, no.  With a litigation friend, yes.  So – what is a litigation friend?

Where a person has suffered an injury and they are under the age of 18, they are required by law to have a litigation friend to conduct their claim on their behalf.  A litigation friend is therefore a responsible adult who acts on a minor’s (a person under the age of 18) behalf.  In most cases a litigation friend will be a child’s parents or guardians; but equally it could be a family friend or some other trustworthy adult.

The law recognises that a child of the age of say four or five may have a genuine claim for compensation having been injured through no fault of their own, but that this child does not have the capacity to proceed with a claim on their own.  In other words, a child does not have the ‘legal capacity’ to conduct legal proceedings.  This is also similarly applied to persons deemed a ‘protected party’ under the Mental Capacity Act 2005.  They too will require a litigation friend to conduct their claim for them.
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If you were correctly driving along, or you were sitting stationary in your vehicle, when rather annoyingly some other driver rams you up the backside, I have some good news and some bad news for you.

I’ll start with the bad – to get it over and done with – in the next few days (or even hours) you will probably start feeling pain, soreness, stiffness, and / or aches in your neck, shoulders, and back. This is called whiplash – and it’s an absolute pain to live with (I know – I’ve currently got it as well thanks to my local bus service!).

The common symptoms of whiplash are:
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