Breaking the Chain in Chain Reaction Accidents
One of the most confounding types of vehicle accidents is the so-called “chain reaction” accident. Our office has handled multiple such cases, and each case comes with its own set of challenges and concerns.
Take the so-called standard case. In the Hampton Roads area, unfortunately, such a case probably originates in one of our many tunnels. For some reason, drivers either forget to exercise greater care there or (inexplicably) forget to slow down. The results of such driving are visible practically every day on our roads and highways: a column of wrecked vehicles stopped in the emergency lane surrounded by broken glass, twisted metal drowning in a sea of blue and red lights.
Personal injury cases arising out of these accidents can be quite challenging. After all, most drivers know that a so-called rear-ender is usually the fault of the negligent rear-most driver. But, in chain reaction accidents, one vehicle may be stopped and then propelled into the next. Or, it may first strike the vehicle ahead of it and then is struck. Subsequent collisions usually occur, and the accident victims frequently disagree about who is to blame.
And the injuries can be severe. In recent cases, our office has dealt with severe neck injuries and even nerve damage to wrists and elbows requiring surgery. (Drivers frequently lock their elbows in a crash resulting in a violent blow from the driving hand all the way to the shoulder).
Our office always recommends consultations with a personal injury lawyer in such injury cases, but the need to do so in a chain reaction crash is more profound. Drivers in such collisions are frequently interviewed on the record by insurance companies before they have a real chance to consider their circumstances. As they say in the TV police shows, the things said “can and will be used against them” in their injury cases.
Getting to the bottom of these matters frequently requires litigation, depositions and more. Yet, our personal injury law firm has been able to short circuit these cases through aggressive advocacy and in quite a few matters, we have achieved sizable settlements without going to court.
If you have been in a chain reaction collision, consider contacting our car accident attorney in Virginia Beach. While such accidents can lead to a chain of injury, loss, medical bills, lost wages and suffering, our office can frequently “break the chain” through effective legal advocacy.