While there is a tendency to assume that the more noticeable or significant the visible damage to a vehicle, the more severe the injuries to the occupants, this is not always true. This misconception is closely related to the idea that a person cannot be injured in a low-speed traffic accident.
In an article published by the Society of Automotive Engineers, the authors analyze the existence of a clear correlation between visible physical damage to a vehicle after an accident and the severity of injuries suffered by its occupants. The conclusion of this research was that the amount of visual damage is not necessarily directly proportional to the severity of vehicle occupant injuries, so it is unreasonable to assume that property damage would be a reliable predictor of injury risk. or legal consequence of the incident.
A low-impact or slow-speed car accident can happen under a number of circumstances. The most common circumstances for this type of accident are the following:
- bump during stop and start
- Collision due to lane change in traffic
- rear-end collision in slow-moving traffic
- accidents in school areas, including school bus accidents
- collision when entering or exiting a parking lot
- all-round stop collision
- Accidents in pedestrian areas including crosswalks
Despite what an insurance company will tell you, injuries in a low-impact car accident can be serious and require proper medical treatment not only to avoid the pain of the injuries but also to avoid more permanent consequences.
While there is an ongoing debate about the significance of visible damage to occupant injuries, there is no doubt that today’s vehicles are safer thanks to crash zones designed to absorb and disperse the force of an impact. have been done. Despite this, the lack of collision damage to a vehicle usually means that the force of the impact has been transferred to the occupants of the vehicle, often resulting in fairly serious injuries.