How a Lawyer Will Help You Get Fair Compensation for Your Accident Injuries

car crashAn accident can leave you with injuries, disabilities and mounting financial debts all related to medical care or missing work. The person or parties who were liable for the accident are responsible for paying those bills and compensating you for the injuries. You need to understand how an attorney will help you to get fair compensation for your accident injuries.

 

Prove the Nature and Extent of Your Injuries

Something that has to be done after an accident is proving your injuries. This is true even if your injuries are visibly obvious. Insurance companies and opposing attorneys will question every small aspect of your injuries attempting to show that they are not as serious as doctors think or that they did not occur due to the accident. An attorney knows what official medical reports, statements and other documents are needed to show the true extent of your injuries and the effects they are having on your life. This is key for getting any compensation.

Comprehensively Calculate Your Damages

Someone without knowledge of the law might not be able to calculate all of the damages that are due after an accident. You might not realize that some of the costs you are paying can actually be recouped from the liable parties or the insurance company. An attorney does know exactly how to comprehensively calculate your damages. You might be owed far more than just your immediate medical bills. You could be entitled to collect lost wages or other immediate expenses resulting from the injuries.

Request Future Damages

Something that can be part of fair compensation under the law is any future damages related to your injuries after a serious accident. It can be very difficult to prove these in a legal context unless you are a lawyer. An attorney can look at your situation and gather evidence showing that you need to be compensated for losses that will occur in the future. This could mean money for lost earning potential because of a disability or compensation for necessary treatments that will last for months or years to come. This type of compensation is important for your long-term recovery.

Compensation for Intangible Damages

You will experience many different things after being injured in an accident. Some of them are not clearly physical or financial. You might have intangible damages that result from the incident. Proving these is difficult and you must meet strict legal standards in order to be awarded compensation for them. You are going to need a lawyer to collect compensation for intangible damages. These are things like pain and suffering from the injury. Your injuries might be so extensive that you cannot make previous important personal engagements leading to loss of enjoyment of your life. An attorney can help you to determine whether you should be compensated for any intangible damages.

Try To Negotiate a Fair Settlement

The first steps after an accident usually involve trying to reach a settlement with the insurance company, the liable parties or attorneys representing them. You want a lawyer on your side negotiating with your best interests in mind. Your lawyer will know how to negotiate and how to handle questionable tactics from uncooperative insurance companies. An attorney can avoid many of the traps and pitfalls that sometimes lead accident victims to sign very bad settlements that barely cover the costs of medical care. Your lawyer will negotiate aggressively on your behalf in order to get the compensation that you need.

Go To Trial for Compensation

A settlement does not always come through. Insurers or liable parties sometimes feel that a claim is not valid, the compensation amount is too high or the injuries are being interpreted wrong. This means you will have to go to trial for fair compensation. You are going to want an attorney at this point since trials are long, complex and confusing to people without legal training. Your lawyer is going to fight hard in court in order to secure fair compensation for your injuries. An attorney is always your best chance of winning compensation after an accident if your case must be litigated in court.

If you have been injured in a serious car accident and need help getting the money you deserve contact Attorney Brian O. Sutter of All Injuries Law Firm.

All Injuries Law Firm
2340 Tamiami Trail
Port Charlotte, FL 33952

Motorcyclists Watch Out When Making Left Turns – Drivers Usually Do Not

Left Turns Often Lead To The Most Common Motorcycle Accident

The most dangerous situation for motorcyclists is when cars make left turns. These collisions account for 42% of all accidents involving a motorcycle and car. Usually, the turning car strikes the motorcycle when the motorcycle goes straight through the intersection, passes the car, or tries to overtake the car.us 41 port charlotte fl over charlotte harbor

Left-turn accidents are common between two cars as well, but the motorcycle’s smaller size makes it less visible to the driver of the turning vehicle. Motorcycles that pass cars within the same lane are even more vulnerable; car drivers do not expect and are often surprised by such maneuvers.

Usually, a driver whose vehicle hits another while making a left turn will be at fault and liable for the accident. If, however, the motorcycle was speeding, in the wrong lane, or otherwise proceeding improperly, the motorcyclist may be partly at fault for the accident. In most states, a result of this comparative or contributory negligence is that the motorcyclist recovers less than complete compensation from the car driver for injuries and damages from the accident. In a few states, the law denies the motorcyclist any recovery of damages.

The Left-Hand Turn: A Common Cause of Motorcycle Accidents

Ambulance First ResponderOn January 21, 2014, a Port Charlotte FL motorcyclist died after colliding with a commercial van turning left. Unfortunately, this type of accident is quite common.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), 36 percent of fatal motorcycle accidents involve vehicles turning left in front of motorcycles. Compared to four-wheeled vehicles, the motorcycle’s presence on the road is minor, much less visible, and therefore more vulnerable.

How to Avoid Left-Turn Accidents

Motorcyclists should use good judgment when approaching intersections by assuming that any vehicles approaching from the opposite direction may turn left in front of them at any time without warning. Motorcyclists who anticipate the danger are more likely to have enough time to slow down or change course to avoid it. But the onus to prevent left-turn motorcycle accidents falls more on car and truck drivers than on motorcyclists. For prevention, they should practice some basic precautions:

Leave enough space: Many drivers assume that motorcycles, smaller than cars, need less room on the road. But because of their smaller size and single-track course, they often need to change positions within lanes to avoid road debris of little or no concern to drivers of large, dual-track vehicles and to respond to windy and turbulent conditions caused by weather and other vehicles.
Always look twice: Make sure the lane the car turns into is clear; check and double-check blind spots.

Avoid distractions: Refrain from text messages, phone calls, dealing with children in the back seat, and anything other than driving that demands cognitive, manual, and visual attention.

Left turns are Unsafe for Everyone.

NHTSA data show that 53.1 percent of crossing–path crashes involve left turns but only 5.7 percent right turns, almost 10 times fewer. New York City transportation planners have concluded that vehicles turning left are three times more likely to injure pedestrians than are those turning right. Left turns in front of motorcycles, according to NHTSA, cause 36 percent of fatal motorcycle accidents.

“Left turns create congestion, backed-up traffic flow, and safety concerns,” says the Institute of Transportation Engineers, “so eliminating left turns, especially multiple left turns, would be a positive.” Restrictions on left turns could save lives, but most drivers remain unwilling to do without what they see as a necessary convenience, but the efficiency of left turns is doubtful.

Engineers Don’t Like Left Turns.

The left turn is the bane of traffic engineers. It’s either a car stopped in an active traffic lane to turn or, even worse, cars in a dedicated left-turn lane that requires a dedicated signal phase, lengthening the delay for through as well as cross traffic. Where traffic volumes are heaviest, as in suburban arterial intersections, multiple left-turn lanes cost even more in time, space, and expense.

United Parcel Service (UPS) Shows No Need for Left Turns

Ask any driver whether trips would be faster and burn less gas if they made no left turns. The answer almost certainly would be no. Then consider the view of one of largest shipping and transport companies, which stakes millions on efficiency. UPS has eliminated or minimized left turns for more efficiency. The company says the policy has saved millions of gallons of fuel.

“Number one,” says UPS, “you have a safety factor of crossing traffic, and, number two, you have the delay factor, particularly in busy roads.” UPS policy is not a 100-percent ban on left turns. In residential areas of light traffic, left turns makes sense as they do where a series of right turns would take drivers far out of the way.

Given traditional fondness for personal freedoms, it’s unlikely that any left-turn ban will be more than occasional. There may be little hope of much relief for human drivers, but perhaps future self-driving cars will do things right.

If you have been hurt while riding a motorcycle by a negligent driver, contact the Port Charlotte Motorcycle Accident Attorney Brian O Sutter at All Injuries Law Firm.

Located at 2340 Tamiami Trail Port Charlotte, FL 33952 out staff is always close by for Port Charlotte, Englewood, North Port and Punta Gorda.