Irvine Rear-End Collision Lawyer

A rear-end collision occurs when the vehicle travelling behind fails to stop in time and impacts the vehicle directly in front of it. These accidents typically happen at stop signs, red lights, or when traffic on the highway/freeway abruptly slows or stops.

Often, the victim of a rear-end collision has come to a stop appropriately with enough distance between the front of their vehicle and the car in front of them. However, when the driver directly behind the victim is travelling at a speed that makes stopping difficult, the front end of their vehicle can rear-end the back of the victim’s vehicle. If you are involved in this type of case, it is important for you to consult with an Irvine rear end collision lawyer as soon as possible.

An Irvine car accident lawyer can review the facts of your case and help guide you through the process of filing a successful claim or pursuing litigation on your behalf.

Rear-End Collision Dynamics

The typical injuries that occur when someone is rear-ended are generally neck, back, and spine injuries. If you stopped and the person behind you rear-ends you, typically the following happens:

• Your head is pushed forward.
• If you’re wearing your 3-point seat-belt restraint, the seat-belt will prevent you from sustaining an impact injury from the dashboard or the steering wheel.
• The seat-belt will cause your head to snap back into the headrest.

Under these circumstances, whiplash injuries are very common, and they affect not only the neck (cervical area), but also the spine in the thoracic and lumbar regions of the back, depending upon the force that is applied on your vehicle and how fast the vehicle behind you was traveling. Other injuries that are commonly sustained in rear-end collisions can include: fractures, concussions, internal injuries, and soft tissue trauma.

Fault in Irvine Rear-End Collision Cases

You are the injured party if you stopped appropriately at the stop sign, red light or in response to slowing or stopped traffic on the highway— that is, if you have done what you are supposed to do as a safe and prudent driver—and the individual behind you did not stop in time and hit the rear of your vehicle, that person is generally going to be assessed as 100% at fault.

However, this can get more complicated if you have a chain collision car accident. In accidents where there are multiple vehicles involved, identifying who is at fault (and assigning fault completely to a single driver) is often more difficult making it very important to contact an Irvine rear end collision lawyer.

In any rear-end collision case, fault depends upon the facts of the particular collision, and it is the job of an experienced attorney to investigate the dynamics and circumstances of the crash.

Especially in a multiple-vehicle collision cases, it is important to have a qualified Irvine rear-collision lawyer conduct an investigation as soon as possible before the insurance companies start pointing fingers at each other to avoid taking responsibility for the injuries and damages of the injured party. When evidence and witness statements are gathered immediately, it is easier to sort through the facts and help clients receive the compensation they deserve.

Evidence in Rear-End Car Accident Cases

Following a rear-end collision, if there is a police report, your car accident attorney needs to review the information in that report. By contacting the attorney immediately, it gives them the best opportunity to gather evidence independently and to represent your best interests as the injured party.

Following the accident, your Irvine rear-end collision attorney will contact witnesses to gather evidence, which could include photographs taken at the accident scene. Many times photographs are taken by the police or authorities, but with the prevalence of smartphones with high-quality cameras, they can even be taken by laypeople. The benefit of obtaining this evidence is that it can provide an accurate representation of the accident directly after it occurred—perhaps before the vehicles were moved or law enforcement arrived on the scene.

Such photographs are indispensable and can help establish not only the liability but also the true nature and extent of the injuries suffered by the client. We have been very successful by using on-scene photographs to help establish liability. Sometimes an accident reconstruction expert is needed to analyze the damage patterns on the vehicles to establish who is at fault, and these photographs can provide information for the accident reconstruction expert to review.

Contact an Irvine Rear-End Collision Attorney

In a rear-end collision case, it is important to contact an experienced lawyer as soon as possible so there is the best opportunity to perform the appropriate investigation, retain an investigator on your behalf and obtain witness statements to establish fault and responsibility. It is important to contact an Irvine read end collision lawyer as soon as possible to protect your legal rights.

Civil cases can become very hard-fought and the insurance companies retain their lawyers immediately to defend the case against the injured victim. As an injured victim, you need to have a qualified, experienced advocate working on your behalf—an attorney whom you trust to represent your best interests.