Common Injuries from San Diego Car Accidents

Injuries from San Diego, CA, car accidents tend to fall into a few categories. These injuries result from the forces your body experiences during a collision. Thus, the type of collision will determine which injuries you sustain.

The severity of car accident injuries might range from merely inconvenient to permanently disabling. As a result of your injuries, you could experience losses such as medical expenses, lost income, and pain and suffering.

Read on to learn about some common injuries from San Diego car accidents and how to get compensation for them. Contact an attorney by calling (619) 777-5555 to schedule a free consultation.

Table of Contents

How Mission Personal Injury Lawyers Can Help After an Automobile Accident in San Diego, California

Mission Personal Injury Lawyers has recovered tens of millions of dollars in injury compensation since our founding in 2010. Our San Diego car accident attorneys have over 43 years of combined experience representing accident victims.

Our lawyers have won or settled 99% of their cases, including:

$3.2 million settlement for a truck accident
$1.1 million settlement for a car accident
$205,000 settlement for a car accident involving a knee injury

Some of the ways our personal injury law firm in San Diego, California, can help include:

Negotiating a settlement with the other party to your case
Collecting evidence and hiring experts to strengthen your claim
Protect you from allegations that the car accident was your fault

After a car accident, you could need substantial compensation to pay your medical bills and cover your income losses. Contact Mission Personal Injury Lawyers for a free consultation to discuss the car accident injury claim you could have.

How Common Are Injuries from San Diego Car Accidents?

In 2019, the latest year from which full data are available, San Diego had 9,918 traffic accidents, according to the California Highway Patrol (CHP). These accidents killed 140 people and injured another 13,376.

San Diego has an injury rate lower than the national average. Nationally, car accidents cause about 800 traffic injuries per 100,000 residents, according to the NHTSA. But in San Diego, injuries happen at a much lower rate of 537 traffic injuries per 100,000 residents.

Overview of Common Injuries from San Diego, CA Car Accidents

The injuries you suffer in a car accident depend on the direction and force of the collision. In a head-on or rear-end collision, the forces push you back into the seat and forward into your seat belt. In a side-impact or angle collision, your body gets knocked sideways into the door or center console.

One of the most dangerous crashes is a rollover. In a rollover, you could get crushed as the roof collapses. You could even get ejected through a broken window and suffer abrasions, fractures, and lacerations.

According to the CHP, San Diego car accidents in 2019 caused:

140 fatal injuries
1,080 incapacitating injuries, such as major fractures or brain injuries
5,994 minor injuries that were visible but not incapacitating
6,302 complaints of pain without any visible injury

Some of the most common injuries from San Diego car accidents include:

Chest Bruises

Chest injuries happen in almost every car accident. As you slide forward in a head-on or rear-end collision, you will hit your seat belt. The force of the seat belt will save your life but could also break blood vessels under your skin.

Chest bruises cause:

Pain
Swelling
Discoloration

Chest bruises heal a few days or weeks after the injury. But a chest bruise might accompany a more serious injury like torn chest cartilage or a fractured rib. These injuries could take months to heal.

Whiplash

Whiplash happens when your head pulls your neck as it whips around during a collision. In most cases, whiplash involves strained neck muscles and tendons. Even when a strained neck has torn muscles and tendons, it will usually heal in a few months without surgery.

Occasionally, whiplash can compress the discs in your neck. When this happens, the disc can irritate the nerve roots in your neck. This injury causes you to suffer radiating pain in your shoulders, arms, and hands, even though you didn’t injure your limbs.

Soft Tissue Injuries

Soft tissue injuries often happen when your body hyperextends during a collision. As you twist and bend under the force of the crash, you can:

Strain muscles and tendons
Sprain ligaments
Tear cartilage

These injuries can disable you from working since they cause pain, swelling, and stiffness.

Concussions

Concussions happen when your brain gets jostled in your skull. You do not need to hit your head to suffer a concussion. The intense back-and-forth motion of your head in a car accident can cause a concussion.

When your brain moves in your skull, the pressure of the protective layer of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) causes mild damage to your brain. In response, your brain swells, leading to:

Fatigue
Amnesia
Headache
Confusion
Blurry vision
Ringing ears
Clumsiness

Concussion symptoms usually clear up within two months.

Schedule a Free Consultation With Our Car Crash Lawyers in San Diego

Any injury from a car accident can have grave financial and health consequences. To discuss the compensation you can seek for your car accident injuries, contact Mission Personal Injury Lawyers for a free consultation.

Common San Diego Car Accident Claims We Handle

Our law firm handles all types of car accident cases involving: