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The most recent data shows that Carefree only had 30 traffic crashes within its city limits, but the vast majority of car accidents, injuries and deaths on the highway happened in Maricopa County. That year, nearly 72% of car accidents in Arizona happened within a few dozen miles of Carefree.
These crashes can cause immeasurable suffering and financial losses and require expensive medical care. They could even disable you from working or participating in the activities you enjoy. In fact, the pain and mental anguish you experience after a car accident can be so significant they reduce your quality and enjoyment of life.
Fortunately, Arizona law gives you rights after suffering an injury in a crash caused by someone else’s negligent or wrongful actions. A Paradise Valley car accident attorney from Torgenson Law can pursue insurance claims and even a lawsuit against the at-fault driver to recover fair compensation for your injury-related losses.
Your primary concern after a car accident in Carefree is your health. Seek the medical attention appropriate for your injuries. If your injuries have incapacitated you, ask the responding police officers for an ambulance to take you to the emergency room. Examples of incapacitating injuries include:
Bear in mind, too, that even if you feel like you can drive yourself, you may have suffered hidden injuries like internal bleeding, shock, or PTSD that render you unsafe to drive. You should err on the side of caution when deciding whether to request an ambulance.
Once you address any health issues, you can move to secondary matters. Secondary tasks can include:
Finally, you should speak to a lawyer. Torgenson Law offers free consultations to evaluate new cases. The firm conducts these consultations without charge or obligation to hire the firm. This meeting will help you understand the value of your case and your legal rights so you can make informed decisions about proceeding.
According to the state’s statistics, of all crashes reported to police in 2022, 83.75% involved a multi-vehicle collision. The remaining 16.25% of crashes involved only a single vehicle. The most common multi-vehicle collision types include:
At over 38.5%, rear-end crashes were the most common type of crash in Arizona in 2022. These crashes happen when one vehicle slams into the back of another vehicle. They can occur for several reasons, including:
Distracted driving, in particular, causes many rear-end crashes. When drivers do not keep their hands on the wheel, eyes on the road, and minds on driving, they risk missing traffic and road hazards. As a result, they either fail to react or react too late to avoid a collision.
In a rear-end crash, the occupants of the front car get pushed backward into their seats and rebound forward into the seat belts, steering wheel, or dashboard. The occupants of the rear car experience these forces in reverse. They first whip forward, then rebound back into their seats. In both cases, occupants can suffer serious injuries, including whiplash, concussions, and chest bruises.
Left-turn crashes happen when a driver turns left in front of or into an oncoming vehicle. This crash was the second most common type of collision in Arizona in 2022.
Left-turn crashes can produce serious injuries. The vehicle proceeding straight will often be traveling at or over the speed limit. When the other vehicle turns left, its driver does not have time to stop. More often than not, these crashes occur when one vehicle is traveling at high speeds.
Typically, one vehicle will hit the side of another, and the resulting side-impact collision can cause serious or even catastrophic injuries. Seat belts and frontal airbags are not designed to protect motorists from a side impact. As a result, they could slam into the side door, door post, or window.
If one vehicle crashes into the side of the other vehicle, the door can collapse. The occupants nearest the door can suffer crushing injuries such as shattered bones.
Sideswipe collisions closely followed left-turn crashes for the third most common type of collision in Arizona in 2022. These crashes typically happen when a driver changes lanes unsafely.
Specifically, many drivers fail to check their blind spots before changing lanes. And when drivers lose track of other vehicles, their sides may impact and scrape.
Sideswipe collisions have low crash energy since both vehicles are traveling in the same direction. Thus, while these collisions can cause severe property damage, sideswipes do not typically result in fatalities. Instead, they tend to cause head, neck, and brain injuries.
Intersections are dangerous for vehicles. They become even more perilous if the intersection has been designed poorly. For example, the roads might be offset from each other or include more than four intersecting lanes.
The most common cause of intersection collisions is a failure to yield the right-of-way. Several kinds of traffic violations can lead to intersection crashes, including the following:
These collisions often take the form of a T-bone or intersection crash. The driver who failed to yield the right-of-way will bear the blame for the accident.
Pedestrian accidents also happen at intersections. These crashes can produce life-threatening injuries since they typically have no body or head protection when they get hit.
Arizona had over 6,000 crashes involving intoxication from alcohol, illegal drugs, or prescription drugs in 2022. Drugs and alcohol can affect any of the following:
Intoxicated driving does not cause a lot of crashes. But it does lead to a disproportionate number of fatal collisions.
Car accidents produce massive forces. As your body gets thrown around during a collision, these forces can fracture bones, tear soft tissues, and rattle your brain. Some common injuries from car accidents in Carefree include:
Bruises are very common after a crash. They happen when pressure on your body ruptures blood vessels. These injuries can produce painful, discolored patches, though they typically heal within a few weeks.
Your bones can fracture due to an impact on your car’s interior surfaces. For example, you can fracture a cheekbone when your face strikes the steering wheel. Bones can also break when they twist or bend unnaturally, such as when your foot buckles the firewall, causing it to bend the wrong way.
Fractures typically take six to eight weeks to heal. During that time, you will need to wear a cast or brace to immobilize the bone. Your fracture may limit your mobility and cause severe pain.
Bones you may fracture in a car accident include:
The most dangerous fracture affects a vertebra. When you fracture your spine, the bone fragments can dislocate into the spinal canal. If they compress or sever the spinal cord, you may suffer from temporary or permanent paralysis.
Two of the most common soft tissue injuries are strains and sprains. Sprains happen when you hyperextend the ligaments in a joint. Thus, the twisting your body experiences in a side-impact collision could sprain your shoulder.
Strains happen when you hyperextend muscles or tendons. A common strain experienced in car accidents is a strained neck, also called whiplash. This injury occurs when the violent movement of your head pulls your neck. The neck muscles and tendons then hyperextend, producing pain, weakness, and stiffness.
Mild strains and sprains heal in a few weeks. Severe strains and sprains involving partially or fully torn tissues may require surgery and take several months to heal.
Concussions are mild brain injuries that can cause physical, cognitive, and emotional symptoms but rarely death. Common concussion symptoms include the following:
You will rarely feel the symptoms of a concussion for longer than two months. During that time, though, you may experience disabilities that prevent you from working or meeting your daily needs.
Discs sit between the vertebrae of your spine. As your body whips around in a car collision, your spine may stretch and compress. A herniated disc happens when the material inside the disc pushes through the outer layer to form a bump.
Bulging discs result from the entire disc flattening and spreading. In both cases, the deformed disc can press on nerve roots, producing pain, tingling, weakness, and other nerve damage symptoms.
Doctors cannot repair deformed discs. Instead, they remove them surgically and either replace them with artificial discs or close the space by fusing the vertebrae.
The right steps after a car accident in Arizona can help you build your claim for injury compensation. You should consider taking actions such as:
Stopping at the Accident Scene
Under Arizona law, you commit a hit-and-run if you fail to stop at the scene of an accident, including one you did not cause. Setting that risk aside, you should stop so you can lay the groundwork for your injury claim.
After stopping, you should check on any passengers in your car and the other vehicle. If anyone needs first aid or immediate medical assistance, Arizona requires you to call for help or even transport them to an emergency room.
If no one needs urgent care, you should exchange insurance information with the other driver. You will need this information to file an injury claim with the other driver’s insurer.
You must report all accidents involving injury or death to the police. The dispatcher will send police officers, sheriff’s deputies, or Arizona state troopers to manage the accident response and investigate the crash.
You should tell the investigating officers your version of events. They will summarize their findings in an accident report, and you want them to consider your story when they write it.
The responding officers will also coordinate the medical response. If you need paramedics or an ambulance, ask the officers for help.
You should try to attend to your medical needs as soon as possible after your crash. If an ambulance does not take you to the emergency room, you should go to a medical clinic or doctor’s office.
Seeking medical attention will help you in a few ways. First, a doctor can diagnose you and set up a treatment plan. This plan will help you recover as much as possible.
Second, the treating physician will create medical records of your visit. These records will later help you prove the injuries you suffered and how you got them.
Third, if you seek medical care immediately, the other driver cannot blame you for worsening your injuries. In other words, you risk losing some of your injury compensation if you neglect your injuries and they worsen as a result.
The best way to find out whether you have a claim for your injuries is to speak to a lawyer. Most injury lawyers offer a free consultation to new clients. During this consultation, the lawyer will review your accident and the injuries you suffered. Based on this review, the lawyer can advise you of your legal options.
The lawyers at Torgenson Law have over two decades of combined legal experience. Since 2014, they have recovered millions of dollars in injury compensation for the firm’s clients.
Your compensation for a car accident can cover both economic and non-economic losses. Economic losses include all the financial impacts of your injuries. They encompass both costs and unearned income. Examples of economic losses include:
You can also pursue claims for non-economic losses. These losses represent the diminishment in your quality of life caused by pain, mental anguish, disability, and other intangible effects of your injuries.
You need skill and experience to resolve a car accident claim fairly. The attorneys at Torgenson Law have over 25 years of combined experience standing up to at-fault drivers and their insurers. Contact us for a free consultation to learn how our Carefree car accident attorneys can help you pursue fair compensation for your injuries.
