The harsh weather conditions that can be associated with a Midwest winter may leave motorists wishing they did not have to travel. While it is true that every season produces different driving hazards, winter may be considered the most dangerous. Freezing rain, ice, sleet, and snow can all cause a driver to lose control of his or her vehicle, leading to a potentially serious injury. Regardless of the weather conditions, a driver is still responsible for his or her actions behind the wheel. To keep yourself, your family, and other motorists safe on the road, here are a few tips that can reduce the likelihood of a car accident: 

Prepare Your Vehicle

Maintaining proper safety equipment in your vehicle can make winter driving more manageable. To do so, you should check your tires, battery, headlights, and windshield wipers to ensure they are in proper working order. Traction issues resulting from worn or “bald” tires could lead to a head-on collision or a rear-end accident. Furthermore, a simple headlight outage or a windshield wiper malfunction could significantly decrease a driver’s visibility. Frequently checking the status of your car and its fluids could save your life.    

Millions of car accidents occur each year in the United States, resulting in millions of people being injured and thousands of people being killed. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), there were more than 6.4 million police-reported traffic collisions in 2017. Of those crashes, more than 37,000 people died, and of the people who survived those traffic accidents, more than 2.7 million people suffered from injuries. There are a variety of injuries that could occur from a car crash, many of them being readily apparent, like bruising or lacerations. In some cases, injuries sustained from a car accident are not so apparent, and symptoms can appear days, weeks, or even months after the incident.

Pay Attention to Symptoms 

It can sometimes be difficult to tell if certain symptoms are a result of a car accident, which is why anyone involved in a crash should keep a close eye on their symptoms and overall health in the days and weeks following the incident. Here are a few common delayed symptoms that can appear after the fact:

Being in a car accident can be a very stressful and traumatic experience, especially if you are injured. If you are involved in a car accident, Illinois law states that you must stop to see if others who are involved are okay and to exchange insurance information. People who do not do so face fines, jail time, and even a driver’s license revocation. If you are in a vehicle collision, and the other person does not stop to stay at the scene or does not exchange information with you, that is called a hit-and-run crash. Being in a hit-and-run accident can cause serious stress and anxiety on your part, because you are probably worried about the financial ramifications of the accident. If you are in a hit-and-run collision, you should take certain steps to increase your chances of recovering compensation.

Call For Help

The first step you should take if you get into a car accident is to call for emergency services if you or anyone else are hurt. Even if you do not think you are injured, you should call 911 if you were inside of your vehicle when it was hit. Once help is on the way, you should try to move your vehicle to a safe spot if you are able to do so without risk of injury.

Getting into a traffic accident can be a frightening experience. For people who are in enclosed vehicles, such as cars or trucks, accidents can still be alarming, but for those who are involved in accidents when they are on a motorcycle, the injuries can be much more serious and even deadly. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), more than 5,000 motorcyclists were killed in traffic crashes in 2017. In Illinois alone, approximately 160 motorcyclists were killed and more than 2,500 were injured in crashes in 2017. Motorcycles pose an inherent danger to riders because of the lack of protection the vehicle provides compared to other vehicles. If you have suffered injuries in a motorcycle accident, here are a few steps you should take immediately following the crash:

1. Check Yourself for Injuries and Call 911 if Needed

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There are very few things in this world that are strictly black and white. When it comes to personal injury claims, specifically for auto accident injuries, it can be difficult to place all of the blame on one person. Many car accidents involve actions by more than one driver that led to the crash. In some cases, the person making the injury claim may have even played a role in causing the collision. However, that does not necessarily mean that he or she is unable to claim compensation for injuries suffered in the accident.

Determining Fault for an Accident

After a car accident, the primary task is determining who is at fault for the crash. Figuring out who is liable can be difficult, because the events of the accident must be pieced together. To prove fault, you will have to show that the other driver was responsible for causing you harm, resulting in damages. Typically, this means you are providing evidence that another person acted negligently. In some cases, there may be more than one party responsible for causing the accident, or you may even have played a part in causing the accident. This is when the concept of comparative negligence comes into play.