Authorities Fear that Cheap Gas Will Lead to Increase in Traffic Accidents

For the last three months, gas prices have been at their lowest point since 2009. Not surprisingly, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 2009 was also the last high point for traffic accident fatalities nationwide.

Officials say it’s actually a simple equation. As gas prices go down, more people drive and they tend to drive longer distances. In many instances, motorists will opt to drive instead of fly, as the price of gas makes a trip by car significantly less expensive than air travel. The more people on the road, the greater the number of motor vehicle accidents, assuming the rate of collisions remains the same.

In a study conducted by professor, Guangqing Chi, in the Social Studies department at South Dakota State University, researchers concluded that, if gas prices remain at or around $2 per gallon for the entire year, the nation could see an additional 9,000 traffic deaths in 2015. Chi conducted a study in Minnesota that demonstrated that a twenty cent decrease in gas prices resulted in an additional 15 deaths over the period of one month.

Researchers also believe that younger drivers will make up a disproportionate percentage of the additional fatalities. Chi found that older drivers were less likely to significantly change their driving patterns based on gas prices, as they still needed to drive to work and to take care of family matters. Younger drivers, though, with less commitments and less discretionary income, are expected to drive more as gas prices decline.

Contact Weber & Nierenberg

At Weber & Nierenberg, we bring over 75 combined years of experience to people in and around Northern California & the Bay Area who have been injured in a motorcycle accident. We place a premium on personal service and attention, taking the time to learn the unique aspects of your case, so that we can customize our representation to get the outcome you seek. When you hire us to help you pursue full and fair compensation for all your losses, Joe Nierenberg will work directly with you throughout the process.

To set up a free initial consultation with an experienced Bay Area motor vehicle accident injury attorney, contact Weber & Nierenberg by e-mail or call our office at 1-866-288-6010.

A few years back, Tiger Woods had to withdraw from the last round of The Players Championship in late spring due to pain. He insisted that it wasn’t pain in the neck related to the now infamous car crash when he struck a tree outside his home just after his then wife became aware of his infidelity.

If Tiger Woods did have soft tissue injury in his neck five months after the initial trauma, on November 27, that would not be unusual. Soft tissue injuries can take months, sometimes longer, to heal. Car crashes, especially rear-end car crashes, are notorious for causing soft tissue injuries in accident victims.

Just what is soft tissue damage? Soft tissue damage is essentially small micro-tears in the soft tissue that surround the muscles in our bodies. Adhesions will then form to patch the tissue that has been damaged.

Adhesions are nature’s Band-Aids for the body to heal these tears. In the short term, they are good. But if the person keeps using the injured area, the trauma will build, the adhesions will bind and, finally, they begin to impact the muscle on a deeper, even more painful level. They also can limit the functional range of motion of the part of the body that is suffering from soft tissue injury.

Rear-end accidents have a way of shaking a person’s body up. They make the body jerk suddenly forward and then back, often causing a whiplike motion of the neck. This can lead to whiplash, a form of soft tissue injury.

When you don’t get treatment for these types of injuries, you can end up with chronic, long-term pain and limited range of motion. Furthermore, when the adhesions latch onto the muscles, they pull everything in your body tighter, and thus can cause other pain elsewhere throughout the body — all because of being thrown forward in a car crash.

It is therefore important to get yourself checked out by a medical doctor, a chiropractor and any other experts in treating this type of injury from a rear-end crash. Chiropractors and osteopaths in particular are trained to treat injuries to the soft tissue of a person’s body.

Common damage includes:

• Chronic neck pain
• Back pain
• Sprains
• Burning sensation in the afflicted area
• Numbness down the arm
• Shoulder blade pain
• And more

Insurance companies have a timeline for when your injury should be “fixed.” If you are still getting chiropractic care and massage for your injury, they will at some point cut you off, even though you may not have recovered fully. This is not fair or right, but it happens all the time.

Dealing with Insurance after an Accident? Contact the Weber & Nierenberg Law Firm

The personal injury attorneys at the Weber & Nierenberg law firm are experienced in protecting the rights of people injured in car, bike, bus, pedestrian and other types of motor vehicle accidents. Our law firm represents clients throughout the Northern California and San Francisco Bay Area. We will work hard and competently to obtain complete compensation for your injuries and losses. Call 866-288-6010 today.

We represent clients in personal injury cases on a contingency basis; you pay no attorney fees unless we recover compensation on your behalf.

If you are reading this article, you are probably past the point of having had an accident or are on your smartphone looking up what to do in case of accident, maybe even at the accident you have just been involved in.

Here’s information for you to know at the crash scene.

1. Stop. If you leave the scene of the accident, you could face criminal charges. You don’t have to get out of the car, especially if the person in the other car seems to be upset and is threatening in any way.
2. Pull off the road if possible. If you’ve just had a minor accident, then it should be fine to pull off and get to safety. If you can’t move your car, however, but can get out of it, do get to the side of the road quickly. That will make things safer for you.
3. Call the police. When they arrive, be careful of what you say about how the accident happened. Provide the minimal information possible without being rude.
   There are times in the past when insurance companies have used the words of flustered accident victims against them. Some innocent people naturally have a tendency to feel “wrong” or “at fault” when there is an accident, even if the crash was caused wholly by the other person’s carelessness. So, don’t admit to any wrongdoing.
4. Gather contact information, including a phone number from the driver in the other car. To save time, if you have a smartphone, you might just photograph the person’s license, car registration and insurance information, including the number of the insurance company or agent.
   Obtain the contact information of all passengers from both cars, as well as witnesses to the accident. Again, speak little, but be polite. There are times when even a conversation can be misconstrued and used against you down the road when it comes time to settle your claim.
5. Make sure to note the time, day, date and location of the crash. Note the weather — was it raining? Sunny? Foggy? Was there heavy traffic? And also note the road conditions and whether construction was ongoing. All this information may be useful in case you need to defend yourself or file a legal claim against the other person for personal injury compensation to pay for the costs of your medical treatment and other damages.
6. Photograph the accident scene, if you can. Document if possible all involved vehicles, and your bruises and injuries.
7. Make sure you obtain the police case number of the report that was taken, and the department location and phone number so you can get a copy of the report later with ease.

Questions about How a Personal Injury Lawyer Can Help You?

The personal injury attorneys at the Weber & Nierenberg law firm protect the rights of those injured in accidents caused by others. We are experienced handling cases involving car, bus, motorcycle, bicycle, pedestrian and truck crashes.

Our law firm represents clients throughout the Northern California and San Francisco Bay Area. We will work hard and competently to obtain complete compensation for your injuries and losses. Call 866-288-6010 today. We represent clients in personal injury cases on a contingency basis; you pay no attorney fees unless we recover compensation on your behalf.

According to the Insurance Information Institute, most motor vehicle drivers file insurance claims about once every eight to 10 years. So drivers aren’t expected to know the process of dealing with insurance after a car accident, a process that can be annoying, time-consuming and intimidating.

For example, did you know that you DO NOT have to go to the auto insurance’s “preferred shop” to repair the damage to your vehicle? Your car is your car, and you have a right to choose where you want to repair it. But the insurance companies won’t tell you that. They will simply send you along to their “preferred” repair shop.

Why? Because they have a bulk contract with their repair shop and have strict limits on budgets. Insurers will often say, “If you don’t use our shop, you will have to pay the difference.” According to Mark’s Body Shop (http://www.marksbodyshop.com/5-lies-insurance-companies-tell-you-after-a-car-accident/), 99.9 percent of the time the initial insurance estimate is not adequate. Their shop, which has chosen not to be a “preferred vendor” out of conflict-of-interest concerns, has shown that insurers pay more when told what is “necessary to properly and safely repair your vehicle.”

If you’ve been injured in a crash that was caused by someone else’s mistake, you will need to work with a claim’s agent. This person is usually different from your regular insurance agent. There may be different adjusters assigned to different parts of your case — damage to the vehicle, medical treatment costs, emotional trauma costs and the like.

Document as much as possible of your treatment. As soon as possible after the crash, write down what happened, including the time of day, the type of weather, the road conditions and more. Naturally, obtain information such as all contact information for the person at fault, any witnesses’ contact information, insurance information including a phone number, and the car registration and license number of the other driver.

Insurance companies don’t necessarily want to support you through your recovery. They have a bottom line to protect and use general bell curves to determine where you should be at in your injury recovery. It’s sometimes hard to get them to deviate and see you as an individual who has been injured and needs treatment.

Dealing with Insurance after an Accident? Contact the Weber & Nierenberg Law Firm

The personal injury attorneys at the Weber & Nierenberg law firm are experienced in protecting the rights of people injured in car, bike, bus, pedestrian and other types of motor vehicle accidents. Our law firm represents clients throughout the Northern California and San Francisco Bay Area. We will work hard and competently to obtain complete compensation for your injuries and losses. Call 866-288-6010 or email today.

We represent clients in personal injury cases on a contingency basis; you pay no attorney fees unless we recover compensation on your behalf.