CAN I CLAIM FOR WHIPLASH CAUSED BY LOW IMPACT COLLISIONS?

Can I claim if I suffer personal injury in a road traffic accident such as whiplash but my car is not damaged?

When injuries like whiplash occur because of crash between cars at high speed, once the person who caused the accident has admitted it was their fault the next issue is how much money you should receive for your accident related injuries.

However if the person who caused the crash was not going very fast and in addition there is little or no damage to your car the issue quickly turns to how your injuries cannot have been cause by such as low speed impact crash (typically if the person who hit you was driving at under 5 mph). In such cases, the person who caused the crash will often admit that they were responsible for the crash but will argue that the accident occurred at such a low speed that the symptoms you are suffering from are either non-existent, exaggerated or not the result of the accident.

Their argument here is often based on the claim that the accident happened at too low a speed to produce the injuries claimed.

There are two schools of thought on low-speed accidents

1. Some forensic experts are of the view that accidents involving very light damage to the car could not have produced a sufficient impact to cause injury.

2. The other school of thought is that low-speed accidents can indeed cause injuries such as whiplash.

The reason is that while the vehicle in which you are travelling, which is a rigid structure, may suffer little damage, the sudden deceleration means that a considerable momentum is built up in the bodies of the passengers, which are not coupled to the car.

The energy generated in the crash therefore passes to the bodies of the passengers, with little decrease in force. Accordingly, the passengers also decelerate rapidly, but as they are neither rigid structures nor have built-in crumple zones. The result is often whiplash which is a common injury in such cases. This can cause further problems as the symptoms of whiplash sometimes only appear some considerable time after the accident. This means that you may not even be aware that the accident has caused you injury until later which is why it is essential to always take down the details of any driver who causes an accident even if you think you are not injured

If you do not have the defendants details or they have left the scene without giving you their details a claim can be made through the MIB untraced drivers agreement.

As a result the defendants often fight such cases rigorously which can increase the time it takes to settle such cases.

If you are suffering from an injury caused by a low-speed accident, it is essential to have expert legal representation. One of our specialist personal injury lawyers would be happy to assist. Please call us now on 0800 0747 644 to see if we can help you win your much deserved compensation.

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