According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), in United States, an estimated 2.36 million people were injured in motor vehicle traffic crashes in 2012. In that same year, 33,561 people died in motor vehicle traffic crashes in the United States.

Causes

The majority of car accidents in the Seattle, Bellevue, and anywhere in Washington are caused by negligent drivers. In fact, negligent drivers cause a large percentage of highway accidents. They exceed speed limits, use their cell phones, eat, apply makeup and do everything else while driving.

Other common causes of car accidents are defects in the roadways, highway construction, faulty tires and equipment, and weather conditions, such as snow and ice or wildlife in the roadway.

Damages

Car accidents involve property damage as well as personal injuries. Property damage is damage to your vehicle or other physical property. A personal injury refers to physical or mental impairments.

Personal injuries from car accidents can be catastrophic and may include spinal cord injuries, traumatic brain injury, neck and back injuries, burn injuries, skull fractures, loss of senses such as hearing or smell, and even death.

First Steps

If you were involved in a car accident, you should do the following:

Get as much information on the other driver(s), including their contact information and their car insurance information.

Get as much information from witnesses who saw the accident. You can never have too many witnesses, so try to gather information from as many people who saw the accident as possible.

Take pictures of the scene, damages, position of the cars involved, any traffic signs that may be relevant, etc.

Contact our Seattle and Bellevue personal injury attorneys before you speak to an adjuster or sign anything. You can virtually ruin your case if you make mistakes while talking to insurance adjusters.

It is crucial that measures be taken promptly to preserve evidence and statements of witnesses and other drivers, to investigate the accident, and to allow physicians to evaluate any injuries.

Assessing your Damages

How much is my personal injury case worth?

Putting a dollar figure on your case is not always easy. Of course, certain damages, such as property damage and medical bills, are relatively easy to quantify. However, quantifying damages such as pain and suffering, loss of enjoyment, and emotional distress is tough. Only a knowledgeable attorney can put a dollar value on such damages.

Keep in mind that your case can be evaluated only after you have been examined by physicians and they have determined the full extent of your injuries and the full extent of the costs of your present and future treatments are known.

Who pays my medical bills in a car accident?

Most people think the at-fault driver’s insurance company is responsible for the injured party’s medical bills. However, this answer is only partially correct. In addition, who pays for your medical bills while the insurance companies are conducting their investigations in order to establish liability?

Washington operates under a “no fault” system. This means that who is at fault is irrelevant when determining which insurance company must pay for your medical treatment.

In Washington, drivers are required to have Personal Injury Protection (PIP) unless there is a signed waiver by the driver. If you, as the injured party, have PIP benefits, your medical treatment would be paid for by your own automobile insurance carrier’s PIP benefits regardless of fault.

Do I need an attorney?

Listen to the statistics, not the insurance companies. The insurance companies will try to fool you and tell you that you do not need to hire an attorney or that an attorney will not get you more for your loss. They might even offer to pay you if you agree to settle your claim without hiring an attorney.

However, a study from the Insurance Research Council (IRC) found that 85 percent of all the dollars that are paid out by insurance companies for bodily injury claims are paid to clients who have hired an attorney to represent them. Furthermore, the IRC found that injury victims are awarded 3.5 times more with a lawyer than without one.

That means that even with attorney’s fees included, you greatly increase your chances of getting the full amount of compensation you deserve.

How much is your attorney fee?

The fees for our personal injury attorneys in Seattle and Bellevue are straight forward: We don’t get paid unless you win! If there is a recovery, we typically take 1/3 of the settlement or jury verdict award.

Because of their size, trucking accidents are very dangerous. They typically result in very serious injuries and large-scale damages. Most of the damage in trucking accidents is caused to drivers of other vehicles, not the truck drivers. Commercial truck drivers are subject to laws that other drivers are not. Such laws include those related to training, rest periods, and maintenance requirements.

Read more about truck accidents here.

Motorcyclists are susceptible to accidents because they are overlooked by other drivers because of their size. In addition, motorcyclists are at an extremely high risk of being seriously injured in an accident because of the lack of protection when riding a motorcycle.

Seattle Bicycle Accident Lawyer

Bicycle accidents result in higher crash-related injuries and deaths than car accidents. According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in 2010, in United States, bicycle accidents resulted in 800 deaths and 515,000 emergency room visits. Even if the injuries are non-fatal, they can result in lifetime medical treatment.

If you were involved in a bicycle accident, you may be entitled to compensation for your accident-related injuries. Compensation may include:

In King County alone, there are more than 1,000 dog bite incidences reported each year.

Some states have a “One Bite Rule” when it comes to dog bites. This means that the injured party can recover damages against the owner only if he or she can prove that the owner had prior knowledge of the dog’s propensity to bite. This means that the dog owner has one “free bite” before liability can be imposed.

In Washington State, on the other hand, has a strict liability statute when it comes to dog bites. This means that the law holds owners liable for the damages inflicted by their dogs regardless of whether the owners had reason to believe that their dogs would act viciously. Strict liability statute applies so long as the bite occurred in or on a public place or while the person was lawfully in or on a private place including the property of the owner of such dog.