The degree of damage to a vehicle can help people evaluate the severity of a recent car crash. If a collision leaves a vehicle completely unsafe to drive, then it is reasonable to assume that the people involved in the crash could have significant injuries.
Even when people don’t have immediate symptoms, they may decide to undergo a medical evaluation after collisions total their vehicles. Doctors can diagnose conditions that don’t seem obvious at first if they know a patient was in a major wreck. However, the inverse is not as effective of a metric to use when deciding how to respond to a collision.
Just because a vehicle sustained minimal damage does not necessarily mean that the people in the vehicle escaped injury. They might have internal or invisible injuries that only become symptomatic later.
What injuries may follow a low-damage crash?
There are many types of injuries that people could sustain in a collision that doesn’t cause significant vehicle damage. People may wake up the next morning in severe pain because they have whiplash or other soft tissue injuries.
They could also potentially have internal bleeding to address. The safety restraints that helped keep them in place during the collision may have caused trauma. Internal bleeding might lead to dangerous levels of blood loss or pressure on organs. People could also have stable fractures. The bone breaks, but it remains aligned, allowing them to continue functioning despite their injuries.
In some cases, a vehicle occupant might experience an incomplete spinal cord injury. The violent motions of the vehicle during the crash might pinch or partially tear their spinal cord. Their injury could cause a variety of symptoms and could be at risk of suddenly worsening due to secondary trauma or significant exertion in the future.
Any of those initially invisible injuries could produce significant financial challenges. People may require major medical care after their diagnosis and may lose out on income because of their symptoms.
Even in scenarios when a car is still safe to drive, seeing a doctor to rule out severe injuries can be a smart decision after a collision. People who get a prompt diagnosis after a motor vehicle collision can access medical care and may improve their chances of securing financial compensation for their losses later.