Low Speed or Low Impact Auto Collisions

A substantial percentage of the claims made for injuries in auto collisions involve collisions at low speeds in which we see little or no damage to the automobile. Even many victims of low speed auto collisions are surprised to find that they could be injured in such an incident. Most of us have been in low impact collisions in which no one was injured, so we are genuinely surprised and somewhat disbelieving when we hear that someone was injured in such a collision.

Nevertheless, injuries in these types of collisions are well documented in medical journals and the professional journals of biomechanical engineers. Biomechanical engineers have indeed performed scientific studies of low speed impacts, and found that people can be injured from them.

These injuries often involve soft tissue injuries to the back or neck in which there are no broken bones, nor injury to the spine which can be seen on an X-ray or MRI. These electronic tests are not expected to show evidence of an injury to the muscles or ligaments in the spine, so its not surprising that they do not show up on such a test. However, the injury is real enough to the accident victim. The victim may feel pain within a few minutes after the incident, or it may take a day or more for the pain to appear. Pain from these injuries will only get worse if not treated. Injury victims should seek medical treatment as soon as they feel pain in their neck or back.

Insurance companies will try desperately to exploit people's suspicions about whether these low impact collisions can cause injury. The insurance companies will use these suspicions to make low ball offers on cases. If you go to trial, their lawyers will no doubt try to make a claim that the lack of damage to the car suggests that the victim was not really injured.

Attorney Kevin L. Hoffkins has regularly represented claimants with these types of injuries for twenty years. He has been very successful at countering the arguments of the insurance companies to show that the injuries are real, and thus obtain a fair settlement.