Ohio Car Accident Injury Lawyers: Automobile Damage and Your Claim
Property Damage and Injury Claims
The extent of property damage in an accident often significantly impacts an injury claim. Understanding this is crucial for comprehending how Ohio insurance companies evaluate claims.
Injury Without Major Vehicle Damage
Low-Speed Accidents Can Cause Significant Harm
While some individuals walk away from high-speed accidents unscathed, the opposite can also be true. People can sustain significant injuries in low-speed accidents or those with minimal property damage.
Physics and human anatomy explain why this phenomenon occurs.
Biomechanics of Injury in Collisions
Consider a low-impact rear-end accident. As the car is propelled forward, the head lags behind. The head then attempts to catch up, resulting in flexion.
Research indicates that this flexion can generate 2 to 2.5 times the G-force or acceleration of the vehicle itself. In these acceleration injuries, the force on the neck is roughly equivalent to the head's weight multiplied by its speed.
It’s not the size of the crash, but the force behind it that often causes the injury.
For instance, a 5G force can result in a potential loading of approximately 50 pounds to the head. One research group found that at 7.25 mph, a vehicle's peak acceleration was 3.1 G, while the occupant’s head accelerated at 8.3 G, creating an 83-pound force on the head.
Would you willingly be rear-ended at 10 mph? How much property damage do you anticipate from a 10 mph impact?
Insurance Companies and Property Damage
Challenging the "Minimal Damage, Minimal Injury" Argument
Insurance companies frequently argue that minimal property damage implies minimal or no injury in an auto accident case. This argument lacks scientific basis, yet they persist in making it.
They rely on the belief that jury members would be skeptical of significant injury claims in cases with minimal property damage. It is true that people are often skeptical when presented with photos of a dent or scratch on a bumper alongside an allegation of significant injury.
However, once the physics of a car wreck are understood, it becomes clear that property damage and injury often do not correlate directly.
Serving All Of Ohio
McKenzie & Snyder LLP represents injured workers and accident victims statewide — all 88 Ohio counties. Our Hamilton office is the base we work from, and rural families and small-town Ohioans are who we serve.
Communities We Help
- Hamilton
- Middletown
- Oxford
- Trenton
- Fairfield
- Cincinnati
- Dayton
- Toledo
- Canton
- Youngstown
- Akron
- Lima
- Bellefontaine
- Sandusky
- East Liverpool
- Steubenville
- Cambridge
- Zanesville
- Chillicothe
- Portsmouth
- Gallipolis
- Hillsboro
- Athens
Counties We Serve
- Butler County
- Preble County
- Clermont County
- Wyandot County
- Crawford County
- Richland County
- Muskingum County
- Guernsey County
- Belmont County
- Pike County
- Scioto County
- Fayette County
- Ross County
- Mahoning County
- Summit County
- Lucas County
- Allen County
- Stark County
- Jefferson County
- Adams County
Injured somewhere else in Ohio? We take cases statewide.
Written by Andrew Tobergte
Contact an experienced attorney at McKenzie & Snyder LLP to discuss your legal options. Andrew R. Tobergte is a car accident and personal injury attorney at McKenzie & Snyder LLP, located at 229 Dayton St., Hamilton, OH 45011. Phone: (513) 737-5180.
