In basic car crash scenarios, vehicle occupants have several types of protection. Seatbelts protect them from ejection from the vehicle. Airbags may help reduce their likelihood of striking their heads on rigid parts of the vehicle. Built-in safety systems intended to reduce occupant injuries can also help absorb the brunt of impact.
Unfortunately, not all crashes involve two motor vehicles. Some of them involve a pedestrian who gets struck by a moving vehicle. Pedestrians have no vehicle to protect them when a crash occurs. They are at risk of relatively severe injuries due to their exposure. Pedestrian collisions have increased in frequency in recent years.
What types of injuries are common when vehicles strike pedestrians?
Fractures
Fractures or broken bones are among the most common pedestrian collision injuries. Pedestrians have nothing to shield their bodies from the force of impact. People can break bones at the locations where the vehicle makes contact with their bodies. Fractures can also occur when people get knocked to the ground in a pedestrian crash scenario. They may sustain fractures to their arms or collarbones if they try to brace themselves as they fall.
Traumatic brain injuries
People instinctively try to protect themselves when they fall. When people fall, they can hit their heads. Motor vehicle collisions can cause traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) by knocking people to the ground. The violent motions of the human body after a collision could also cause brain injuries. TBIs can cause permanent symptoms that generate increased lifetime medical expenses and may also limit an individual’s earning potential.
Internal injuries
Pedestrian collisions can cause trauma to the chest or abdomen. Blunt force trauma that people sustain in a pedestrian crash scenario could lead to internal bleeding or internal injuries that lead to sepsis. Those injuries may not be obvious at first. However, if left untreated, they may slowly worsen. Internal bleeding and similar injuries can threaten someone’s life days or even weeks after the initial incident occurs.
Most of the severe injuries possible in a pedestrian crash require medical evaluation to diagnose. Seeking out appropriate care after a pedestrian crash can help people improve their long-term prognosis for recovery and may protect their right to seek compensation from the driver at fault for the wreck.
