Not many in Los Angeles associate serious injuries with fender-benders. Indeed, most might assume that you should walk away from such an accident without any ill-effects, and that if you do choose to take legal action, you simply are trying to be vindictive. What many do not know that is that even something as seemingly simple as a rear-end collision can cause serious injuries. The most common of these is whiplash.
Whiplash occurs when your head and neck are thrown violently forward and backward. As you are slowing down in your vehicle, your head and neck are being slowly pressed against your set, generating backward momentum. When you are hit from behind, the energy of the collision then throws you forward, reversin your upper body’s momentum. Eventually, the momentum will then be stopped (either by you being restrained by your seat belt or hitting the steering wheel). When this happens, your head and neck maintain their forward momentum from a moment, and then are whipped back violently as the rest of your body stops moving forward. This can cause neck pain, numbness, headaches and dizziness. If left untreated it can develop into neck and back problems, blurred vision, sleep disturbances and depression.
You might think that in for a rear-end collision to generate that kind of power, the car that hit you would have to traveling at a high speed. Yet information shared by Health Day shows that accidents that occur even 5 miles per hour (which is barely above idling) can generate enough force to cause whiplash. Therefore, if you are in a rear-end collision, you should have yourself examined (even if you feel fine). Oftentimes the signs and symptoms of whiplash will not manifest themselves until days or even weeks have passed since your accident.
