INJURED IN A CAR ACCIDENT?

Sacramento Car Accident Lawyers

Each Sacramento car accident lawyer in our firm focuses on helping those who have been catastrophically injured in motor vehicle (cars, motorcycles, scooters, trucks and buses) crashes throughout the State of California but not accepting cases when there is little or no injury or when there is only property damage. We also provide legal representation to pedestrians and cyclists injured by careless drivers. We assist our clients in receiving the best possible medical attention, occupational therapy and vocational therapy.

Our Sacramento car accident injury law firm helps our clients to make recovery as full as possible and get back to their lives. We fight hard to obtain optimal compensation for medical expenses and lost income.

We feel it is important to educate our clients in obtaining adequate insurance coverage if they are involved in another accident. In California, for example, the law does not mandate much bodily injury coverage. Therefore, many people injured by California drivers are never compensated for their loss because of inadequate insurance coverage.

Unfortunately, automobile accidents are part of our everyday lives, whether we are victims or witnesses. They’re parts of our commuter consciousness. As we listen to our traffic reports it is an unspoken acknowledgment of the impending dangers that lurk around the corner.

We here at The Law Offices of Shanie N. Bradley are well-versed in the risks posed every time we get behind the wheel. We, too, are drivers, after all. We know too well the imminent threats of injury, sometimes death, which surrounding drivers represent. Some common case types that we see in Sacramento and the surrounding area include:

Staying Safe Behind the Wheel

Our Sacramento car accident lawyer recommends that everybody, whether driving or riding a passenger, always wears one’s seat belt, no matter how far you are driving. It can be a critical mistake to think people do not need to wear a seatbelt if they are just driving around the corner. Studies have proven that a person has a 400% greater chance of surviving an accident if they are properly seat belted.

California seat belt law is described in section 27315 of the Vehicle Code, also known as the Motor Vehicle Safety Act. California law requires that anyone driving a car, pickup truck, truck or van on a California road must wear a seatbelt. According to the Motor Vehicle Safety Act, in a private passenger vehicle, the driver and all passengers are required to be secured by a safety belt. In a taxicab or a limo, only front seat passengers are required to buckle up, but there must be seat belts provided for back seat passengers to use. Unless you’re in a limo or cab, though, California seat belt law is pretty simple-everyone buckles up, or else.

Fines for not wearing a seat belt in California are set at the state level, by the California Vehicle Code. The amount of the fine depends on the age of the person who was riding around without a belt on. For example, if the unsecured passenger is 16 or older, the fine is $20 for a first offense and $50 for future offenses. The law specifically gives the court the option to order the offender to attend defensive driving school instead of paying a fine on the first offense.

Seatbelts Impact Your Personal Injury Case

In California, almost everyone is required to wear a seat belt. The only exceptions are people with a medical condition that makes it unsafe to wear one and has a certification by a doctor that the use of a seat belt would be dangerous or inappropriate. For some reason, the law allows people with occupations that require them to get in and out of their car all the time, such as newspaper delivery people, meter readers, mail carriers, and garbage truck drivers to drive without seat belts. Even workers in these professions must buckle up on the way to and from their routes. If you are injured in a car accident in California and did not have your seat belt on at the time of impact, the violation can be considered as evidence of comparative fault. In other words, the jury will have to decide how much of your injury is due to your failure to wear a seatbelt, even if you are entirely innocent in the crash. Comparative fault or comparative negligence can range from 0-100% of liability. That means you could reduce the amount of recovery to nothing if a jury believes that your injury would have been entirely avoided with the use of a seatbelt.

Always Buckle Up!

It is a dangerous and stupid myth that today’s modern cars with functioning airbags have eliminated the need to wear seatbelts. Airbags are specifically designed to be used in accordance with a belted occupant. In fact, an airbag can become dangerous if it goes off against an unrestrained occupant. Moreover, airbags offer little to no help to those involved in rear-end, side or rollover crashes. Our Northern California auto accident lawyers battle on behalf of the injured, litigating car and truck cases .

Why Should You Hire a Car Accident Lawyer?

You will need a Sacramento car accident lawyer to represent you in your lawsuit because insurance companies are unlikely to just hand you the amount you deserve. Naturally, their main goal is to maximize their profits. This means they have an incentive to pay you as little as possible and get you to sign a liability release form, which will bar you from further recovery. However, the little amounts that these companies offer are rarely enough to cover your medical bills, let alone other monetary damages such as lost wages and pain & suffering. Therefore, hiring an experienced attorney who specializes in traffic accidents is your best option. We are experienced in litigating all kinds of traffic accidents, including car, truck, and motorcycle accidents. Legally speaking, there are some differences between these cases. Motorcycle accidents result in a higher degree of severe injuries and fatalities than any other type of motor vehicle collision. Similar to car accidents, victims of motorbike accidents are entitled to monetary compensation for the losses they have incurred including medical costs, lost wages, pain and suffering and emotional distress. Our team of dedicated accident attorneys will guide you through the legal process every step of the way. Similarly, truck accidents usually have more clear liabilities due to the negligence of the truck driver. Every year more than 75,000 individuals sustain catastrophic injuries resulting from truck accidents. Large trucks pose a serious danger on the road for motorists. Our law firm is dedicated to helping people who have been injured in truck accidents receive just compensation for their injuries. Contact us today to consult with us for free, with absolutely no obligation.

Understanding The Cause of a Car Accident

Permanent injuries and loss of income are often the unwanted consequences that follow a car accident. The lawyers at The Law Offices of Shanie N. Bradley want you to see what causes accidents, so you can be better prepared as drivers and help take steps towards preventing future hardship or an accident.

Lots of the following lists are common sense issues, ones experienced drivers often take for granted. But, the end result of taking the cause of these for granted often results in an automobile accident. We just assume we know everything, and by a force of habit, don’t bother to reviewing in our head these all-too-familiar pitfalls of highway navigation. The list that follows (which isn’t by any means exhaustive) is meant for both tenured and novice drivers alike.