Three people are fortunate to be alive following a car crash on a bridge on Highway 605. The early morning accident happened when the car struck a guard rail. None of the three people who were in the vehicle at the time of the crash were wearing seatbelts. A woman and a ten-year-old child got ejected from the vehicle during the collision, and they landed in a grassy area below the bridge. The ten-year-old was hospitalized with a possible skull fracture, and the woman was taken to the hospital with injuries as well.

The aforementioned wreck could have ended much worse than it did. When a person gets ejected from a vehicle, they very often die. In that crash, two people got ejected, and both survived. Ejection accidents are doubly tragic because the risk of fatality is so high and because ejection can often be prevented by wearing a seatbelt.

Seat belts are perhaps the most important safety feature in your vehicle. They are also the most efficient way to avoid car accident deaths and injuries. In any given automobile accident, there is a seventy-five percent chance that any person who gets ejected from the vehicle will perish. They may die at the crash scene, or they may die later on as a result of their injuries, but three out of every four people who get ejected from a vehicle get killed. When a person wears a seatbelt, they reduce by thirty times the likelihood that they will get ejected from the vehicle if it crashes. That is an enormous reduction in risk!

Seat belt use also leads to lower medical bills for car crash victims. When a person remains in a vehicle during a wreck, they are likely to be hurt less severely than if they get ejected. Injuries that are less severe require less costly treatment. On average, accident victims who wear seat belts have medical bills that are fifty percent lower than the medical bills for accident victims who do not wear seat belts.

Children who get ejected from vehicles are very likely to die because their small size takes the impact that follows ejection harder than adults do. Fortunately, there are specially designed child restraints that keep kids safely inside of vehicles during accidents.  Choosing and using the right child safety seats and seat belts can prevent approximately eighty percent of child and infant car accident deaths. If you drive a vehicle and you have child passengers, be sure to select an appropriate car seat for each child’s age, height, and weight. Read all of the directions that come with each car seat and take care to adjust each seat properly for the child who uses it. Install car seats in your vehicle carefully, according to the instructions. When children are old enough to use seat belts, it is still a good idea for them to sit in the back seat whenever possible.  Parents who have questions about car seats can often get a free car seat safety check at a fire station or a police department.

Barrett Law PLLC:  Serving Mississippi Automobile Accident Victims and Their Families

If you or someone that you love got hurt or killed in a car crash, a Mississippi Automobile Accident Attorney can help you file a claim for your damages or loss. Call the Mississippi Automobile Accident attorneys at Barrett Law PLLC, at 1 (800) 707-9577, to learn more.

A recent fatal car crash serves as a somber reminder of how important it is that people wear their seat belts. A young woman got killed when she lost control of her vehicle and went off of the road. She was not wearing her seatbelt, and she got ejected from the vehicle during the wreck. Ejection from a vehicle often results in death. In the rare situation that a person survives after being ejected from a vehicle during an accident, they are often left with severe injuries that could affect their lives permanently.

Ejection is a leading cause of death in car accidents. In any given automobile accident, any person who gets ejected from a vehicle has a twenty-five percent chance of survival. Seat belt use is highly effective in preventing ejection – people who do not wear seatbelts are thirty times more likely to be ejected from a vehicle during an accident than people who are wearing seatbelts. What’s more, seatbelt use has been shown to reduce the severity of injuries to vehicle occupants during a crash – the medical bills of accident victims who were not wearing seat belts are, on average, fifty percent more costly than the medical bills of car accident victims who were wearing their seat belts.

Seat belt use is an important safety issue, and it is essential that anyone who drives a car understand that while seat belts are the safest restraint for adult passengers, infant and child passengers require additional protection in the form of child safety seats. Many people do not realize that using the improper child safety restraint or installing the restraint in the vehicle incorrectly can be very dangerous. It is estimated that eighty percent fewer child and infant injuries and deaths would occur if child safety restraints were selected and installed correctly. Fortunately, parents, grandparents, and others who transport children can check in with one of the many local fire stations and police departments that offer free car seat safety checks.

Seat belt laws vary from state to state. Mississippi’s primary seat belt law applies to drivers and passengers who sit in the front seat. This law has helped to reduce the amount car crash fatalities that occur in the state, but adult seat belt use in Mississippi is consistently below the national average, so there is room for improvement. Also, in Mississippi, children under four must ride in a car seat that is appropriate for their age and weight. Children between the ages of four and seven years old must ride in a belt-positioning booster seat unless they weigh more than sixty-five pounds or are over four feet, nine inches tall.

Barrett Law PLLC:  Serving the Needs of Mississippi Automobile Accident Victims

Accidents where one or more vehicle occupants are ejected often result in fatalities. In cases where a person who gets ejected survives, they are likely to face a lengthy recovery and may even suffer from permanent and debilitating injuries. Whether you were injured in a crash or you lost a loved one, you and your family need time to heal. Pursuing a claim for damages in connection with a motor vehicle accident takes time and energy, but you do not have to do it on your own. The Mississippi Automobile Accident Attorneys at Barrett Law PLLC have helped Mississippi accident victims and their families to recover physically and financially after car accidents. Please call us today, at 1 (800) 707-9577 to schedule a free, initial consultation.

A woman recently died in a car accident involving a deer. The force of the collision made her vehicle flip over and catch fire. This tragic accident is illustrative of just how serious collisions between motor vehicles and wildlife can be.

Drivers and passengers in vehicles that collide with wildlife are often severely injured or killed in the crash. Medium and large wildlife like deer, bear, moose, and elk cause forceful impacts when they are struck by a moving vehicle, whether the vehicle collides with the side of the animal or the animal is tossed into the air and lands on top of the car. If the animal becomes airborne, vehicle occupants could be crushed if the animal lands on the roof of the car. If the animal lands on the front or the rear of the vehicle, it can shatter the land hurt or kill the people inside the car. Sometimes, such as in the situation that is described above, collisions involving animals can even cause vehicles to overturn, leave the roadway, or both, which further increases the risk of serious injury or death.

Many wildlife-related wrecks happen at night, or at dusk or dawn. These are the times of day when many animals are on the move, and they are also times when it’s hard for drivers to see animals that may be present in or near the road. The frequency of animal-related crashes often corresponds to the changing of the seasons because migration, hunting seasons, mating, and other factors which affect the movements of animals follow seasonal patterns.

Wildlife can be present anywhere along the roadway, but certain types of landscapes make it more likely that you will encounter animals there. For example, deer are often found near open fields and moose frequent swampy areas. In places where there are trees or other plants close to the road, wildlife can be hard to see until they are actually on the road. As if avoiding animals in the road was not difficult enough already, some animals, like deer, are often found in groups, which can contribute to an increased accident risk. If you are driving and you see one deer, carefully scan the area for others that may be nearby before continuing along the road.

If you are driving and you cannot safely avoid hitting an animal that is on the road, try to hit it from an angle. Colliding with an animal from an angle increases the chance that the animal will be deflected away from your car instead of throwing it into the air. If you do hit an animal with your vehicle, be sure to call the police, so that the animal can safely be removed from the roadway and the accident can be properly documented. It is important that the crash is documented properly because insurance companies occasionally try to avoid paying on claims for damages in accidents involving wildlife when a police report has not been filed.

Barrett Law PLLC:  Helping Automobile Accident Victims Across Mississippi  

Sometimes, a driver cannot avoid a collision with a wild animal. If you got hurt in a wildlife-related car crash, contact a Mississippi Automobile Accident attorney right away. Your attorney might be able to help you to pursue a claim for damages while you focus on healing your injuries and repairing or replacing your vehicle. The Mississippi Automobile Accident Attorneys at Barrett Law PLLC are here to help you, so please call us today, at 1 (800) 707-9577 to schedule a consultation.