Common Head Injuries After Being Hit by a Car 

When it comes to walking outside and on a sidewalk, one of the first thing that children learn is to be careful and watch for cars. This is for good reason. Historically in New York, motor vehicle crashes with a pedestrian resulted in over 310 deaths, over 3,000 hospitalizations, over 12,500 emergency department visits, and many more personal injuries that did not get treatment. Recent efforts to make it safer for pedestrians have improved these numbers. However, as our personal injury lawyer in Staten Island knows, just last month in the five boroughs of NYC, 855 pedestrians were injured and 11 pedestrians were killed in traffic accidents. This is still a very significant number, especially because many victims will suffer head injuries after being hit by a car in Staten Island or elsewhere in New York City.

That is why if you or a loved one were seriously injured, or if a loved one was wrongfully killed, in any type of traffic accident occurring in New York City, call our personal injury lawyer in Staten Island for help.

Here at the O’Connor Law Firm, we offer FREE consultations and can answer your questions, explain your legal rights, and show you how we can help you obtain the compensation that you deserve. There is no obligation to sign up with our bodily injury law firm, but if you retain us and we accept your case, we pay the upfront costs and disbursements of litigation which are only reimbursed after we recover compensation for you. The same is true of our legal fees, which are only paid from a portion of the recovery we make and only after we collect it. That means there is no upfront cost or financial risk to working with our personal injury lawyer in Staten Island.

Why Are Head Injuries After Being Hit by a Car Common

Head injuries are some of the worst and most catastrophic types of personal injuries. This is because they often result in prolonged disability and disruption in a person’s life, but often cannot easily be repaired with a splint or cast like a broken bone. In fact, many head injuries do not show up on imaging studies, but they can still be catastrophic and permanent. This is one of the many reasons why head injuries are very difficult types of cases to recover compensation.

Unfortunately, head injuries are common in pedestrian knockdown or hit by car accidents. This is because, unlike vehicles that have seatbelts and a steel shell around them, and unlike motorcyclists or cyclists who were helmets, pedestrians have no protection in a collision. That means their body, usually their head, suffer the full impact of a collision.

Types of Head Injuries

There are many different types of head injuries that an individual could suffer after being hit by a car. The most common types of head injuries can all result in significant disability preventing a person from being able to work or enjoy life as they did prior to the accident. These types of head injuries are often known as traumatic brain injuries, or TBIs.

The most common types of head injuries after being hit by a car in Staten Island include the following:

Concussions

A concussion is a type of head injury caused by a blow, bump, jolt, or another type of impact to the head. This type of TBI is often thought to not be serious, usually because of the way that sports have handled concussions. But this is not an accurate way of gauging concussions, as they are very serious and often life-changing for victims of a car accident. Even though well-trained and conditioned athletes may recover from a concussion, most people on the street do not compare to an athlete’s physical health. That means a victim of being hit by a car can suffer serious or catastrophic personal injuries from a concussion.

What makes a concussion particularly dangerous is that, even if the first concussion has symptoms which eventually go away, a second concussion can be devastating and even fatal. It is this increased risk of a second and more dangerous personal injury that can result in additional compensation for a victim if you have an experienced personal injury lawyer in Staten Island like us to help you.

Diffuse Axonal TBIs

Another type of devastating TBI is a diffuse axonal brain injury. This type of TBI is where an individual suffers tearing, sheering, or ripping of brain tissue in an impact. That means that connections in the brain could be disrupted and no longer function properly. As a result, individuals often suffer some type of permanent disability. Individuals who are hit by a car are particularly suspectable to a diffuse axonal TBI.

Coup-Contrecoup TBIs

The brain sits inside the hardened skull which protects it from an impact. Cerebral-spinal fluid (CSF) is inside the skull which allows the brain to “float” and be cushioned from an impact. However, when the head is violently accelerated and decelerated in a collision, it can cause the brain to slide back-and-forth inside the skull. That is known as a coup-contrecoup TBI.

That means that the brain slide forward and strike the inside of the skull, then snap back and strike the other side of the skull. This can result in damage on opposite ends of the brain, causing life-threatening swelling and chemical changes in the brain which can damage vital structures. Victims who are hit by a car may suffer this type of head injury which can become debilitating or fatal if not treated.

Did You Suffer Head Injuries After Being Hit by a Car in Staten Island? Call Our Bodily Injury Law Firm

Anyone who has suffered brain injuries after being hit by a car in Staten Island or anywhere else in New York, especially right here in Staten Island, Brooklyn, Manhattan, The Bronx, Queens, Long Island, and in surrounding areas, should call the O’Connor Law Firm to schedule a FREE consultation. Our experienced pedestrian accident lawyer in Staten Islandcan help you recover compensation for pain and suffering, lost wages, medical bills, and other damages caused by a debilitating head injury such as a TBI, concussion, diffuse axonal injury, or coup-contrecoup TBI. To learn more, call (718) 948-3500 or using our “Contact Us” box available here.