<p>D was involved in her first accident/crash this week. She rear-ended someone in bumper-to-bumper traffic on a rain-slicked road. Her car is fine, but the car in front of her had two impressions in the bumper from the two screws on her license plate. The woman got out of the car and immediately began complaining that she hit her head. She viewed the damage, commented that it wasn’t worth calling the police, and they exchanged info. Our insurance company called the next day, saying that she went right to the hospital after leaving the scene and later called them. I guess insurance companies know how to handle these cases. I’m curious to know if there’s a way to prove you have whiplash?</p>
<p>Does your D know if the driver was wearing a seatbelt?</p>
<p>People looking to sue often go one of those clinics that are pretty much designed for that purpose. (Around here they’re K Clinics.) Those kind of “health care” providers know exactly what they need to write down to provide evidence of the injuries. They have relationships with the plaintiff’s lawyers.</p>
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<p>Unfortunately, she didn’t notice. I think people really can get whiplash from these types of accidents. It’s kind of sad that we can’t always trust them.</p>
<p>Did the airbag deploy?</p>
<p>No airbag deployed! The only sign anything even happened is the two little dimples in the bumper.</p>
<p>Luckily the pictures taken of the minimal damage should strongly help the case. If the damage is just the 2 tiny marks on car 1, and no damage on car 2, she’ll have a tough time convincing anyone she was hurt.
Fortunate that most every teen and young adult seems to have a camera phone on them.
Lesson learned about calling the police, though.</p>
<p>When son was in kindergarten some 15 years ago I had stopped for a school bus on our way home but the HS driver behind me slid into me with only a bump felt. Apparent only bumper damage at scene (but even rear bumpers carry a lot of expensive stuff). Both of us wore seatbelts, had head piece on top of seatback. Son totally fine. I had neck pain, worse the next day. As a physician (retired) I called my friendly neurosurgeon aquaintance for advice (worry about C-spine), got an xray and no problems fron the hit (saved the insurance company a physician’s visit bill). Hurt for a week or two. Yes, minor impact can cause enough pain to affect a person for weeks. My medical knowledge helped me deal with it- learned I had bone spurs and knew probable outcome, unlike the average person, so I was better able to put up with the pain. Also litigation adverse. The level of pain/discomfort was surprising given the mild bump we felt at the time of impact.</p>
<p>Wis, what would be seen on an x-ray? Are you saying that if nothing is seen on the x-ray, she may just have to wait for the pain to subside? Is there any way to know if the person is just faking the pain?</p>
<p>OP - I’m glad your D wasn’t injured. I had a similar accident a few years ago - had trouble stopping at a red light in heavy rain. Same thing - my car made tiny impressions on her bumper and vice versa. Other driver wanted to call police but it was one of those days when there are so many accidents they stop responding to any without injuries. We traded info, and lo and behold, my insurance company called to say she was claiming injury and damage. They sent an adjuster out to look at my car and he laughed. That was the last I ever heard about it.</p>
<p>I was hit from behind many years ago and I thought that the back end of my car was a mess because of the impact. I went to look at there were only a few scratches on the bumper. No indentations. The headrest probably saved me from whiplash. In rear-end collisions, I think that whiplash is caused by the head snapping back without support - I don’t think that seatbelts or airbags matter. What matters is having something to support your head.</p>
<p>not a doctor, but I can tell you an X-ray is one way of seeking to find info about a possible injury. It may not show an injury that is real, because there can be soft tissue injuries. It can be definitive proof if there is an injury to the vertebrae (bones).
It is standard procedure to get a neck X-ray if one is claiming a neck injury.
A “clear” X-ray neither proves nor disproves a neck injury.</p>
<p>Certainly an air-bag would not have offered protection to car 1. Airbags are intended for protection from frontal (and sometimes) side-crashes. Based on description of accident I would not expect airbag of car 2 to activate.</p>
<p>Yes, insurance companies do know how to handle this. I am sure by now you have called on your agent to explain, and have thoroughly explained to D why we call police, and why we take pics. I think this should be part of every drivers’ ed course- what to do after an accident. Young drivers don’t know from instinct, but they should be told before they get their license.</p>
<p>Last year a car changed lanes into me. The damage to my car was minimal but I did have a really sore neck and shoulders. The other driver’s insurance company called me twice a day to harrass me into either seeing a doctor or signing a release. What I really thought would make me feel better would have been a massage or two. After about a week I felt better and told the insurance company I was okay. The last thing I wanted was to have to shuttle off to a bunch of doctor’s appointments. But the impact did make me sore for a while.</p>
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<p>I like the idea of using your cell phone to take pictures, but is it really necessary to call the police? The woman was the one who said, “There’s not much damage so there’s no need to call the police.” I wouldn’t want D to get a ticket on top of all of this.</p>
<p>Having now experienced this, you should now see the reason for calling the police. Had a cop been there you would have had the benefit of his trained eye seeing the damage to both cars(tiny) he would have spoken to both drivers, and filed a written report.
This helps to prevent false claims that may come about later. What if driver of car 1 denies that she ever said she was ok; but now claims to be hurt? What if she says your daughter hit-and-ran? What if car 1, by chance, sustains more damage elsewhere- might she blame that on your daughter too? Had the cop written “no one claims injuries” in a report, you’d have much more solid ground.
It now appears there may be injury claims by car 1.
That is the reason.</p>
<p>Sometimes sore neck/shoulders can be from clenching tightly onto the steering wheel to brace for the impact.</p>
<p>My wife was hit from behind with relatively little damage to our car. She was wearing a seat belt and had the heat restraint in place. Even so, the consequences were substantial including severe pain, aggravation of a previous condition, a concussion, and post concussion syndrome with debilitating consequences. She was unable to drive for months afterwards due to the neurological issues. Two years later and dozens of doctors visits later, she is has pretty much healed but is still undergoing therapy. </p>
<p>Even though an accident appears to be minor, the consequences can be severe. A ton or tow of moving vehicle can cause a lot of damage even at a slow speed.</p>
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<p>I’m positive that my body tensed as I realized the guy was running into me. It doesn’t make the pain any less real, however. The thing is, litigation would have been a ridiculous waste of my own time.</p>
<p>The whole thing is just a lose/lose situation. If she’s really injured, it’s bad, and could be very bad. If she’s not telling the truth, there’s no real way to prove it.</p>
<p>Younghoss is wrong on just about every count. (I’m a judicial arbitrator for the local courts and I’ve probably heard over a hundred minor injury auto accident cases over the years.) You just don’t know if someone has been injured as a result of a relatively minor rear ender - as many of the above posts illustrate. Modern bumpers absorb a lot of impact without much damage to the car - but the impact is still transmitted to the passengers. Calling the police to a minor traffic accident is a waste of public resources, and does virtually no good. If you want to you can go to the police station the next day and file a report; but seriously: is it the proper job of the police to serve as taxpayer-funded data gatherers for insurance companies? Exchange information including license and insurance data at the scene; take a photo of your car, if you like, and notify your insurance company promptly. There’s really not much data to be preserved by taking an officer off the street to fill out a report for you. A police officers report that “no one claimed injuries” is almost meaningless - many whiplash injuries manifest hours after the impact - and in this case, it sounds like the other driver was complaining at the scene.</p>
<p>It’s a natural response to suspect the other driver of faking their injuries, and it may be true - but it also may not. Let your insurance take care of it.</p>