There are many different ways in which vehicles can collide. There is the so-called T-bone crash, which happens when the front end of one vehicle strikes the side of another vehicle. There is the rear-end crash, where one vehicle hits the back end of another. Head-on collisions occur when two drivers collide front end to front end.
The kind of crash isn’t the only issue that can impact the injuries you might sustain. There are a variety of secondary factors, such as whether a vehicle spins or rolls as part of the crash that will affect the kinds of injuries people suffer.
Head or brain injuries, along with spinal cord injuries, are some of the most severe injuries in a major motor vehicle collision. There are multiple ways for someone to damage their brain in a car crash.
Blunt force trauma to the head is a common risk for brain injury
The most common and obvious source of a brain injury in a crash would be striking your head on something during the accident. Depending on the motion of the vehicle and where you sit in the car, you can strike your head on the dashboard, the glove box, the seat in front of you, the steering wheel, on the windshield or even the center console.
People can also hit their head on something outside of the vehicle if they get thrown from the vehicle in the crash. Anytime you know you hit your head, the potential exists for a brain injury to occur, which means you should have a doctor evaluate you.
Spinning and flipping are also brain injury risk factors
While hitting your head on something can obviously give you a brain injury, there are other ways to hurt your brain. Your skull does not provide much space for your brain to move, so rough shaking motions can also cause injury to your brain. Any collision where you wind up spinning or flipping over could result in a serious brain injury as well.
Loss of consciousness is a warning sign that you need to see a doctor
Many of the symptoms related to brain injuries may take days to start developing because the brain has to swell before the symptoms arise. However, one of the earliest warning signs of a potential brain injury is the loss of consciousness at the time of a crash. Anyone who loses consciousness, even for a half of a second, could be at increased risk of a brain injury.
Knowing that crashes where you hit your head, get shaken up or lose consciousness are the riskiest can help you make informed decisions after a crash. Getting here sooner rather than later can improve your prognosis after a brain injury and may also improve your chances of successfully seeking compensation later on.
