What Happens When You Get Rear-Ended?

Sat in traffic, minding your own business, you get slammed into from the rear. Your body is launched forward and you’re then pushed back into your seat from the inertia. Your head and neck are sprained and badly injured. You feel the adrenaline pumping through your body so you may not realise you’re hurt, with broken limbs or bleeding wounds. This is something that many people go through when they have been hit from the back of your car and suddenly thrust into a world of pain, confusion and financial difficulty.

Nerve and back compression

By far the number one injury sustained from being rear-ended is in your back. Your lumbar spine will be suddenly compressed as you dip into your seat and your pelvis and hips crush your nerves and your spine rapidly shrinks. This can cause a lot of lasting damage to your discs, which are little pieces of cartilage that sit between your vertebrae. This can cause incredible pina, to the point you can’t even move. You won’t be able to feel your legs if you have a pinched or bruised nerve, along with bruising in your hips and legs, due to the sudden impact and shockwave, bursting capillaries.

Shock and confusion

After the impact you will feel dazed and confused, to coin a phrase. It’s important to stay in the car if you can. It’s normal to want to leave the car and just get as far away from it as you can. It’s natural for us to do this because our brain is trying to get us away from perceived danger. But, you don’t know what else might happen. If You’re in a pile up, you shouldn’t venture outside, if you’re in a highway jam, this is also the same case. We recommend that you try to assess your injuries with your hands and try to use your mirrors to see if there are any unseen dangers.

Knowing what happened

The next thing you will want to know is, what on earth happened, how, why and who, etc. This is something the police will usually find out in any traffic accident. However, you should immediately begin recording with your smartphone. Document what has occurred, what you feel like, detail any injuries and allow it to play out as you receive help and manage the situation. Talk to witnesses and try to get them on the recording. Ask their name and what they do for a living so you have some kind of way to reach out to them if needed.

The aftermath

Eventually, you will calm down and try your best to get over it. But if you’re injured you should talk to a motor vehicle accident lawyer because there’s no way you should be paying for any repairs or hospital bills. Being rear-ended is an open and shut case because the entire responsibility is with the driver behind. Speak with the lawyer about any due compensation.

Being hit in the rear of your car is the most frightening because you can’t see it coming. But always remain calm and document the event to prove yourself innocent and use it later on for when it’s time to build a case.