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I myself drive long distances on a daily basis – and when I say long distances, I mean a 70 mile round trip to work every day. This daily trip serves to remind me of the dangers of the road. My trip comprises mainly of going up and down the MI motorway. Accident hotspots on motorways can be the areas around junctions where traffic is meeting. This is similar to accident hotspots on any road where traffic meets at roundabouts, junctions, and where traffic is generally merging.

Injuries

A more common injury we see here at The Injury Lawyers as a result of a road accident is whiplash. Whiplash is a condition which can be greatly undermined, as it is mostly invisible to the naked eye – unlike a laceration or a broken bone. At The Injury Lawyers, however, we treat whiplash with the utmost seriousness as we know the severe pain it causes as well as the devastating effect it can have on people’s lives. Whiplash is an extremely unpredictable condition – a doctor may say you will recover in 3 months, but 1 year down the line you are still in pain. This is why it is advisable to gain the advice of a specialist personal injury lawyer.  A good lawyer will normally not advise you to settle your claim before you have recovered for this very reason – if your settlement is based on a recovery period of 3 months, but you are still suffering in 1 year – you may have greatly undervalued your claim.
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The Daily Mail has today reported that an elderly lady, Audrey King, of 70 years, is seeking compensation having sustained injuries having been involved in a collision with a mobility scooter.  It is stated that Ms King was out shopping with a friend when a mobility scooter drover into her.  As a result of this accident, Ms King suffered a broken hip and a serious fracture to her thigh bone.  According to the Daily Mail, the negligent driver of the mobility scooter got her coat stuck in the mobility, she lost focus, and subsequently drove into Ms King. 

One of the interesting points of this case is that mobility scooters do not require insurance as they are not considered ‘motor vehicles’.  As such, Ms King could not pursue compensation against the negligent driver’s insurance; something she would have been able to do had she have been in a road traffic accident. Instead, she has had to pursue the negligent driver who may not be worth suing.  It is not surprising therefore that Ms King has called for the law to be changed in respect of mobility scooters and their lack of need for insurance.

Ms King states that she was in ‘agonising pain’ after the accident.  She had to stay in hospital for almost an entire week, has had to have an operation on her hip to ensure that she was able to return home, and now requires a walking aid, and has had to use painkillers for approximately six weeks.  Ms King now requires care and assistance around her home.  Should a claim for compensation be successful, it is expected that the compensation would cover her injuries and any other losses that Ms King sustained subsequent to the accident.  That is, because she has needed care and assistance and may continue to do so for some time, a compensatory award could take this into account.  This would be to cover any expenditure she has incurred in having to get this help in.
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Whiplash is one of those conditions that is not so plain to see but can cause the sufferer severe pain for lengthy periods of time. It is a common misconception that the condition is based solely in the neck area; in reality, this can be very different as I will explain below.

Symptoms

The symptoms of whiplash can vary greatly from person to person:

• Pain, stiffness, swelling around the neck, back, and shoulders.
• Pain may radiate to the shoulders or down the back
• Headaches which can be severe and recurrent

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There can be many potential hazards at work – these hazards should be minimised by your employers. Your employer may put in place training policies, checks, and inspections in order to minimise risks to your health and safety.

If you had an accident at work that was not your fault, you may have a claim for compensation. Employers have a duty to protect their staff as far as is reasonably possible from risks to their health and safety.

Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)
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I envisage that there are many potential accident claims out there that are going by unclaimed.  One reason I can see for this is that people may feel it will be too much hassle to start a claim after what may have been a traumatic accident.

Well, I am here to tell you the opposite (so long as you get the right lawyer). Personal injury claiming with the right lawyer on board can be a simple process with as little hassle for you as possible. At The Injury Lawyers, we find the most stress is caused to clients when they do not know what is happening with their claim; this is why we have a policy of updating our clients every two weeks, whether something has happened or not. This not only makes sure our client is kept in the loop, but also that their claim is checked and worked on, on a regular basis.

When you start a claim there is a high chance it will come under the Pre-action Protocol for Personal Injury. This system encourages claims to settle at the earliest stage possible – i.e. before going to court – thus making the process easier on the Claimant and giving more transparency between both sides at the outset. To comply with this system, a Letter of Claim will be drafted giving a full description of your accident circumstances. Once this letter is sent to the Defendant, the clock begins to run; giving the other side 21 days to acknowledge the letter, and a further three months to investigate (normally through their insurers, solicitors, or claims representatives).
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OK – so you are a UK resident, and you unfortunately end up injured abroad whilst you were on your jollies or away on a business trip. The accident wasn’t your fault – you’re injured, upset, inconvenienced, and have lost out financially. What do you do?

You may still be able to have a claim using an English lawyer

In most generic circumstances, if you have an accident abroad, you will need to speak to a foreign lawyer or a UK based foreign law specialist about a claim. Foreign laws are different, and it’s a problem for most firms because of the differences in jurisdiction.
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Vibration White Finger is a condition known in the legal world as an industrial disease. This means that a person has incurred an injury as a result of prolonged activity at work over an amount of time. Vibration White Finger is a condition experienced by workers who have have a high degree of exposure to machinery which vibrates; such as drills, or chainsaws.

Vibration White Finger is also known as Hand Arm Vibration Syndrome as we now have more knowledge on the range of symptoms it may cause. Sufferers may not only get the so-called ‘white finger’ but could also experience tingling or numbness in the fingers and/or a general aching sensation which could extend through the fingers and up through the arms.  In more serious cases, it has also been reported that sufferers have lost all feeling in their fingers and even up through their hands.
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If you have been involved in a road traffic accident and you have sustained an injury due to a negligent driver that either drove off or has no insurance, you are still able to make a claim for compensation. The usual rule of thumb is that you are able to pursue the negligent drivers’ insurance company for your compensation.  If they drive away from the scene or turn out to have no insurance, they are not able to just ‘get away with it’.  If you have been injured as a result of a road traffic accident and the other driver is not insured or has driven off, you CAN still make a claim for compensation.  This is because of an organisation called the Motor Insurers’ Bureau.  By making a claim for compensation through them, you can obtain the compensation you would have been awarded had the negligent driver stuck around or had insurance.

In 1946, the Motor Insurers’ Bureau, or ‘MIB’ for short, was set up ‘to compensate the victims of negligent uninsured [and untraced]…motorists’.  The Road Traffic Act 1988 stipulates that each and every motor insurance company must make a contribution to the MIB to fund your potential claims for compensation.  In reality, what this means is that around £15-30 of your insurance premium will go towards funding the compensation fund of the MIB.  This is why you can still obtain compensation if the negligent driver is uninsured or untraced.  This is only right.  It simply cannot be the case that because of their illegal and immoral actions that you are left to fend for yourself.  The MIB has helped a significant number of motorists injured by negligent drivers.  In 2008, the MIB settled 64,000 claims.

It is also worth noting that where the negligent driver’s vehicle is foreign registered, a claim for compensation can similarly be made through the MIB’s Green Card system.
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There is little doubt that we have just faced one of the toughest winters in a long while.  Temperatures were lower than normal and the amount of snow we had was far greater than previous years.  As many of you reading this may well remember, Britain almost closed down for a couple of days at the end of November / start of December due to the severity of the weather conditions.  It was simply either impossible to get to work, or too dangerous to do so.  It was not only businesses that suffered, our roads also suffered from the after effects of these weather conditions.  Water filled into the cracks in our roads and then froze due to the cold temperatures.  What this meant was that when the weather conditions began to improve, the ice began to thaw, and the cracks it had left behind made themselves apparent. Thus – many potholes were born! And it does not appear that we have heard the end of this either.

Your local council is responsible for maintaining their highways.  They owe you a duty of care as a highway user, whether you are a pedestrian or a motorist, to ensure that the roads and pathways are safe to use.  What this has meant is that your councils have faced an uphill struggle to maintain their roads having seen the many number of potholes that have been formed.  Your council has to routinely inspect your roads – say, every three to six months – and where problems are highlighted they have to fix them.  Because of the huge amount of potholes that have cropped up, councils across England have faced a hefty maintenance bill.  In fact, the money spent is so high that the government has had to provide another £100million to help fix the potholes.

At The Injury Lawyers, we are only too aware of the perils of the pothole.  Every week we hear of people who have either damaged their vehicles or injured themselves because of a pothole.  It may be that they have not noticed the pothole, walked into it, and ended up breaking their ankle.  At The Injury Lawyers, because of our years of experience in dealing with pothole claims, we are able to advise people who have sustained an injury as a result of coming into contact with a pothole.
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Supermarkets tend to receive much praise but also much criticism. People tend to praise the supermarkets for their range of products and choice, the number of discounts, and also the fact that you can get everything they need under one roof. However, there are always the critics – with supermarkets, their comments can be anything from the length of the queues to taking away trade away from small, independent businesses. Whatever your thoughts on supermarkets, I can anticipate it is the last thing on your mind that you will have an accident in one that was not your fault.

Supermarkets, like everywhere else, have a duty of care to their customers. They have a duty to, as far as is reasonably possible, to minimise risks to customers’ health and safety. In doing so they must also abide by strict health and safety guidelines.

There are many potential risks in a supermarket – risks that have become real life accidents to many clients here at The Injury lawyers. These risks include slipping on a spillage that was negligently left uncleaned and unattended, tripping over an item left in the walkway of a shopping aisle, or having an item fall from a poorly stacked shelf – all causing you injury.
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