Auto Accidents and Their Varieties

Just as there are many different cars and drivers on the roads, there will be many different types of accidents. Contrary to popular belief, not all accidents involve rear ending, hit and runs, or head on collisions. Yes, those three accident types do occur and, sadly, they sometimes occur frequently. However, there are other types of car accidents that occur as well.

For those who may have questions regarding what other common accidents occur, here is a brief overview:

Bus - Because buses must frequently pull over to pick up passengers and then merge back into traffic they are often at risk for an accident. Commonly, tailgating buses lead to "rear ending" accidents when the bus pulls over for passengers. Similarly, side swiping accidents are common when the bus pulls out into traffic.

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Truck - Surprisingly, truck accidents are very rare in comparison to passenger. Part of the reason for this is that since trucks are more difficult to operate, those who drive such vehicles are more skilled with vehicle operation. However, there are other factors that can cause a truck accident such as bad brakes, inclement weather, or lack of experience with truck operations.

Pedestrian - Pedestrian accidents involve a vehicle hitting someone who is not inside a vehicle. The fault of such an accident is not always that of the vehicle's driver. However, regardless of who is at fault pedestrians often suffer severe injuries or even fatalities when struck by a vehicle.

Motorcycle - Obviously, this type of accident involves a motorcyclist. More often than not, however, it is reckless driving on the part of a motorcyclist that leads to common motorcycle crashes. Excessive speeding and weaving in and out of lanes are often the cause of such accidents.

Bike - A bike accident involves either the bike hitting a vehicle or the vehicle hitting the bike. There will be instances where the driver, the bicyclist, or both are at fault. For example, a driver could be speeding, the bicyclist could be riding against the flow of traffic, or both driver and bicyclist could be operating recklessly.

Airbag Failure - Upon impact during an accident, airbags are supposed to react and provide a safe buffer to prevent driver and passenger injuries. However, if the airbag is damaged or defective, they may fail to adequately protect the driver and passenger from harm.

Fatal Car Accidents - Nationally, there were 30,797 fatal car wrecks in 2009 (the most recent year for which data is currently available). 

Car Accident Ejection - Many types of traffic accidents have the potential to result in serious injuries and occupant ejection accidents are no exception. As soon as you are ejected from your car, you lack the protective metal, seatbelts, airbags and other safety features that may help prevent serious injuries. Instead, you are thrown out of your car, often with some degree of force.

Rollover - A rollover refers to the unfortunate instance where a car literally rolls over and finds itself upside down. In some cases, this is exclusively the driver's fault. (Examples include hitting a sharp turn at a very unsafe speed, etc) Then, there are those defective vehicles on the road that are prone to rollovers. Regardless of the origin of the rollover, such an occurrence is extremely dangerous to the occupants of the vehicle.

Tire Failure - When a tire blows out a driver can lose control of a vehicle and cause an accident. This can happen if the tire has far too many miles on it or if the tire is punctured by an object on the road.

Seatbelt Failure - This does not refer to not wearing one's seatbelt. It refers to the seatbelt not providing adequate protection upon impact. This can be the result of a manufacturer's defect or improper maintenance of the seatbelt.

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Car Fire - Accidents involving car fires are EXTREMELY dangerous. In general, if a car is leaking gasoline and the gasoline is ignited then the car will catch fire. In such an instance, it is critical to exit the vehicle as soon as possible as an explosion is very possible under such circumstances.

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