Car Injury Statistics for American Canyon
Current data from the California government’s Metropolitan Transportation Commission’s website, Vital Signs, shows that pedestrians, bicyclists, and motorists in Napa County, including American Canyon, have an almost doubled likelihood of suffering serious injuries in traffic accidents when compared to the average likelihood of such incidents in the Bay Area as a whole.
Likely Causes
It may be that tourism is the reason for the disparity in auto accident injury rates. Metropolitan Transportation Commission Senior Transportation Planner David Vautin remarked that people coming to the area to visit wineries for vacations or weekends increase the number of injuries while not affecting the per-capita totals affecting the calculation. Vautin also remarked that the county’s higher-than-average rate of incidents of driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol may be to blame.
While statistics show that the rate of serious auto accident injuries in Napa County has been declining steadily, it is still important for those living in a high-risk area to know the basics of personal injury claims in case they find themselves as an injured party in a car, truck, bicycle, or motorcycle accident.
Personal Injury Cases
Some cases of personal injury are not very complicated. These more straightforward claims are sometimes more economical to deal with if they are handled by the injured parties without legal assistance. However, most personal injury claims or lawsuits are going to involve complex issues that people without professional experience are not likely to know about. Not knowing how to deal with the more involved details of a personal injury claim or lawsuit can lead to the claimant losing a large amount of the compensation that they are entitled to.
Beginning Stages
A personal injury case typically starts as a claim that the injured party brings against a negligent party’s insurance coverage. In the cases that involve an uninsured negligent party, the claim is brought against the claimant’s uninsured motorist coverage. Finally, if the negligent party is a government entity or corporation, the claim will be brought against the internal claims handling department of the negligent institution.
Even here, in the earliest stage of resolving a personal injury case, the process is usually very complex and full of legal complications. Some of these complexities include figuring out who is eligible to assert the claim, obtaining proof for and legally evaluating injuries, filing paperwork so that the claim may be established, protecting the claim against expiring due to statutes of limitation, gathering and showing evidence proving the responsibility of the negligent party, formally negotiating settlement demands, and, if necessary, making preparations for formally filing a lawsuit in order to protect the legal rights of the injured party.
Lawsuits
If the claim can not be settled otherwise and a formal lawsuit needs to be filed, the personal injury case is likely to necessitate the preparing of and subsequent filing of documents that are required by the rules of local and state courts, creating a strategy for evidence exchange by way of the process of discovery, taking part in court-ordered arbitration or mediation, negotiations with defense attorneys and insurance adjusters in order to reach a just settlement, conducting a trial, and ensuring payment of any accepted settlement or verdict.
American Canyon Accident Attorneys
I’m Ed Smith, an American Canyon auto accident attorney. If you or somebody in your life has suffered serious injuries in a car accident as the result of a negligent driver, call me as soon as you can at (707) 564-1900 to receive friendly advice. Elsewhere, I can be contacted toll-free at my number, (800) 404-5400.
Since 1982, I’ve been helping individuals and families in American Canyon and Napa County receive what they are legally owed in cases involving personal injury.
Read more about our law practice here.
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Source of American Canyon Auto Injury Statistics –
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