Rollover Accidents

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If you’ve been involved in a rollover crash and suffered serious injuries, you may be entitled to compensation. Injuries from a serious car accident can no doubt have a long-lasting impact on your quality of life and your ability to work.  Rollover crashes, whether occurring following a collision with another vehicle or in a single vehicle, are well known to generate a number of very serious injuries, as well as fatalities.  For example, studies have shown that with restrained occupants, serious injuries to the head, arms and shoulders, chest, lower limbs, and neck often occur – with head and chest injuries being the predominant.

For both restrained and unrestrained occupants in rollover accidents, most injuries are mostly associated with the head/brain as well as spinal injuries due to the violent contact with the roof and upper interior structures of the vehicle being crushed or caving in.

Have you or a loved one been hurt in a rollover accident? Get the Compensation you deserve. Call us for help.

Rollover car accidents are largely single-vehicle accidents that cause catastrophic injuries. These types of accidents occur predominantly at high speed, with severe injuries particularly associated with ejection due to seat belt failure and/or the roof crushing into occupant spacing or down onto the occupant’s head/neck areas – causing instant fatality, very serious injuries, spinal cord injuries, head injuries, skull fractures and traumatic brain injuries.

If you’ve been hurt in a roll-over car accident, you may be entitled to compensation for pain and suffering, your lost wages, the loss of housekeeping capacity, the cost of attendant care, and future care costs, among other things.

How do rollover crashes typically occur?

Typically, rollover accidents happen at a higher speed than planar-type accidents. Rollover accidents can also be initiated by the impact of wheels on a curb against another car, aggravated by an embankment or a side slope, airborne travel or by skidding motion after a violent maneuver.  The National Centre for Statistics and Analysis in Washington reported, in an examination of rollover crash mechanisms, that the predominant tripping mechanism inducing rollover accidents tended to be the ground sliding after a violent turning maneuver.  No matter how a rollover crash occurs, the risk of injury with these types of accidents typically occurs with roof crush, ejection, seat-strength issues and seat belt failure.

Rollover Crashes and Injury Severity

Vehicular rollover accidents are typically complex, chaotic crash events that result in a unique set of circumstances for each occupant injury. Given the complexity of the rollover event in an auto accident, it is hard to determine a pattern of injury distribution; however, serious injuries are thought to have been reasonably determined by several factors including the vehicle type, pre-crash speed, restraints, the failure of restraints, the number of rollover turns, the intensity of the pre-rollover impact, the damage to the vehicle (most particularly roof intrusion in relation to the occupant survival space) whether or not there are multi-vehicles involved and the type of rollover initiation.

Ejection and partial ejection are common reasons for injuries, both in restrained and unrestrained occupants and rollover crushes.  Ejections are quite common due to an occupant’s body being detached from the seat and subject to very high-velocity changes in seat belt failure.

For example, when the roof is crushed down, occupant space is obliterated, thereby causing occupants to suffer critical injuries, such as head and spinal cord injuries.

Rollover Crashes and Ejection

Despite the widespread use of seat belts and electronic stability control, injuries and fatalities due to occupant ejection in rollover crashes remain a significant problem. Ejection is associated with the most serious consequences in motor vehicle crashes and is mainly caused by noncompliance with seat belts or seat belt failure. There is no doubt that ejection greatly increases the risk of injury in fatalities and rollover-type car accidents. When seat belt failure does occur, or when seat failure occurs, studies have shown that a large proportion of occupants are ejected in spite of front or curtain airbag deployment.

What is seat belt failure?  Seat belt failure is when the seat belt restraint system in the vehicle fails during critical moments either by the seat belt unlatching (otherwise known as an inertial unlatching – which is a highly disputed event among experts) and by false latching – this is when your seat belt feels as if it’s securely attached, but it might not be fully engaged.

Seat belt webbing has also been known to rip with tremendous force (otherwise known as shock loading ). Seat belts have also been known to experience retractor failure, anchor failure and excessive slack (otherwise known as excessive spooling). When seat belt failure occurs in a rollover-type accident – ejections will most likely occur, which is a significant factor in all serious injury and fatal cases.

Rollover Accidents, Partial Injections and Degloving Injuries

Even when seat belts are worn, partial injections of the head can occur, resulting in crushing head injuries or serious traumatic brain injuries. The partial ejection can happen due to side glass window breakage, the vertical or lateral deformation of the crushing of the roof. Partial ejection can also occur when the occupant is wearing a lap belt or the shoulder belt malfunctions.

Upper extremity “partial ejection” in rollover car accidents can result in severe degloving type injuries.  Degloving injuries typically occur when there is an arm or hand out the window at the time of rollover. The result is of shearing force which is applied to skin surfaces, which separates the skin tissues from the underlying muscle.

Degloving injuries are also frequently associated with orthopedic fractures and other life and limb-threatening injuries. In other words, if you have your arm out the window during a rollover, you can suffer major lacerations, tendon damage, abrasions, the separation of skin from your bone and muscle, as well as major fractures to your shoulder, humerus, elbow, radius, ulna and wrist etc. When partial ejection occurs, it’s not uncommon to suffer major anatomical and structural damages such as:

• severe soft tissue injuries
• amputation
• degloving
• crush injuries
• skin lacerations
• avulsions
• artery and vein laceration
• nerve lacerations
• shoulder fractures and dislocations
• humerus fracture’s
• elbow joint injury
• injuries to the radius, ulna, wrist and hands
• compartment syndrome to the arm, forearm or hand

Rollover Crashes and Spinal Cord Injury

Rollover crashes are 3.2 times more likely to produce a spinal cord injury than expected from all other kinds of car accidents. Rollovers have been associated with the highest spine incident rates in North America for many years. Why is this? Roof crushes, seatbelts and the displacement of the steering wheel and steering column are typically the cause of spinal cord damage in rollover-type accidents. When accident victims are wearing seatbelts, it’s not uncommon for belt failure to occur, given the violent propensity of the vehicle during rollover.

In addition, even though car accident victims are more often than not belted in, neck fractures at the C4 to C7 levels are reportedly common given the extremely violent movements of the neck both on and off the headrest, as well as being impacted by the roof and or ground surface or door framing. It is not uncommon for the head to be forced downwards during a rollover, hence overloading the cervical spine.

Overall, the main effects that contribute to spinal cord injury and rollover vehicle accidents are the loss of vertical headspace because of roof intrusion, hence compression of the mass of the car loading onto the spine. Spinal cord injuries during rollover crashes often occur when the head strikes the vehicle structure or roof structure itself.

Rollover Crashes and Wrongful Death

It’s quite well-known in the automotive industry that rollover crashes are far more likely to result in fatalities than non-rollover crashes. In fact, one out of every five people killed on Canadian roadways involve rollover crashes – a fact that has remained unchanged over the past 10 years.

During a rollover-type accident, fatalities are not uncommon, particularly if the victim becomes jammed between the seat and the intruded roof structure. When an occupant is forced downward by the intruded roof and roof framing, major injury and death can occur.

Have you been hurt in a rollover crash? Call our Hamilton Car Accident Lawyers today. We can help.

Rollover accidents that occur following a collision with another vehicle have the potential to cause major life-changing injuries to both drivers and passengers. Our Hamilton car accident lawyers have been representing victims who have suffered life-changing injuries or loved ones killed in rollover accidents since 2003.

If you have been involved in a rollover crash that was caused by somebody else’s wrongdoing or negligence, whether you were a restrained or unrestrained vehicle occupant that was ejected or not, we can help.  Rollover accidents are recognized as serious car accidents that cause very serious injuries, particularly associated with ejection or partial ejection. If you or your loved one has suffered very serious injuries such as a spinal cord injury due to vertical or lateral roof intrusion, orthopedic injuries, serious fractures, degloving injuries, head injuries or has unfortunately passed away due to a rollover accident, we can help.

We understand that after a rollover accident life may never be the same. You or your loved one may not be able to return to work or you may face a life of rehabilitation costs, either physically or psychologically. Our Hamilton car accident lawyers can help you or your family recover the compensation that you deserve, and that will help rehabilitate your life. Please do not hesitate to contact us at 905-333-8888 or poor user live chat 24 seven. We will endeavour to get back to you within several hours.

At Lalande Personal Injury Lawyers, we take pride in being trusted Hamilton personal injury lawyers since 2003. Over the years, we’ve helped our clients recover more than $45 Million in settlements and verdicts in personal injury, disability, and employment law cases. Whether you’re dealing with a life-changing injury, a denied disability claim, wrongful death, a hurt child or employment termination, we are here to provide compassionate and experienced legal representation. If you believe you have a case, call us today—we’re ready to help you secure the compensation you deserve.

Call Lalande Personal Injury Lawyers today, no matter where you are in Ontario at 905-333-8888 for your free consultation. Alternatively, you can contact us online, confidentially, by filling out a contact form.