Baton Rouge Personal Injury Law Blog

If you have a good relationship with your car insurance agent, it's easy to believe this person will do what's best for you after an accident. While they may be helpful to a certain degree, your agent isn't on your side.

After an accident, such as one in which another driver struck your vehicle, it's important to file a car insurance claim as soon as possible. When doing so, there are five mistakes you want to avoid:

• Forgetting to read your policy: Your car insurance agent will know your policy inside and out. However, since you don't work in the industry, you may not spend much time reviewing your policy to understand your coverage. Don't contact your agent until you first review the finer details of your policy.
• Providing a written or recorded statement: You think you're answering basic questions about the accident, but you could say something that prohibits you from collecting all the compensation you deserve. You have the right to tell your agent you're not answering a question if you're not comfortable with it.
• Accepting the first offer: Your agent may send you a low-ball offer shortly after your accident, hoping that you accept it without considering your other options. Making this mistake could result in leaving a lot of money on the table.
• Signing a waiver or release: If your agent asks you to sign anything, review it in detail before putting pen to paper. You may soon find that they're trying to trick you into signing something that's not in your best interest.
• Don't accept a check marked as final payment: At some point, you may accept a final payment, but you don't want to do this until you exhaust all your options.

Recovering from a car accident is not always as simple as undergoing treatment and attending physical therapy. For most victims, the recovery process is long and difficult, and often impacts every area of their lives.

Not only can a car accident leave a victim with mounting medical bills and weeks or months of lost income, it may also negatively affect the personal life of a victim in ways they may not expect. It is not easy to calculate the practical value of these losses, known as non-economic damages, but the law does acknowledge that these losses are legitimate as long as the victim demonstrates their effects clearly.

Motor vehicle accidents are such a prominent problem in Baton Rouge, throughout Louisiana and around the world that it is imperative to pay attention to research on the subject. For those who are in a crash and suffer personal injury, they will understand the life changes they will experience as a result. When a family has lost a loved one, they too will be confronted with short and long-range issues that must be addressed.

According to a World Health Organization report, the number of road fatalities has been rising. In 2016, there were around 1.35 million road deaths around the world. This is problematic as there is a goal of lowering the number of such deaths by 50 percent by 2020. Since the study is worldwide, it also found that U.S. roads are two times as dangerous as Canadian roads. For Group of Seven nations, the danger is quadruple that of U.S. counterparts. The WHO says that traffic accidents are the most common reason for fatalities of young adults and children. The victims are predominately males and more vulnerable people, such as bicycle riders, pedestrians and those on motorcycles.

Motorcyclists in Baton Rouge will have many things to think about as they take to the road. Other drivers might not be as cautious and conscientious as they should be with motorcyclists sharing the road, there can be road hazards and a crash can cause serious injuries and death simply because of rider vulnerability. One of the biggest risks that a motorcyclist can face is when a vehicle is exiting a driveway and enters the motorcycle's path. There is a split-second for the rider to avoid an accident and they often fail. When there is a motorcycle accident of this kind, the aftermath can be terrible, making it necessary to consider a lawsuit.

According to a recent report, a motorcycle rider was in a crash with an SUV drove into his path. He died as a result. The accident occurred at around 7:30 p.m. when the 24-year-old rider was heading west. The SUV, a 2003 Ford Explorer, was exiting a private driveway and there was a collision. Emergency service was called and the man was declared dead at the site of the accident. The investigation is continuing.