What are Motor Vehicle Accident Injuries?
Motor vehicle accident (MVA) injuries are injuries that occur as a result of a collision involving one or more vehicles. The injuries can involve drivers, passengers, or pedestrians.
Causes of Motor Vehicle Accident Injuries
The main causes of motor vehicle accident injuries are:
- Driver Behavior: This can include inattentive or sleepy drivers, drunk drivers, reckless driving, aggressive driving, and running a red light.
- Pedestrian-Related: This can include jaywalking, carelessness crossing the road, and not understanding the rules.
- Faulty Vehicles: This includes brake failure, a tire burst, faulty steering, and insufficient headlights.
- Road Conditions: This includes potholes, eroded roads, and illegal speed-breakers.
- Bad Weather: This includes heavy rain or snow, hailstones, and thick fog.
- Avoiding Safety Precautions: This includes not using seatbelts, helmets, and child-restraint systems.
Common Types of Motor Vehicle Accident Injuries
Common types of motor vehicle accident injuries include:
- Whiplash Injuries: An individual is likely to suffer a whiplash neck injury when a vehicle is rear-ended. The neck is forcefully pulled back and forth as a result of the collision, resulting in abnormal stretching of the muscles and ligaments attached to the cervical spine.
- Scarring: This type of injury occurs when there is shattering of glass, a chemical spill, or a fire caused by a motor vehicle accident. Scars can have a devastating impact on the individual’s self-esteem and can also damage nerves, leading to impaired function.
- Fractures: Bone fractures are very common in cases of high-speed collisions involving multiple vehicles. Common fractures include those of the skull, hip, pelvis, wrist, rib cage, and leg. Broken bone fragments can also damage surrounding organs and cause internal injuries.
- Traumatic amputations: This is the loss of a body part such as a finger or arm due to a motor vehicle accident. The amputation may be complete, with the body part being totally severed, or a partial amputation in which soft-tissue connection remains. Complications of this type of injury include profuse bleeding, shock, and infection.
- Traumatic brain injuries: These injuries may occur if individuals hit their head against a hard surface such as the dashboard, steering wheel, or a car door as a result of the collision. Symptoms of traumatic brain injuries include difficulty thinking and remembering information, feeling tired all the time, headache, nausea, and vomiting.
Diagnosis of Motor Vehicle Accident Injuries
Motor vehicle accident injuries may not always be apparent and therefore should be evaluated by a medical expert as soon as possible after the accident. After discussing the accident and your symptoms, your doctor will perform a physical examination and possibly an X-ray to check for hidden fractures. If internal soft tissue injuries are suspected, your doctor may order a CT scan, MRI scan, or other advanced diagnostic tests.
Treatment of Motor Vehicle Accident Injuries
Treatment of motor vehicle accident injuries will depend on the type and severity of the injury. This can range from nonsurgical treatments such as medications and physical therapy for minor injuries to complex surgeries for life-threatening injuries.
Prevention of Motor Vehicle Accident Injuries
- Never drink alcohol or use drugs and drive
- Follow traffic rules and regulations
- Use seat belts, helmets, and other safety precautions
- Do not use mobile phones or wear earphones or earbuds when driving
- Make sure your vehicle is in good condition
- Do not drive when feeling stressed or anxious
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