Seat belts are one of the most important safety features included in all cars. They save thousands of lives each year, however, in some rare cases these safety devices can actually cause an injury.
This can happen when you fail to secure the seat belt properly, or if there is a design or manufacturing defect in the seat belt. In this post, we will discuss some of the most common injuries caused by seat belts, and how some of these injuries can be prevented.
This legal professional has shown exceptional competence and dedication in their field. I highly recommend their services to anyone seeking legal representation that is committed to unwavering advocacy and support throughout the entirety of their case.
I would describe this lawyer as highly educated, sharp, and top of his game. Explains the car accident process and treatment options well. The lawyer said if they don’t pay you, we will have the jury take it from the insurance company. Great lawyer. Dynamic person.
Interviewed all the TV car accident lawyers and decided to call this law firm that had great reviews. So happy I did. What a difference!
Response from the owner: TV car accident lawyers are just mass production. This is not a good fit for litigated cases. Paralegals instead of lawyers. Monthly quotas for settlements. Car accident victims end up in a cattle call with the lawyers on TV.
Love my car accident lawyer. This law firm is a step above.
Response from the owner: Our lawyers train and track the best approaches on cases. Whether litigation in cases or the practicalities of certain treatment, the growth of our lawyers over time is paramount. Always staying ahead of and setting practice trends. Thank you.
Serious family member have a car accident injury? Look no further. This litigator is for real. Always two steps ahead of the other lawyer.
Response from the owner: This is a sad reality for car accident lawyers. The #1 passenger in an auto accident is a relative. Helping a family make it through this and putting the family back together is one of the most rewarding things I do as an automobile accident attorney.
This lawyer handles really big accident cases in St Louis. He is a lawyer, accountant and has his masters in tax so he gets the injury cases for individuals that can never go back to work or individuals own a business and cannot run it due to injury. He specializes in valuations of massive loss. Thank goodness a firm like this exists.
Response from the owner: Thank you. When accident are severe and you lose the ability to work or to continue a business, having an accounting and tax background is key. Valuing large losses are second nature for us.
Asked a trauma surgeon who operates on car accident victims who are the best injury lawyers that have taken his deposition. He said “by far” it was Mr Hoffmann. Interviewed several attorneys and this was a correct assessment. In a league of his own!
Response from the owner: Our attorney have deposed nearly all the trauma surgeons at every Level 1 Trauma Center in Saint Louis. These doctors save lives after a car accident. Whether controlling bleeding or reestablishing blood flow or bone structures, they are life savers.
Few lawyers in St. Louis can handle the biggest injury cases! This is one of them!
Response from the owner: Our law firm has made great efforts in terms of training to handle life changing injury cases. Whether in depth knowledge of the medical, loss of income and earning capacity, or lifetime medical care plans, our clients feel confident and know their case is in good hands. Thank you for the compliment.
Cannot say enough about this lawyer. Call if in an accident. This attorney handles the biggest car accidents in St Louis.
Response from the owner: Thanks Ash! Our biggest source of cases is our clients. Our second biggest referral source is defense lawyers telling their relatives to call us. Few lawyers can handle the largest cases. Our law firm welcomes and has trained for this. We don’t do mass production settlement like the lawyers on TV. Our clients can never go back to work. Their cases need massive focus and effort and often long fought litigation.
So glad I called attorney Hoffmann. This time I got it right! So glad I hired the Hoffmann Law Firm - professional, reliable and available.
Response from the owner: Thanks Taylor. Our lawyers answer the phone day, night, weekends and even during lunch. Being professional means training to beat the best defense lawyers. Client rely on us to get results and we do.
Great lawyer. Cares about his clients, knows his stuff and goes the extra mile. I recommend this lawyer for car wreck injury claim. Every other lawyer on TV would not even help with my property claim. This attorney did.
Response from the owner: Thank you for the kind words. Every case starts with a great client. You are correct the car accident lawyers on TV are mass production settlement mills. When injury clients fire them, we get their files and the cases are not worked up at all. Appreciate your confidence in us!
Major car accident injury in St Louis area for a family member. Four different lawyers we know said the same thing - call Chris Hoffmann. On another level.
Response from the owner: This is such a great compliment. Most of our cases come from prior client or lawyers that also do car accidents cases but the particular case is too large or too difficult. Being a lawyer and an accountant, we specialize in cases with total lost of income, earning capacity and/or often the inability to continue a family business. Evaluations such as these are second nature for our lawyers. Thanks.
Best in St Louis for auto accident cases. Nobody else is even close.
Response from the owner: So kind of you to leave this review. Whether our lawyers are going after big insurance or their lawyers, skill and experience are essential and win the day for our auto accident clients. Thanks!
This attorney is very smart, very experienced, returns phone calls and knows the answers when asked. One call and I knew this was a great law firm for auto accidents.
Response from the owner: Our law firm appreciates this. This is a comment we get from so many people who call…”none of the lawyers we called told me all the things that you did.” Whether we take a car accident case or not, helping people is a good thing.
5 Star Lawyer for sure! Best you will find in Saint Louis.
Response from the owner: Thanks for the 5 Star Rating. Reviews like this are great. Injury victims quickly figure out the TV advertisers are not good. We work hard at being the best we can be and it reflects in our representation of car accident victims.
Watch this lawyer in action. Was way better than all the others. Get this lawyer for an automobile accident for sure.
Response from the owner: Thanks for the recommendation. Besides doing cases, our attorneys train for this. Hard work, case knowledge and technique is key to success in car accident litigation.
Very pleased with The Hoffmann Law Firm. Lawyers are attentive, friendly and go the distance to force the settlement you want. The TV lawyers recommend low offers. This law firm gets the maximum.
Response from the owner: We get calls from car accident victims that had to fire the TV lawyers that they hired. They give the same two reasons: 1) they never spoke to a lawyer at the Big TV law firms, only a paralegal, and 2) the paralegal recommended they accept a low offer. At our law firm, you only talk to the lawyer and if an offer is low we tell you to sue. Thanks!
Several lawyers said to call this lawyer because he is the best. You will appreciate this law firm. Helped with the injury and property claims. Attentive and knowledgeable. Great reputation in St Louis.
Response from the owner: Thanks Lexi. Our #1 source of cases is other lawyers referring us cases that are too big for them to handle.
Would use this accident law firm. Best in Saint Louis. Highly rated and it shows. After one phone call, you just know this attorney is better. 5 Stars!!
Response from the owner: Thanks for recommending our lawyers in St Louis. There is a major difference in lawyers as you well know.
Car accident lawyers on tv are not good . Get this attorney ! He is a pro !!
Response from the owner: Thanks Nathan. TV lawyers market for car accidents, use paralegals instead of lawyers and give their employees settlement quotas hence forcing cheap settlements. At our law firm, you get a lawyer who keeps pushing forward for more.
Quality lawyer. Best law firm for a car accident. Advice was way better than other lawyers I called in St. Louis. Helped with property and injury.
Response from the owner: Thanks. The TV lawyer advertisers are just car accident settlement mills. As soon as people call a real attorney, they always tell us how much better and more helpful we were. Appreciate this.
This lawyer is big time. Smooth. The other lawyers on the other side were not nearly as good as this attorney. I recommend friends in St Louis to him for accident injuries and they all say the same thing…”that lawyer is great.”
Response from the owner: Very nice of you to say. Our lawyers work hard on auto accident cases.
Family used this car accident attorney after a crash. Located in St Louis. This lawyer answers the phone and will walk you through the process. Knows his stuff!
Response from the owner: Taking calls, going over the car accident injury and property process is important. Clients that call always say we are the only lawyers that explained everything. Much appreciated.
Tried the lawyers on TV. They were not good. Hired this car accident lawyer instead because he had great reviews. The reviews are correct. This attorney is as good as they get. He does big injury cases that need to be litigated.
Response from the owner: Car accident lawyers on TV do not litigate cases. It is mass production. They have quotas. Local attorneys are best on auto accidents.
Used this attorney for an auto accident. Highly recommend this lawyer in St. Louis. Communicates well.
Response from the owner: Communicating with clients is essential. Taking the client though the car accident claims process is important otherwise major mistakes can occur. It is an effort that we make. Thanks!
Fantastic law firm, I would recommend! Received free consultation related to an auto accident when my parked car was damaged by a baseball. Very supportive advice, these guys are good!
I was in a car accident in St.Louis and hired Chris as my lawyer. He was amazing!!! He helped me every step of the way and was able to get me a great settlement!!!Highly, highly, highly recommend him!
Response from the owner: Each step is important in a car accident. Thanks for recommending us for car accidents injury claims.
According to the CDC, for front-seat passengers, seat belts reduce the risk of death by 45% and the risk of serious injury by 50%.
So, the reason that seat belts are mandatory is that statistically speaking, they save millions of lives every year. What they also do is limit the injuries that someone sustains when they are in an accident. This means the argument in favor of them is that they save the public from having to pay for people who are permanently disabled due to car accident injuries. Also, they limit the amount of money that insurance companies have to pay out for serious injuries. If the insurance companies don’t have to pay exorbitant amounts, it saves everyone from high insurance premiums.
Since having the mandatory minimum liability insurance in Missouri is required to drive, it is preferable that costs remain lower so that most people can afford to have insurance. Otherwise, there would be an entire segment of the population who couldn’t afford to pay their insurance premiums.
So although you are free to make choices as part of being an American citizen, the government is allowed to create policies to protect the public when the greater good is at stake. With clear evidence that seat belts lower a person’s risk for severe injury – especially for children – the states, including Missouri, decided that wearing a seat belt should be legally required.
The Legality Behind Seat Belt Laws
The reasoning behind the legality of wearing your seat belt is simply that in legal terms driving is a privilege, not a right. Since it isn’t a right, in order to drive you need to follow certain rules and regulations for the good of everyone on the road – and for yourself. If you have little ones in your car, then their safety is in your hands. If you don’t belt them in, then their rights are being violated by not having the proper safety measures in place since they can’t seat belt themselves.
Just like following a speed limit or stopping at a red light, the law states that in order to drive you have to acquiesce to wearing a seat belt as a condition of your driving privilege. If you break the rule and do not buckle up, then it is like breaking any other driving law and you can be subject to a citation – which can come with a ticket for not using your seat belt when the car is in motion.
Seat Belt Injuries
We have always been advised to wear a seat belt at all times when in a moving vehicle because it can prevent you from flying forward during a vehicle collision. However, when a very strong forward force is applied, the restraint cannot give much. While the body may not hit a hard surface during the crash, a part of the body will exert a violent force on the seat belt. This can cause injuries. There are several factors that determine whether or not a person suffers seat belt injuries during a crash. These factors include:
Tightness/Looseness of the belt
The speed at the time of the crash
Seat belt malfunction
Design/Manufacturing defect
Improper belt placement on the body
Types of Seat belt Injuries
The location of the seat belt is such that any injuries caused by the restraint are generally restricted to the upper body. Some of the most common injuries caused by seat belts include:
According to statistics from traffic safety departments across the United States, the majority of severe and fatal injuries can be prevented if drivers and passengers are buckled up. When car occupants in Missouri do not wear a seat belt, the chances of getting injured in an accident are one in three; for those who wear seat belts, the chances of getting injured are reduced to one in eight. Accident data collected over the years indicate that over 70 percent of all fatal accident victims in Missouri were not wearing seat belts. A similar percentage of people who suffered severe life-altering injuries were also not buckled up.
Key Facts About Seat Belt Usage
If a car traveling at 30 mph is in an accident, a person who is unbuckled is thrown and hits the windshield or other interior components of the car with as much impact as you face when falling from a three-story building.
If you think that low-speed accidents are not fatal, understand that people not wearing a seat belt have died in accidents at speeds as low as 12 mph.
The airbag system works in conjunction with the seat belt system and its efficiency drops by almost 40 percent when the seat belt is not used.
Traffic accidents result in five deaths per hour across the nation and one death in nine hours in Missouri.
The number of fatalities in car accidents would have been reduced by half if passengers were wearing seatbelts.
The chances of a driver not wearing a seat belt getting killed in an accident are 42 times higher than a driver who is wearing a seat belt.
Excuses for Not Wearing a Seat Belt
There are various excuses given by drivers and passengers for not wearing a seat belt. Some of these excuses have resulted in an increased number of fatalities. Many people think that a car equipped with airbags is safe and seat belts are not required. The truth is that the airbags protect only in case of front or side crashes, but not in rear-end collisions and rollovers. For such situations, a seat belt is required to protect you.
Do Seat Belts Cause Injuries?
There are people who believe that seat belts cause injuries. In the event of a high impact crash, an improperly worn seat belt may cause injuries; however, these are mainly bruises or abrasions. Catastrophic injuries can happen when the seats are reclined during an accident. Seat belts should be used every time you sit in your car, even when you are taking a short distance trip; most accidents occur at speeds lower than 40 mph and at a distance of 25 miles from home.
As discussed earlier, the severity and speed of the crash play a crucial role in determining whether or not the seat belt causes an injury, so it is not possible to completely eliminate the risk of these injuries. Also, if you have suffered an injury because of your seat belt, chances are that you may have suffered a far more serious injury had you not been wearing a seat belt.
It is possible to prevent or at least minimize the effects of a seat belt injury by making sure that your seat belt is secured properly at all times. You should ensure that your seat belt is secured firmly across the hips and below the abdomen. Also, see to it that the shoulder belt is secured firmly across the mid of the chest and not near the neck. The seat belt should not be very tight, however, it should not be too loose also to give you much wiggle room. Finally, do not place your shoulder belt under your room or behind the back for any reason.
If your neck hurts or the chest is bruised after a car accident, you may have suffered a seat belt injury. Make sure you see a doctor immediately if you experience any such symptoms.
Have you suffered injuries in a car accident?
Consult an experienced St. Louis auto accident attorney before you sign the settlement. Our attorneys can evaluate your claim for free and help protect your legal rights moving forward. Call us 24/7 at (314) 361-4242.
