New Yorkers who have small cars may enjoy better gas mileage, but they also have higher risks of being seriously injured or killed when they are involved in collisions. According to the Insurance Institute for Highway safety, people who are in small cars have twice the risk of being killed in accidents when they are compared with people who are in larger, heavier vehicles such as trucks or SUVs.
Small cars have smaller front ends than do larger vehicles. When they have front-end collisions, there is less of the vehicle available to absorb the collisions’ forces. This means that more of those physical forces will be transferred into the interiors and absorbed by the occupants’ bodies.
Small cars also do badly in crashes with larger vehicles because of how light they are. While lighter cars require less distance to come to stops, heavier vehicles need much more distance to do so. When a larger vehicle collides with a smaller car, the car occupants will experience much more of the collision force than will the occupants of the larger vehicle because of the weight difference and the fact that the larger vehicle may still be moving faster while it is attempting to stop.
When an accident is caused by a negligent driver, the victims may suffer devastating injuries. Some people may be permanently disabled and suffer lifelong issues. Victims of car accidents that were caused by others might want to get an experienced personal injury lawyer’s help. Attorneys may be able to recover more compensation for their clients than the victims might be able to recover on their own. Attorneys may use their knowledge of the tactics that insurance companies often use to negotiate higher recovery amounts. If the companies do not extend reasonable offers, they may pursue their clients’ cases in court.