Road Accident Advice

There is no doubt about it – we live in a ‘compensation culture’; obsessed with legal action for all kinds of accidents, from trivial pavement trips to extremely serious incidents. With ‘no win, no fee’ adverts on TV, radio and online – it’s difficult for anyone to resist claiming, even if they aren’t actually injured at all.

Earlier this year, David Cameron, the UK Prime Minister met with key figures in the motoring industry with the intention of ending Britain’s “damaging compensation culture”. Cameron hopes to tighten up on false injury insurance claims that are blamed for increasing the cost of car insurance in Britain – but is this necessarily the right thing to do?

This could be a disappointing situation for many in Britain, since thousands of people are involved in genuine road traffic accidents every single day and who now find themselves in a position where receiving deserved compensation for an accident is becoming harder. With this in mind, you need to ensure you use reputable road accident solicitors and not over-advertised, highly marketed ‘solicitors’ that pressurise individuals to claim for more than they’re entitled to. Speak to family and friends, it’s always best to be recommended to solicitors by people who have had a good experience with them in the past.

One of the most serious, but sometimes immediately undetectable injuries is of the brain. In a road accident, for instance, the force of impact can result in the brain hitting the hard part of the skull. This is called a Diffuse Axonal Injury and is something that you should request to be tested for, if you’re in a road collision. Also be warned that it is not detectable by a MRI or CT scan, since they’re not sensitive enough to detect microscopic changes in the brain.

So, for ‘closed’ head injuries such as a Diffuse Axonal Injury with no signs of a “brain bleed”, one of the best diagnostic tools to recognise this is to have a collection of neuropsychological tests run. These tests help isolate the area of the brain that is affected, and can identify changes in memory and day-to-day functioning. This testing is performed by a specialist called a neuropsychologist. Also remember that the best team of doctors to detect a brain injury is a neurologist, experienced in brain injuries and a neuropsychologist.

If your results prove that you have suffered an injury to your brain as a result of your accident, you are almost certainly in a genuine position to claim for brain injury compensation. Just don’t be caught out by untrustworthy legal teams – do your research first!