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Car Accidents

car accident attorneyIf you have been involved in a car accident, the lawyers at The Law Offices of Charles D. Scott PLLC are ready to help you. The St. Petersburg car accident lawyers at The Law Offices of Charles D. Scott focus their practice on personal injury claims, and the majority of our cases are car accidents.

We offer personal service and your accident case will be handled by an attorney from start to finish. Representation by a lawyer, not a legal assistant or secretary begins with your first meeting at our firm. Our lawyers will meet with you during the intake of your case, unlike some firms that use intake specialists or non-lawyers to obtain the facts about your car accident or injury and sign you up for representation.

You should know that an intake specialist is not a lawyer, and is not allowed by law to provide you with legal advice or even to explain the contract for representation. As a Florida injury lawyer, we feel you deserve to meet with a lawyer from the very first meeting. Your attorney client relationship is established from the first day you come to our firm, and your accident case will receive the utmost attention from our attorneys.

Like many other lawyers, we employ the services of paralegals and legal assistants, the difference is that our lawyers handle the case personally, while in some law firms, non-lawyer case managers, paralegals, and legal assistants oversee the case from start to finish. Our paralegals serve only to assist the lawyers, and not as case managers.

We will assist you with finding a doctor if you are not already under the care of a doctor and we will coordinate the payment of your medical bills through your PIP, health insurance, or other collateral source providers. In addition when necessary we work to obtain reductions in your medical bills for you.

When necessary we may issue a letter of protection (LOP) to your medical providers requesting assurance that they will be paid out of your personal injury settlement. This will allow you to continue to receive medical treatment without having to make up front payments to your medical providers. Our assistance with and coordination of your medical treatment and payment of bills is done free of charge.

We assist you free of charge with your property damage such as the damage repairs, or total loss of your vehicle. Insurance companies will try to pay you a little as possible for your repairs or for your total loss. We will further assist you with obtaining a rental vehicle if possible, and will take photos of your damaged vehicle for evidentiary purposes.

We assist you free of charge with obtaining payment for your lost wages as a result of your injury. Insurance companies try to pay as little as possible for lost wages and our goal is to see that you are reimbursed for all lost wages as a result of your injury.

Once your medical treatment and evaluation is complete and you have reached maximum medical improvement your doctor or chiropractor will prepare a final report outlining your medical condition, injuries and permanency. We then will prepare a demand package to the at fault insurance carrier, outlining the entire nature of your injury claim, and attach all medical records, police reports, and other documentation of your claim. We give the insurance company a timed deadline to respond to our demands, and in most cases are able to achieve a satisfactory settlement.

CAR ACCIDENT STATISTICS

There are approximately 6.5 million automobile accidents per year in the United States, 3 million people are injured, and more than 45,000 die. On average, at least four people involved in car accidents die every hour.

The following factors contribute to the cause of Car Accidents in St. Petersburg– most of which are with in the driver’s control:

  1. Speeding

  2. Unsafe or too-frequent lane changing

  3. Not using turn signals

  4. Tailgating

  5. Not yielding the right of way

  6. Ignoring traffic signals

  7. Driving while impaired by alcohol or chemicals.

In addition distracted driving, cell phone use, text messaging, and inattentiveness or talking with passengers contribute to car accidents.

Car accidents are very common in St. Petersburg Florida. Normally we see an increase in car accidents when it rains. The reason is that water on the road tends to mix with oil and grease and increase the distance in which you can stop your car safely without skidding or loosing control.

Florida – specifically the St. Petersburg region – is a tourist destination and we have a large number of drivers on the road reading maps, looking at GPS displays, seeking tourist destinations, and generally not paying adequate attention to other vehicles on the road.

If you are in need of a personal injury trial lawyer, call the St. Petersburg Car Accident Lawyers at The Law Offices of Charles D. Scott PLLC today at 727-300-4878, or submit the case evaluation form and we will be happy to discuss your case with you. The consultation is free and you will speak with a lawyer, not a paralegal or intake specialist. Don’t delay, you may have a valid claim for your injury case, but you must bring your case within the statute of limitations.

The most common car accidents are as follows:

  • Rear impacts (1,824,000 crashes, 29.6% of all US crashes, 5.4 % of US fatal crashes)

  • Angle or side impacts (1,779,000 crashes, 28.9% of all US crashes, 20.7% of US fatal crashes)

  • Run-off-road collisions (992,000 crashes, 16.1% of US crashes, 31.7% of US fatal crashes)

  • Collisions with animals (275,000 crashes, 4.5% of US crashes, 0.4% of fatal crashes)

  • Rollovers (141,000 crashes, 2.3% of all US crashes, 10.9% of US fatal crashes)

  • Head-on collision (123,000 crashes, only 2.0% of all US crashes, but 10.1% of US fatal crashes)

  • Collisions with pedestrians and bicyclists (114,000 crashes, only 1.8% of US crashes, but 13.5% of US fatal crashes)

  • Back-up collisions killed 221 people in the US in 2007, and injured about 14,400. This is one of the most common types of non-traffic auto collision in which road workers and children 15 and younger are killed.

Rollover, head-on, pedestrian, and bicyclist crashes combined are only 6.1% of all crashes, but cause 34.5% of traffic-related fatalities.

Sometimes the vehicles in the collision can suffer more than one type of impact, such as during a shunt or high-speed spin. This is called a “second harmful event,” such as when a vehicle is redirected by the first crash into another vehicle or fixed object.

If you or a loved one has been injured as a result of the negligence of others, call The Law Offices of Charles D. Scott PLLC today at 727-300-4878, or submit the case evaluation form and we will be happy to discuss your case with you. The consultation is free and you will speak with a lawyer, not a paralegal or intake specialist. Don’t delay, you may have a valid claim for your injury case, but you must bring your case within the statute of limitations.