If the accident was not your fault, you may be able to:
Our personal injury claims service is straightforward, easy to use - and smooth running.Select personal injury lawyers will help you claim road traffic accident compensation for a non-fault, road traffic accident.
Can happen at any time, whether you are a vehicle driver, passenger, cyclist or pedestrian.
Is the most common type of accident leading to a claim for personal injury
Of 122,635 road traffic accidents of all severities, 23,165 were serious injuries, according to Department for Transport statistics, 2019.
Vehicle drivers and their passengers are not the only road user who is able to make a claim for road traffic accident compensation. While it may be commonly believed that a road traffic accident tends to occur in a car or vehicle, not all road traffic accidents and their circumstances are alike. Anyone may be injured in a road, including:
Pedestrians and cyclists are known to be among the most vulnerable road user in a traffic accident, suffering the most severe personal injuries compared to a vehicle driver. However, there are a wide variety of incidents in which a claim for accident compensation is due following a personal injury caused by a road traffic accident.
In some cases, the shock caused by being involved in a road accident can be devastating, resulting in long term trauma, which can be life-changing.
At Claim Line 365, we carefully select from a wide choice of expert road traffic accident solicitors, who can assist you in making a road traffic accident claim for personal injury.
Our ‘no win, no fee’ personal injury solicitors are carefully chosen and monitored to ensure the most cost-effective and successful outcome to your road traffic accident claim.
Anyone can suffer the adverse effects of being involved in a road traffic accident. Whether a relatively minor incident or a serious accident, they are always distressing and often devastating if personal injuries are sustained.
In some cases, the adverse effects can be equally as harmful as a physical personal injury, which can lead to more traumatic psychological symptoms. The consequences can affect ability to resume work, leading to loss of income and further quality of life changes impacting daily activities.
When you make a road traffic accident claim, your intention is to compensate for the harmful effects of your accident, as far as it is possible. You wish to address a “wrong” you have suffered and, as a way to right that wrong, are, therefore, legally entitled to seek compensation.
No amount of financial compensation for an accident will lessen all of the consequences and longer term effects. A road accident claim for personal injury compensation is almost always a significant financial and practical help at an ongoing difficult time.
For the injuries, both physical and psychological, you have been forced to suffer – and continue to be affected by in your normal life - as a result of another’s careless, negligent or reckless driving.
Your claim for a road traffic accident seeks to make known the harm caused, and to receive recognition and accident compensation for the adverse affects.
When deciding to claim accident compensation or not, it should be considered as taking positive action despite negative circumstances. The accident cannot be undone, and the existence of any harm or suffering caused as a result. Claiming the compensation, to which you are legally entitled, will at least allow you to seek justice and redress for your losses.
Your involvement in a road traffic accident can affect many areas of normal life, including employment and ability to earn an income. When injuries received in a traffic accident mean you are unable to work the loss of income can be a constant source of worry and stress. The award of accident compensation can be a much needed and practical help to alleviate financial pressure, and the worry.
In particular cases, ‘interim payments’ can be made available prior to a claims process completing, and a final accident compensation amount awarded.
Interim payments are considered an advance from your final compensation, and it is important to remember that it is not extra compensation. Only the remaining balance of your compensation will be paid at the completion of the claims process.
Typical interim payments are around £1000, although you may be able to seek a higher amount if you have suffered severe injuries, or experiencing significant losses.
In a successful traffic accident injury claim, you will usually receive compensation as a single ‘lump-sum’ payment at the end. The award might be given after a settlement has been agreed between you and the other party or following a court judgment.
Obtaining early access to treatment can make a real difference to aiding a faster recovery from particular types of injuries sustained as a result of your accident, such as whiplash. In some cases, lengthy NHS waiting list times create unavoidable delays to treatment, which can lead to further, sometimes irreversible damage.
Often the quickest way to obtain the treatment you urgently need is to pay for private healthcare. This can often be difficult or not possible at all, especially in situations where there are limited financial resources, as the result of the traffic accident.
It is possible at the time when making a claim for a personal injury sustained in a road traffic accident, for funding to be arranged, for example, through the other party’s insurance company. This would allow you to obtain treatment as quickly as possible without the financial burden.
The aftermath of a road traffic accident can be immediately distressing and leave a longer term impact, which can affect your everyday life.
It is important to know the different types of road accident compensation, for which, an expert road traffic accident solicitor will claim the maximum compensation for your personal injury, including:
Our road traffic accident solicitors will also fully assess other losses and personal injuries you may incur, including:
Accident compensation for any loss of earnings can be claimed if you needed to take time off work due to personal injuries suffered, which can also include:
Your road traffic accident claim can also include travelling expenses if your were left without a vehicle and are using other means of travel.
Our road traffic accident solicitors would include compensation for vehicle hire costs if you had to pay for a hire vehicle following your road traffic accident.
Your accident compensation claim will also allow for upfront costs paid for any medical appointments or treatments for personal injuries following your road traffic accident.
Any items that were damaged during your road traffic accident will also be added to your compensation by our road traffic accident solicitors.
Your road traffic solicitor will also advise on including compensation for any other losses incurred following your road accident.
Immediately following a road traffic accident, there is important information that you will need to collect at the time to help you make your compensation claim:
It will not be necessary to ask for insurance details as our road traffic accident solicitors will obtain this information on your behalf.
However, it is important that you report your road traffic accident to your own insurance company.
If you are unable to obtain any of the above information, Claim Line 365 road traffic solicitors can advise you further on how the information can be obtained on your behalf.
Speeding was a contributory factor in 12.2% of fatal accidents and 6.7% of accidents involving serious injury.
Travelling too fast for the conditions was a contributory factor in 9.4% of fatal accidents and 6.4% of accidents involving serious injury. (Department for Transport, 2019)
Road traffic accidents can cause serious, and life threatening injuries to vehicle drivers and their passengers. But all road users are at risk, especially motorcyclists, pedal cyclists and, particularly, pedestrians, all of which, have little protection from the surrounding traffic.
The consequences of being involved in a road accident can be devastating and long lasting, and in some cases, permanently life changing. Severe road accidents can cause serious internal injuries, sometimes leading to loss of limbs, permanent disability or fatality.
Types of personal injuries sustained will depend on several factors, including vehicle speed, type of vehicle, and whether front, rear or side collision.
400,000 rear-end shunts (collisions) are recorded each year in the UK, accounting for 27% of all road traffic accidents.
Rear-end collisions account for about 75% of all bodily injury claims in accidents (usually caused by whiplash to the occupants of the vehicle struck from behind) (RTA Assistance Limited, 2020).
Road traffic accident compensation can be claimed for both minor injuries - neck, back, shoulder pain - to more serious injuries - including damage or fractures to bones - where urgent medical attention is required.
The most severe injuries, for which road traffic accident compensation can be claimed include. organ damage, head, brain, spinal injuries and loss of limbs.
The most common type of personal injury suffered as a result of a road traffic accident is whiplash - a neck injury caused by a rapid back-and-forth movement of the neck.
Common types of road accident compensation injuries, include:
Injury compensation following a road traffic accident is a very common type of claim. Claim Line 365 only works with road traffic accident solicitors specialising in claiming injury compensation on your behalf.
No matter what type of personal injury you may have sustained in your road traffic accident our no win-no fee solicitors can help you make a traffic accident claim and recover any associated costs incurred.
Most road traffic accidents can be avoided by driving safely and following the rules of the road.
If you’ve been injured in a road accident caused by somebody else’s negligence or dangerous driving, our specialist road accident solicitor will be able to help you make a compensation claim for the injuries you sustained.
When you notify your road traffic accident to your insurance company, they may put forward one of their own preferred solicitors to handle your accident claim. There is no legal requirement on your behalf to accept their recommendation, and they cannot insist that you have to accept their solicitors.
The choice of solicitor to work on your claim for road traffic accident compensation should always be based on:
Claim Line 365 ‘no win, no fee’ personal injury solicitors are carefully chosen and monitored to ensure the most cost-effective and successful outcome to your road traffic accident claim.
The answer is no. All our road traffic accident solicitors work on a No Win, No Fee basis. No Win, No Fee means you do not need to pay anything upfront to get your claim for your road traffic accident started.
You will only be required to pay your solicitor a fee of up to a maximum of 25% from the compensation you receive if you win.
Responsibility for a road traffic accident is not always straightforward. There can often be incidents where more than one road user was at fault and contributed to causing the accident.
If it is shown that you were solely responsible for causing the accident then it’s unlikely that you will have sufficient grounds to claim compensation. But you may be able to claim compensation if the evidence clearly indicates that a road accident was only partially your fault, and other road users were at fault too.
In these types of cases you may be able to claim compensation, but your contribution to causing the accident will likely lead to receiving a reduced amount of compensation.
Your contribution toward liability for an accident can be resolved on a ‘split liability’ basis. This means that ‘fault’ for the accident will be divided as a percentage between the parties.
If the two parties involved in the road traffic accident are both considered to be equally at fault then liability would be split 50/50 between them.
Either party would still be able to claim compensation if making a personal injury claim, but the final compensation award would be reduced by 50% to take into account their own share of the blame.
If you were not wearing your seatbelt at the time of the accident does not affect your ability to claim compensation but it may affect the amount of compensation you receive.
Failing to wear a seatbelt may be considered to be “contributory negligence” on your part in the accident.
Contributory negligence points to your own conduct, which failed to take reasonable precautions for ensuring your own safety, and thereby, contributing to the harm you suffered in the accident.
While the wearing of a seatbelt would not have prevented the accident from happening it may have prevented or reduced the severity of your injuries.
Failing to wear a seatbelt, does not necessarily mean you will be found to be responsible for contributory negligence. An assessment by a medical expert will determine the type and extent of injuries you have suffered. Where it is concluded that wearing a seatbelt would have made no difference to your injuries, no reduction will be made to your final compensation amount.
However, compensation will be reduced where a medical assessment considers a seatbelt would have made a difference to the nature and seriousness of your injuries. Typical reductions can be as much as 25 per cent for accidents where a seatbelt would have completely prevented your injuries. The lesser reduction of around 15 per cent can be applied if it is determined that wearing a seatbelt would have prevented sustaining the less severe serious sustained.
These kinds of claims are usually referred to as untraced driver claims.
Following a road traffic accident, you may not be able to obtain third-party details for a number of reasons, including:
Were too injured to be capable of obtaining the information.
The law requires vehicle drivers involved in a road traffic accident to stop and provide their details at the scene of the accident. Failing to stop is a criminal offence, which does not prevent drivers from leaving the scene without stopping.
Your ability to take the other driver’s vehicle registration can be crucial in helping to find their insurance details, if any exist for the vehicle driver. However, this may be difficult following a serious accident and the other driver failed to stop or ran away after refusing to share details.
Under section 151 of the Road Traffic Act 1988, the insurers of the legal owners of the stolen vehicle will be liable to cover any loss or personal injuries you sustained as a result of a road traffic accident.
The owner of the stolen vehicle is generally not liable for any injuries or damages caused to any of the accident victims by the individual who stole their vehicle.
If your vehicle was damaged in the accident, you will have to file a claim under your own insurance policy to recover compensation.
You may still be able to claim compensation if the cause of your road accident was a vehicle registered in a foreign country, e.g. a lorry. A ‘green card’ system, participated in by the Motor Insurers’ Bureau, helps to locate and contact the relevant insurer of the foreign vehicle.
You can still make a personal injury claim for a road traffic accident even if the other driver is not insured. If you have taken down the vehicle registration number, the insurers of the vehicle to be tracked down, which means lack of insurance details or incorrect insurance details are not usually a problem
If the vehicle is insured, but the driver was not a named driver and personally insured to drive the particular vehicle, your claim may be handled by the insurers of the vehicle.
The types of claims listed above go through the Motor Insurer’s Bureau (MIB) - the UK mechanism which provides compensation for victims of accidents caused by uninsured and untraced drivers. They will attempt to track down the hit and run driver but, if unsuccessful they will handle your compensation for a road traffic accident claim in a similar way to an insurance company, and paying your compensation on a successful claim.
Our road traffic accident solicitors can help you in obtaining your compensation claim.
You may be able to claim traffic accident compensation if a personal injury or other harm was caused to you as a passenger in a vehicle where the driver was responsible for the accident, and they had been under the influence of drink or drugs..
However, if you were aware and knew that the driver had been drinking or taken drugs, and you still got in the car, the amount of compensation you receive will be reduced.
A part of the compensation process for a road traffic accident claim for personal injury is undergoing a medical examination, which is arranged by the solicitors. The results of the examination are important in helping to determine the extent and impact of your injuries, and essential to calculating the total amount of compensation you are entitled to receive.
In addition to the medical examination, you should also seek separate medical assistance with your GP as soon as possible, even for apparent, minor injuries, which could be more serious than you first thought.
The length of time for a road accident compensation claim to complete mostly depends on two factors:
The seriousness of the injuries sustained in the accident
Additional time will be needed to obtain more medical evidence which is required to calculate and agree the compensation amount. The full extent of the injuries and their future impact will also need to be established.
Whether liability is admitted by the party held responsible for causing the accident
A compensation claim could be settled in just a few months if the other party admits responsibility for the accident, and the injury sustained is relatively minor.
If your opponent refuses to accept liability, and disputes any charges brought against them, then you may have to wait for the case to be settled before the compensation claim is resolved.
Your claim may also take longer if you were involved in a hit and run accident, and the police or insurance companies were unable to locate the driver.
Throughout the compensation claim process, our road traffic solicitors will always try to establish who was responsible for your road traffic accident. By working hard to obtain their admission of liability, the aim is to push for your case to be settled as soon as possible without the need to go to court.
Most traffic accident compensation claims can often be quickly resolved in an out of court settlement. But in some circumstances, the party responsible will not admit fault, or the value of your claim cannot be agreed, which means that a court proceedings may be necessary.
Our traffic accident solicitors will act on your behalf and support you at every stage of the claims process, whether a court proceedings is required or not.
If you or someone you know has unfortunately been involved in a road traffic accident, our Claim Line 365 team will help you at any time.
You are even free to choose your own representative if your insurance provider has recommended a different law firm. You are not obliged to proceed with someone your insurance provider recommends.
Contact our friendly team on 0203 813 9654 or simply fill out our contact form today.
