Car Crash Seat Belt Injuries in Maryland

Wearing your seat belt is your best defense against injury or death in the event of a car crash. A seat belt increases your chances of surviving an auto accident by up to 60 percent. Despite this, far too many motorists still refuse to buckle up for a variety of reasons. Buckling up is not just a slogan. It is a safe choice. Statistics show that seat belts saved more than 15,950 lives in 2022, and as many as 2,500 more lives could have been saved if they would have been wearing seat belts.

If you are in Maryland and riding in a vehicle, the driver and any passengers should be wearing a seat belt. This is the law. Unfortunately, there are many care accident cases where someone failed to buckle up. Each year, thousands of unbelted drivers and passengers are seriously injured or killed on our roads. Many of those injuries or deaths could have been avoided if those people had been properly buckled at the time of the car collision. It takes three seconds to buckle up but it can make a lifetime of difference.

When this happens, you could suffer much more serious and catastrophic injuries. In addition, your failure to buckle up can negatively impact your Maryland personal injury clam.

Common Types of Seat Belt Injuries

It is common to have bruising or abrasions after a car collision due to the seat belt’s restraint on your body. When the seat belt locks during an auto accident, a person can be trapped in the vehicle. In some cases, entrapment can result in serious burns or death if the person cannot escape the vehicle. The severity of the car crash will often influence how serious these seat belt injuries can be.

Car accident injuries can vary depending on where the seat belt is located on the body. Seat belts that wrap around a person’s lap (lap belts) will likely cause injuries that are internal, such as a spinal cord or lumbar spine injury or an internal abdominal injury. Seat belts that go across the clavicle (shoulder belts) can cause neck injury, sternum injury, and neck and shoulder lacerations.

Common seat belt injuries that victims sustain in car accidents include:

• Abrasions and cuts – Seat belts can dig into the skin and cause painful cuts and scrapes, often in the shape of a seat belt.
• Fractures – Seat belts can transmit the force of a collision to bones, which can lead to fractures
• Neck pain – When a seat belt locks, the body is pressed against the restraints, which can cause pain in the neck, chest, or legs.
• Herniated disc – The spine can be thrown out of alignment when the body is thrown into a seat belt, which can lead to a herniated or bulging disc.
• Nerve damage – Seat belts can injure nerves, especially in the lower back, which can lead to weakness in the back and legs.

Other common injuries from car collisions in Maryland include whiplash, which can occur when the car stops suddenly and the neck whips back and forth. Vascular injuries are rare but can occur, especially if the shoulder belt sits too high on your body. When that happens, the belt can cause lacerations to the neck in addition to shoulder injuries. Some head contusions occur when your head strikes the steering wheel or dashboard. The seat belt is meant to work with the airbags, but manufacturer errors can cause the seat belt to malfunction and fail to restrain you correctly.

You can have “seat belt syndrome” due to your seat belt positioning during a car wreck. This syndrome is when you have internal damage caused by the seat belt that is not apparent immediately after the car crash. You may not have symptoms for several hours or days despite having severe intra-abdominal injuries. It is important to go to the hospital for medical attention and diagnostic testing to check for internal bleeding and injuries following a car accident.

While shoulder belt restraint can cause chest pain post-accident, and lap belts can cause abdominal pain, getting an x-ray or CT scan can ensure that injuries are caught and treated right away.

Why Do Seat Belt Injuries Occur?

Often, your seat belt will protect you in a car wreck. Seat belts work by restraining you when your vehicle comes to a sudden stop, which is typically what happens in a motor vehicle collision. A seat belt sign and an alert tone should remind you to buckle up.

While seat belt use usually reduces the risk of more severe injuries in a car accident, it can also be the cause of injury to accident victims.

Whether you or your passengers get injured by a seat belt will depend on several factors, including:

• How quickly the vehicle was moving at the time of the car crash
• Whether the seat belt functioned properly
• Where the seat belt was placed on the body
• Whether the seat belt had a manufacturer defect
• How severe the collision was
• Whether the seat belt was a lap belt or included a shoulder belt that went across the sternum

These factors can contribute to serious injury in a motor vehicle accident. For example, a seat belt that malfunctions may break upon impact and fail to restrain you or your passengers as intended, resulting in serious bodily injury. A high-speed collision may also lead to a seat belt injury due to the impact of the seat belt on your body. This can cause abdominal injuries, which may lead to the bruising of internal organs or other internal injuries.

The angle of impact tied with the force and how the belt is situated on your body can cause injuries like neck lacerations and spinal damage. Manufacturers should account for most possible situations when designing, testing, and installing seat belts, but that is not always the case, often leading to serious injury for car riders and drivers.

Seat Belts Save Lives

Common excuses such as “it takes too long,” “it rubs my neck,” and “I’m only driving a short distance” are invalid excuses for not buckling up. It takes three seconds to buckle up and the slight irritation you might feel may end up saving your life if you are in a car collision.

Unrestrained occupants of vehicles become deadly projectiles in a car crash, injuring others as they are thrown around inside the vehicle-and, in many cases, ejected through a window. Occupants ejected from vehicles are 90 times more likely to be killed in the event of a car accident. Unbelted passengers in the back seat are especially dangerous as their bodies can become a projectile, potentially hurting the driver and other passengers as well as themselves.

Consider this too – if a driver is unbuckled, 68 percent of the time the children in that vehicle will not be buckled either. Adults who do not buckle up are sending a deadly message to children, as well as other passengers, that it is okay not to use seat belts.

Be the buckled-up driver. Wear your seat belt every time you get in a vehicle, whether it is a personal vehicle or rideshare, and make sure all passengers are seat belted as well.

Contact the Law Offices of Larry B. Litt Today for a Free Consultation About Your Car Crash Accident Case

At the Law Offices of Larry B. Litt we represent clients across Maryland who have been injured due to someone else’s negligence. Do not find yourself burdened by medical bills and stress, waiting or the other party or their insurance company to act. Life after a car crash can be overwhelming, filling your days with medical appointments, insurance calls, and stress. You do not have to navigate this difficult time alone. At the Law Offices of Larry B. Litt, we stand by our commitment to offer personalized, transparent, and effective legal representation.

Why continue to shoulder the burden of uncertainty? Turn to our seasoned personal injury attorneys, who have consistently demonstrated their skill in handling complex accident cases across Maryland. From the moment we take on your case, we pledge to keep you informed, fight for your rights, and work diligently to secure the maximum compensation you are entitled to receive.

If you or someone you love are injured in a car accident, our Maryland seat belt attorneys can help you file a claim to recover compensation for your injuries and damages. Seat belt injury claims can be challenging. Take the first step toward restoring your life to normalcy. Contact us today at 443-844-1528 for your free no-obligation, complimentary consultation, we are available anytime day or night.