Today’s vehicles are equipped with a wide variety of safety features. Overall safety ratings might be an important aspect in deciding why to choose buying one vehicle over another. However, even the safest of vehicles cannot completely mitigate the risks of the most violent types of accidents.
According to 2010 statistics provided by SaferCar.gov and the U.S. Department of Transportation, almost 35 percent of all traffic fatalities in the country resulted from a vehicle rollover. This is despite the fact that only 2.1 percent of all crashes involved a rollover.
Additional data from the transportation department indicates that 95 percent of all vehicle rollovers are “tripped.” This happens when a vehicle leaves the road and comes into contact with soft soil on the road’s shoulder or a permanent object, such as a guardrail.
Of course, it’s easy — and unfortunate — to imagine a scenario in which an inattentive or otherwise negligent driver forces another vehicle off the road. When this happens, people might have no other option but to try and avoid the collision. However, by making an evasive maneuver off the road, a rollover could be triggered.
Given the extreme circumstances behind motor vehicle rollovers, accident victims or their loved ones may assistance in conducting a full investigation. Attorneys have access to the resources necessary to determine what caused an accident and if other parties played a part in the crash. Once this step is taken, it will be much clearer whether or not there are options available to recover losses inflicted by a serious crash.
Source: SaferCar.gov, “Rollover,” accessed May 16, 2014