Wayne County Personal Injury Law Blog

When you do not have a lot of money, you might get creative about paying bills. One payment that may fall by the wayside is car insurance. Yes, you need a car to get to work, but keeping a roof over your head and the heat on may be more important.

However, there are certain grave risks to driving uninsured in no-fault states such as Michigan. In fact, these risks are so tremendous that they deserve a role when you consider how to allocate your bill payments.

Michigan's no-fault insurance law is designed to ensure that individuals injured in car accidents timely receive compensation for their medical costs and lost income. Because the law also places limits on claims with the intention that individuals who have been injured can quickly receive benefits, it is important for car accident victims to be familiar with the legal options available to help protect them.

The no-fault system provides that car accident victims receive benefits for their medical expenses for a lifetime and significant wage loss benefits on what is referred to as a no-fault basis. The intention is for severely injured car accident victims to immediately receive benefits for the harm they have suffered. Michigan has the highest level of car accident medical benefits in the country.

Because pedestrian accident victims can suffer such catastrophic injuries, it is important for them to be familiar with the legal rights afforded to them following an unexpected pedestrian accident, as can be seen by one recent incident. There, in a Michigan community a couple hours west of the Wayne County area, a pedestrian accident left the victim critically injured. The 41-year old victim was transported to the hospital following the wreck, which appears to have been caused by an alleged drunk driver. The 38-year old driver was arrested at the scene of the accident on suspicion of operating a vehicle while intoxicated.

A pedestrian accident can change the lives of victims and their families forever. Victims may face a long and costly recovery process during which they are unable to work because of the injuries they have suffered. Together, their lost wages and medical expenses may cause extreme financial difficulty, adding to the emotional turmoil they may already be facing.

Michigan is no stranger to the problem of distracted driving. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports that, nationally, in 2014, 3,179 individuals were killed and 431,000 victims were injured in car accidents involving distracted drivers. In Michigan during 2015, there were 7,516 car accidents involving distracted driving, which resulted in 28 fatalities and 3,472 injuries. Cell phones were involved in 753 car accidents, resulting in three fatalities and 377 injuries.

There are three main categories of distracted driving: manual, visual and cognitive. Texting while driving is considered the most dangerous form of distracted driving because it combines all three types of distracted driving into one dangerous activity. According to research, a driver's brain remains distracted for 27 seconds after they have sent a text using voice commands, dialed a phone, or changed the music. Additional distracted driving behaviors include using a navigation system or operating a radio; attending to children or talking to passengers; eating and drinking; grooming; and reading.