SUVs Are Not Any Safer Than Regular Cars
If you drive around Syracuse or any other area, you have no doubt noticed the large number of large SUVs, Suburbans, GMCs, Hummers, Escalades, and any number of other large SUV models that are very popular in our country. With falling gas prices there has been a renewed interest in these large, often 4-wheel-drive vehicles. We have all heard at one point or another that the reason some people like driving these large vehicles is because they feel they are safer than a regular car.
The car accident lawyers at McMahon, Kublick, P.C. have decades of automobile accident experience in both legal and medical matters and can tell you first hand that this misplaced trust in the safety of large SUV’s is neither true nor well advised. These larger high-riding vehicles are no safer than a car, and they often pose a much higher risk to other drivers on the road, particularly in the wintertime, with Syracuse’s well known lake effect snow and icy road conditions.
Contrary to popular belief, the accident fatality rate for SUV occupants is actually slightly higher than that of their smaller car counterparts. Rollover accidents are some of the most serious threats to SUV drivers and claims more than 10,000 lives each year.
Nearly 300,000 of these type of motor vehicle accidents are reported annually, and this is due mostly to the high center of gravity that many SUVs have. These large vehicles offer more risk of rollovers for inexperienced drives than more experienced drives but rollover can happen to anyone, even and especially when they are in 4-wheel drive mode. According to federal research, 92% of rollovers happen because a vehicle gets “tripped,” which can happen by the striking a curb, a guard rail, or another lower riding vehicle.
When SUV accidents do happen, the resulting injuries can be severe or fatal. If you get injured in an SUV, truck or car accident, it is important to know what to do next. The lawyers at McMahon, Kublic & Smith have years of motor vehicle accident experience in this area. In just one of their cases, our lawyers filed suit on behalf of a 23-year-old woman who suffered multiple debilitating leg injuries as the result of a serious SUV and automobile accident. We were able to secure a $2.07 million verdict for our client, which gave her the ability to cover her medical bills, physical therapy, work absence, and time to get her life back together as best as she could, given the extent of her injuries.
We have likewise seen many unfortunate cases where our clients, even after receiving a judgement and compensation in their favor, were never fully able to recover from their injuries. Their monetary award, however, helped them to pay medical bills, insurance costs and make up for lost wages, giving them some peace of mind and allowing them to live a semi-normal life.
If you or someone you know has been injured in an SUV or other auto or motor vehicle accident by a reckless or negligent driver, please call our Syracuse motor vehicle accident attorneys as soon as possible.
