SUV Rollover Accidents In Philadelphia

Rollover accidents are some of the most serious types of car accidents that you can be involved in. This is partly because rollover accidents frequently happen at high speeds, which makes any accident a more severe one. Additionally, when a vehicle rolls over, its occupants are at risk of being thrown out, especially if they are not wearing their seatbelts. This makes them very vulnerable to further injury.

Sport utility vehicles (SUVs) are particularly prone to rolling over. The way that SUVs are designed and built is flawed in that it takes far less force to tip them over and make them roll. This is why the personal injury attorneys at the Philadelphia law office of Gilman & Bedigian represent those who have been hurt in SUV rollover accidents. The car that you drive should protect you from harm in a serious car accident, not hurt you even more.

Causes of SUV Rollover Accidents

A rollover accident is a car crash that involves the vehicle flipping onto its side or its roof, or even flipping over completely or multiple times.

There is two kind of rollovers – tripped rollovers and untripped rollovers.

Tripped rollovers happen when something outside the vehicle makes it tip and creates the crash. This can happen when another car hits your own, or if your car hits a curb, a guardrail, or another object, or if you drive your car off the side of the road, causing it to tip over.

Untripped rollovers happen when your vehicle rolls over without another object touching it. A typical untripped rollover involves a car that is going too fast into a turn. When the driver turns the wheel, the forward momentum of the vehicle overtakes it, tipping it over and causing a rollover accident.

One of the biggest factors in whether your vehicle rolls over or not is how much ground clearance it has. SUVs are taller than most other cars, giving it a higher center of gravity and a higher ground clearance. With more of the vehicle’s weight further from the ground, even the slightest tip can pull an SUV to the ground and make it roll over. This makes SUVs much more susceptible to rollover accidents than other vehicles.

Another huge factor in a rollover accident is speed. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), three out of every four fatal rollover accidents happened on roads that had posted speed limits of 55 miles per hour or higher. This is because high speeds are often required for there to be enough force in an accident to make your vehicle roll over, or to create an untripped rollover accident.

Finally, auto defects can create a serious SUV rollover accident. If your tire suddenly blows, this can tug your SUV in a direction that you were not anticipating, and if you are not able to correct your driving in time, it can create a rollover.

Injuries in SUV Rollover Accidents

SUV rollover accidents are serious because of how violent they often are. Out of the nearly 9.1 million car accidents that happened in 2010, only 2.1% resulted in a rollover. Nevertheless, rollover accidents accounted for nearly 35% of the fatalities caused by car accidents, killing more than 7,600 people in 2010, alone.

A huge factor in the number of fatal rollover accidents is seatbelt use. 69% of those who were killed in a rollover accident were not wearing their seatbelts at the time of the crash. Unrestrained occupants get tossed around inside the vehicle during a rollover far more than those who are buckled up and face a significant risk of being ejected from the vehicle. Once ejected, you face serious dangers and no longer have the protection of your vehicle around you.

Even if you are not ejected and your accident is not a fatal one, the injuries that you could face are serious. Rollovers often lead to serious neck, head, and back injuries that can be permanently debilitating.

SUV Rollover Accident Attorneys

SUV owners should be able to count on their vehicle to protect them in a crash, just like any other car owner. However, the increased tendency of SUVs to flip and roll over actually makes them more dangerous, leading to more injuries. Many of these injuries are serious, or even fatal.

That is why the Philadelphia personal injury attorneys at Gilman & Bedigian represent victims of an SUV rollover accident. By fighting for your rights and interests in court, we can ensure that you get the compensation that you need in order to make a full recovery. Contact our Philadelphia law office online or at (800) 529-6162.